middle of the calf. These were variously ornamented and laced, and were
usually lined with the skins of the smaller animals, the heads and
claws being allowed to fall over the top by way of ornament. Buskins
have, as a matter of fact, been worn at all periods; several examples
are given, notably in the portraits by Vandyke, of Lords John and
Bernard Stuart (p. 287).
[Illustration: ROMAN SANDALS.
_Hope's "Costume of the Ancients."_]
The footgear of the Italian peasant of the present day may be
considered as the most primitive form of sandal. It consists of a
simple oblong piece of thick leather, perforated at the sides and ends
to allow of straps being drawn through, crosswise over the instep
and round the ankle, and half way up the leg, to the knee, either in
circular bands or crosswise, the foot and leg being encased in a more
or less loose stocking or hose, in many instances the whole of the leg
being cross gartered.
[Illustration: SANDALS OF THE ITALIAN PEASANTRY.]
The early Britons wore a shoe which was almost as simple in
construction as the last mentioned. It consisted of a piece of raw
cowhide, with a leather thong fastened at the heel, threaded along the
upper edge, drawing the shoe like a purse over the foot. This form of
shoe, however, was not confined to the early Britons, but was adopted
by most primitive peoples at different periods; in fact, it is the
first and readiest method of covering the feet which would occur to the
primitive mind.
[Illustration: LORDS JOHN AND BERNARD STUART.
_Engraved by James Macardell._]
The Anglo-Saxon shoe was provided with long thongs of leather or other
material attached to the shoe at the ankles and wound crosswise round
the leg to the knee, or round the whole of the leg to the middle,
always, however, with some form of hose. This fashion obtained, more
or less, during the whole of the Anglo-Saxon period, and was common to
most of the Northern nations.
During the reign of William the Conqueror, short boots reaching above
the ankle, with a plain band round the tops, prevailed. Robert, Duke
of Normandy, eldest son of the Conqueror, who died in 1134, was called
"Curta Ocrea," or Short Boots, either from his setting the fashion or
from retaining it when abandoned by the beaux of the day.
The usual footgear of the period, however, is the close shoe, made of
cloth, velvet, leather, or other material, and terminating in a point.
From this period for more than a century onward, shoes varied very
little, except in the character of their ornamentation.
During the reigns of Henry II. and Richard I., a kind of loose top-boot
appeared. These boots resembled loose socks or galoches, drawn over the
hose, sometimes reaching as high as the knee, and occasionally to the
middle of the thigh, but more often half way up the leg only. They were
worn in various forms by all classes, and by the common people during
a long period. They had no fastenings or lacings, but were allowed to
fall at will, according to the stiffness or otherwise of the material
of which they were made.
In the miniatures of the "Facta et Dicta Memorabilia" of Valerius
Maximus, begun by Simon de Hesdin for Charles V. of France in 1375,
and completed by Nicholas de Gonesse for Jean, Duc de Berry, in 1405,
a number of figures have boots, made apparently of soft leather
and coloured either red or white, reaching to the knee; in some
instances the tops turned down, with long, pointed toes. This series
of miniatures is extremely interesting as giving an insight into the
domestic life of the fourteenth century, some of the interiors being
especially so.
During the reign of the Plantagenets, footgear, like the rest of the
costume of that period, was exceedingly sumptuous. The shoes were
usually close-fitting, with pointed toes, and ornamented with the
richest variety of patterning. The tops were of various materials,
soft leather, silk, cloth, cloth-of-gold, &c. The soles were usually
of thicker leather, but occasionally of wood, and even of cork. Upon
the opening of the tomb of Henry VI. of Sicily, the dead monarch was
discovered wearing shoes of which the uppers were of cloth-of-gold
embroidered with pearls, and the soles of cork, covered with
cloth-of-gold.
The reign of Richard II. was the period of abnormally long pointed
toes, which occasionally reached the length of six inches and more,
and assumed various shapes, the toes being stuffed with tow or other
substance to keep them in shape.
This fashion of long pointed toes lasted during the three succeeding
reigns. "Even boys wore doublets of silk, satin, and velvet; and almost
all, especially in the Courts of Princes, had points at the toes of
their shoes a quarter of an ell long and upwards, which they now called
_poulaines_." Paradin describes the men as "wearing shoes with a point
before, half a foot long: the richer and more eminent personages more
than a foot, and Princes _two feet long_, which was the most ridiculous
thing that ever was seen; and when men became tired of these pointed
shoes, they adopted others in their stead denominated duck-bills,
having a bill or beak before, of four or five fingers in length."
The sumptuary laws regulating these matters have been referred to in
the introduction to this work. The Act of 3 Edward IV. restricted the
length of toe to two inches.
[Illustration: FRENCH. FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
FRENCH. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.]
Clogs and pattens were worn from the time of Richard II. onwards as a
protection to the soles of the shoes, and were variously shaped. Randal
Holme calls _pattanes_ "irons to be tied under the shoes to keep them
out of the dirt." In an anonymous work called the "Eulogium," cited
by Camden, it states: "Their shoes and pattens are snouted and piked,
more than a finger long, crooking upwards, which they call _crackowes_,
resembling devils' claws, and fastened to the knees with chains of gold
and silver."
[Illustration: CHILD'S SHOES, FRONT AND SIDE VIEW, GERMAN (SIXTEENTH
CENTURY).
MAN'S SHOE, GERMAN (SIXTEENTH CENTURY).]
This fashion of appending chains to the peaks of the shoes lasted
intermittently for a considerable time. In a work on "Ancient Costume,"
by Major Hamilton Smith, a portrait of James I. of Scotland is
mentioned, in which the peaks of the monarch's shoes are fastened by
chains of gold to his girdle.
There is a manuscript in the Royal collection in which the Duke of
Gloucester, afterwards Richard III., is depicted as wearing a clog.
This has been adopted by Abbey in his famous picture of "Gloucester
and the Lady Anne."
Clogs were of wood, thickened at the heel and ball of the foot for the
purpose of raising it from the ground. Afterwards it was further raised
by means of two pieces set at right angles to the foot, on precisely
the same principle as the Japanese shoes of to-day. An illustration is
given from the Cluny Museum (p. 282).
Another means of raising the foot was the "chopine," which was a kind
of stilt; it was, in fact, the sole, elongated to an extravagant
degree. Hamlet thus addresses the lady players: "What! my young lady
and mistress! By'r-lady, your ladyship is nearer heaven than when I saw
you last, by the altitude of a chopine!"
Towards the close of the fifteenth century it became the fashion
to bend the long toe over the shoe backwards. The two examples
figured at the head of this chat are from the Cluny Museum, and are
characteristic. Both have high heels, and resemble the shoes with which
the Chinese ladies until quite recently tortured and mutilated their
feet, for the purpose, it is said, of pleasing the distorted fancy of
the men and to be qualified for marriage.[30]
[Illustration: SHOES OF THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES.
_Musée de Cluny._]
A number of examples of shoes of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seventeenth centuries are given from the interesting collection in
the Musée de Cluny, and will serve, far better than any written
description, to give an idea of the character of the footgear of these
periods. The two child's shoes given on p. 291 are of leather, and
are typical of the shoe worn during the greater part of the fifteenth
century. The side view shows the point turned upwards. The man's shoe
is short-toed, richly worked in stamped leather. The ladies' shoes of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries given on p. 293 are of various
materials, and for the most part richly embroidered; two of the three
lower ones show the clog of leather which was fixed from the heel to
the toe, the centre one of the three having a sharp pointed heel and
a rounded sole, surely a most uncomfortable thing to wear. Sir Thomas
Parkins ("Treatise on Wrestling," 1714) says: "For shame, let us
leave off aiming at the outdoing our Maker in our true symmetry and
proportion; let us likewise, for our own ease, secure treading and
upright walking, as He designed we should, and shorten our heels."
[Illustration: CARVED WOODEN SHOE, FRENCH (SEVENTEENTH CENTURY).]
During the reign of the Tudors the character of the shoe suddenly
changed from the long pointed toe to the broad-toed shoe, made either
of various cloths, kid, or velvet, slashed and puffed with silk,
an example of which will be seen in Holbein's picture of the "Two
Ambassadors." The shoes of this period afford a minimum of protection
to the feet, the whole of the instep being uncovered. It was again
found necessary for legislation to step in--this time, however, to
restrict their _breadth_, instead of the length of the toes, as
heretofore.
Bulwer's "Pedigree of the English Gallant" says: "In the reign of
Queen Mary, the people in general had laid aside the long points they
formerly wore at the end of their shoes, and caused them to be made
square at the toes, with so much addition to the breadth, that their
feet exhibited a much more preposterous appearance than they had done
in the former instance; therefore," says the author, "a proclamation
was made, that no man should wear his shoes above six inches square at
the toes." He then tells us that "picked shoes soon after came again in
vogue, but they did not, I presume, continue any great time in use."
In the figure of the exquisite of 1670, after Mitelli (p. 129), the
squareness of the toes is emphasised, the two corners even projecting
from the flat edge. There are small bunches of ribbons at the toes, an
abnormally large stiffened bow at the instep, and, by way of "piling
Pelion upon Ossa," the bend of the stiffened bows is supplemented by
smaller bows, representing the very acme of whimsical extravagance.
Usually these bows or ribbons were allowed to fall loose, in which
case, however, they never reached such extravagant proportions as in
the before-mentioned instance. A square-toed shoe of a Dutch officer
of the Guards, 1662, is given, having a loose bow, also a shoe of a
musketeer with a small buckle on the instep and a large tongue or flap
in front.
[Illustration: DUTCH OFFICER OF GUARDS, 1662.]
Buckles have been worn from quite an early period, an example of a
circular buckle occurring on a brass of 1376. They formed the usual
fastening of the shoe during the Commonwealth, and were worn until
the close of the eighteenth century, when they fell into disuse. The
buckle-makers of 1800, alarmed at their declining trade, petitioned the
Prince of Wales to discard his new strings and adopt the buckle, but,
although the Prince complied with the wishes of the petition, it was of
no avail.
Buckles were often richly jewelled, and consequently very costly. Those
worn by the Hon. John Spencer on the occasion of his marriage were said
to be worth £30,000.
[Illustration: MOUSQUETAIRE, 1697.]
In the anonymous portrait of Prince Henry, eldest son of James I. (p.
103), the shoes are of leather, slashed, showing the coloured stocking
underneath, and otherwise ornamented, with the strap drawn over the
instep, covered by a jewelled rosette, or "shoe-rose." These shoe-roses
had a great vogue during the time of Elizabeth; they were usually
of bunches of ribbons made to form a rose, and were occasionally
ornamented with costly jewels.
"With two Provencal roses on my razed shoes."
_Hamlet_, Act III, sc. 2.
In "Hæc-Vir, or the Womanish Man," 1621, is described a fashionable
man, who "takes a full survey of himself, from the highest sprig in his
feather to the lowest spangle that shines in his shoe-string."
We now come to the period of high-topped boots, which continued with
variations to the time of George II. In the portrait of Charles I. by
Daniel Mytens in the National Portrait Gallery will be seen an example
of the earlier form of top-boot. The tops fit close, and are turned
down at the knee, and the edges again turned up half-way down the calf
of the leg. A large flap with double edges protects the instep.
[Illustration: LOUIS XIII., 1611.]
The form of top-boots was developed in various ways, until it reached
an extravagant pitch in France in the reign of Louis XIV. The
variations were mainly in the shape or adjustment of the tops, rather
than in that portion of the boot which covered the foot. They were worn
by the dandies with a profusion of costly lace. Several examples are
given.
This was the period of the highest, or rather widest, development of
the tops of the boots; so wide, indeed, did they become, that the gait
of a man might be described as straddling rather than walking.
An example is given of a boot worn by the Comte de Soissons, 1628,
which has a stiff rounded top like a basin, with a short hose worn over
the hose proper, turned down below the knee and edged with rich lace.
A variation of the top-boot worn from the time of Elizabeth onwards is
a kind of soft leather hose or buskin drawn up to the middle of the
thigh, the edge folded over and slashed; these were worn during the
slashed period, when everything was slashed--hat, sleeves, doublet, and
tunic (p. 297).
[Illustration: COMTE DE SOISSONS, 1628.]
The "Wellington" boot of the present day is practically identical with
that worn by the illustrious soldier from whom it takes its name, and
is a very slight variation of the form of riding boot which was in use
at the beginning of the eighteenth century, except that it is of softer
leather, allowing the boot to fall into folds at the ankle. The boot
in the portrait of Napoleon by Isabey, in the Musée de Versailles, may
be described as a sort of half Wellington, but the top-boot which is
usually associated with Napoleon is cut away at its upper edge at the
back, the front forming a kind of mask to the knee, a form of boot
which, in fact, had been worn from the time of William III.
[Illustration: BRAVOES.
_Martin Schongauer._]
Cloth and woollen boots and shoes, as were worn in the Middle Ages,
have been recommended for _modern_ wear as being more healthy, and as
allowing the natural perspiration of the foot to exhale, their sponsors
affirming that "cloth and wool are perfectly suitable and safe for wet
weather, as the wetting of the wool does not chill the feet, the heat
of which promptly evaporates the moisture from the covering, which soon
dries." It must, however, be admitted that with a cloth covering, the
dirt and mud of a London winter would be a trial, and here, doubtless,
we have a reason for the cobblestones of mediæval towns. Cobble-stones
are clean, but must at once be ruled out of the question for London.
Cobble-stones would indeed add a fresh horror to London life. But is it
too much to expect the richest city in the world, with its thousands of
unemployed, to keep its streets clean? Is there any reason why large
cities should not be kept clean as well as small cities?
"Boots and shoes should be roomy, to prevent the toes from being
squeezed together, and should be so made that the great toe is not
pressed against its neighbours, but is encouraged to lie in a straight
line drawn from the heel to the root of the great toe. The heel of the
boot should be low and broad."[31]
The Greek ideal of the foot is the true one. The Greeks rightly
regarded the foot as an undeveloped hand, and they endeavoured in their
sculpture to impart that hand-like character to their feet. One has
only to notice the flexible toes of new-born and young babies, in order
to perceive the reasonableness of this position. The Greeks in their
sculpture made a distinct division between the great toe and the rest
of the toes, as between the thumb and the fingers of the hand--the
three toes well forward in a bunch; the first the longest, the next a
little shorter, and the third shorter still; the little toe by itself,
raised up. Now compare with this any natural foot habituated to shoes
or boots. The bunch of three toes is pressed back, and also sideways
against the great toe, thus losing the division between them and the
great toe, and destroying the true contour of the foot. The pads of
all the toes are pressed sideways instead of being immediately under
the nails, and the foot has entirely lost its original character,
and has become grotesquely malformed by corns, bunions, and similar
growths. The most beautiful natural foot, the _only_ beautiful foot
which we ever remember having seen, was a cast in Sir Edgar Boehm's
studio of the foot of a black woman who had never worn shoes.
Of late there has been a disposition to return to the sandal as a
covering or rather protection for children's feet (one fears that it
will be long before grown-ups adopt the sandal, except perhaps at the
seaside or in the country). The change is a healthy one from every
point of view. Upon æsthetic grounds it is especially welcome. One
walks along the street during the summer months, the mind perhaps
preoccupied, and the eye suddenly lights upon the rosy feet of one of
these little ones as they trip along the street. One involuntarily
exclaims, "What a charming design! What a beautiful piece of ornament!"
Of a truth, in place of the uninteresting product of the shoemaker,
which we had become so inured and accustomed to, one is suddenly
introduced to that masterpiece of the Great Designer, the human foot,
and the foot, too, in its natural state, before it has become crippled
and distorted by long confinement in a leather prison.
FOOTNOTES:
[28] Thomas Deloney's "booke called the Gentle Crafte, intreating of
Showmakers," tells how Crispin and Crispianus, sons of King Logrid
of Britain and of Queen Estreda, were sheltered at Faversham, Kent.
Crispin wooed and married Princess Ursula, whose son was born in the
shoemaker's house. Hence the saying, "A shoemaker's son is born a
Prince." From their high lineage, shoemaking is named "The Gentle
Craft."
"I am of Crispin's trade, a brave Shooemaker,
He loved a Princess dear, and ne'r forsak't her....
This craft was never held in scorn, Sir Thomas Eyer did it adorn,
A Shoemaker's son a Prince is born."
_Roxburghe Ballads._
[29] "Health Culture," G. Jaeger, M.D.
[30] A movement, headed by the Empress, has been instituted recently
for the abolition of the practice of mutilating the feet of Chinese
women, which was universal throughout all classes of society. In the
cities, ladies were carried through the streets pick-a-back, and moved
about their houses on their knees. In the fields the women worked on
their knees, being unable to stand.
[31] "Health Culture," G. Jaeger, M.D.
INDEX
Addison, scantiness of dress, 141
Angelico, Fra, painting by, at Florence, 101
Anglo-Saxon super-tunic, 76;
embroidery, 76;
Chronicle, treasures of King Malcolm of Scotland, 100
Barbers, introduction of in Rome, 239;
charter granted by Henry VIII., 247
Barber-Surgeons, 247-249
Beard, formality of Assyrian and Greek, 237;
dyeing and powdering, 238;
ceremonies and customs relating to, 238;
Peter Lombard's dislike of, 245;
edict by Henry I. for suppression of, 245;
various shapes of, 246;
vow of Henry VIII. relating to, 246
Beaumont and Fletcher, quotation from, 140
Bloet, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, mantle presented by to Henry I., 90
Boadicea, tunic of, 68
Bodice, rigidity of, 144
Boots, shoes, and other foot coverings, 281-301
---- short, 288;
top, 288, 297, 298;
Wellington, 298
Buckles, 296
Buskins, 284-286
Byzantine women, dress of, 72
Calash, introduction of, 230
Cap, flat, of Tudor period, 218-220;
fool's, 209
Carlyle, T., 18, 26, 110
Charlemagne, dress of, 68;
letter to King John of Gascogny, 89;
mantle of, 90
Charles I., costume of, 126
Chaucer, quotations from, 52, 46, 78, 82, 98, 118, 242, 275
Chopine, 292
Chlamys, 85
Cloak, Spanish, 102;
Puritan, 102
Clothes, index as to character, 22;
climatic influence on, 22;
uses of, 20;
their symbolism, 26
Coif-caps, 258
Collar, Gurth's, 181
Collars and cuffs, 181-201
Cotton MS. caricature of winged devil, 42
"Couleur Isabella," 188
Coverley, Sir Roger de, remarks on hooped petticoat, 164
Cravat, origin of, 182;
general use of, 195;
art of tying the, 195-201
Crestine or net-caul, 211
Crinoletta, 160;
"disfigurans," 177;
echo of earlier prototype, 178
Crinoline, rise and fall of, 159-178;
invention of, 162
Crispin, St., 281
Cross gartering, 114, 286
Cut-purse, 78
Dickens, quotation from "Pickwick," 280
Doublet and hose, 111-132
Dowglas, monk of Glastonbury, extravagances of dress of reign
of Edward III., 37
Dress:
should be one of the decorative arts, 53;
conditions of beautiful, 106;
floral patternings of, 146;
modes of, 1773, 148;
fashionable, 1782, 149
Elizabeth, Queen, short cloak, 101
Embroidery, a conspicuous element in Anglo-Saxon dress, 76
Empire gown, 152
Fabrics:
cloth of gold, 43;
silk, 44;
ciclatoun, cendal, taffetas, sarcenet, 46;
patternings of, 48;
satin, 46;
velvet, 46;
Sicilian brocades, 49-51
Farthingale, 162;
great wheel, 164
Fashion, genuine woman of, 153
French Revolution, influence on dress, 150;
disappearance of three-cornered hat, 227
Froissart, Harleian Library, caricature of pig walking upon stilts, 42
Garter, mantle of, 52, 94;
vestments of, 94;
jewel of, 95;
embroiderings of, 94;
as at present worn, 96
General survey, 19-57
Girdle, various kinds of, 77;
of Charlemagne, 77;
imperial girdle of Holy Roman Empire, 77;
of Henry VI., 77;
in brasses, 78
Gosson, Stephen, "Schoole of Abuse," 36
Gozzoli, Benozzo, frescoes at Pisa, 101
Greeks, costumes of modern, 78
Gresham, Sir Thomas, gift of silk stockings to Edward VI., 120
Hair, moustachios, and beard, 237-277
---- length of, privilege of Kings and Princes of the Franks, 240;
condemnation of by the priesthood, 240
Harold, King, banner under which he fought at Hastings, 52
Hat, chimney-pot, 25, 57, 205, 220, 222-224;
development of, 222-224;
centenary of modern, 222;
Greek broad-brimmed, 210;
cocked, 130;
Kevenhuller, 132, 227;
slouch, Stuart period, 226;
panama, 232;
bowler, 232
Hats, caps, and bonnets, 205-233
Headcoverings not a necessity, 205
Head-dresses, extravagances of, 260-271;
horned, 36, 41, 213-215;
heart-shaped, 215;
steeple, 215
Hennin, 216
Hood, Roman hooded cloak, 208;
variations of, 209
Hooped petticoat, 159-175;
inconveniences of, 170;
disappearance of, 170
Hose, tight-fitting, 114;
parti-coloured, 115;
Gallic, 120;
silk, 120;
Venetian, 120
Illuminated MSS., colouring of, 73
Jerkin, 117
Jewels, worn in hats, 224
Jonson, Ben, quotations from "Silent Woman," 38, 236, 268;
"Every Man out of his Humour," 122
Kirtle or petticoat, the, 135-156
Kirtle "Romaunt of the Rose," 73-136;
a development tunic, 135
La Tour Landry, Knight of, St. Bernard's admonition of his sister, 36;
extravagance in dress, 41;
horned head-dresses, 214;
painted faces, 276
Lorenzo, Fiorenzo di, paintings by, 99, 100, 113
Love locks, 250
Lydgate, monk of Bury, satires, 41
Lyly's "Euphues," 1580, fable of wind and sun, 22
Macaronies, 260
Malay Peninsula, clothing of aborigines, 20
Mantle, the, 83-106;
of Elijah, 83;
St. Martin, 84;
Raleigh, 84;
Archdruid's, 88;
coronation mantle of Holy Roman Empire, 88;
Frankish, 89;
colour of Charlemagne's, 90;
Edward the Confessor's, 90;
Norman period, 90;
Queen Matilda's, 91;
of the Order of the Garter, 94
Mary, Queen, description of portrait of, 138
Merry Monarch, beauties of the Court of, 141
Merveilleuses, 150
Moustachios, Charles I., third Empire, a reigning monarch, 272
Muffs, 104
Nazarite law, 240-244
Ondina or waved Jupons, advertisement in _Illustrated London News_, 1863, 175
Otaheite, festal dress, 166
Painted faces, 250-252
Paris, Matthew, description of marriage of Alexander III. of Scotland, 96
Pattens, 290-292
Pegtops, 54;
Dundreary's, 275
Peplum of the Greeks, 85, 88