The History of Shoes

Introduction
Primitive Shoes
Ancient Shoes
Greek / Roman Era
Early Middle Ages / The Dark Ages
The Middle Ages / Medieval Era
Late Middle Ages & the Tudor Era
The 17th and 18th Centuries/ The "Baroque" Era
Early American Shoes
The Victorian Era
The Sneaker Era Part I
The Sneaker Era Part II

Early Middle Ages / "The Dark Ages"

In the Dark Ages, the period of time during and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire when classical arts and knowledge were all but lost, craftsmanship and the quality of products declined. Common people wore rough clogs and the art of sandal-making was nearly lost to the West. Elaborate sandals were still produced of soft leather or fabric with leather soles in Byzantium (Eastern Roman Empire) into the 5th century. These shoes and boots were often heavily and ornately decorated with gold and gems. Later, as early European Christians began to incorporate their religion into their everyday life, shoes gained a religious significance. Color was specific to rank and privilege and shoes were among the most sought after gifts of the time. The cost of shoes was high and often family members would bequeath their footwear to another member of the family when they died. It is from this tradition we gain the saying "walking in your father's footsteps." Wealthy or noble women of the time wore flat-soled leather slippers died in red, green, purple, or white. Wealthy male citizens often wore leather boots with ornamental ties on the outside of the calf while soldiers wore leather soled boots which required no fastening. Romans may have created sophisticated shoes, but shoes in Europe during this time period remained fairly simple items. The Saxon invaders to Britain introduced a turned shoes - shoes that were stitched together while inside-out and then turned and closed with some sort fastening - however on the Continent the Roman style of sewing uppers with thread and stitching on soles with leather thongs persisted. The turned shoe does not appear to be in use before about 600 CE. Saxons had several styles of shoe, including an ankle-boot style, a slipper, and a kind of leather boot. The first buckles and shoelaces appear to have come into use at this time as evidence has been found of shoe buckles in Merovingian graves and of bronze aglets (the tips placed on shoelaces) on cords. Eventually, though, the most common style of shoe in most regions was the turned shoe. These shoes were usually ankle-high and fastened by way of a triangular flap which covered the ankle and attached with a latchet or tied to slits in the leather.

The Middle Ages / "The Medieval Era"

By the 11th century, linen had replace leather as the material used to stitch soles to uppers. "Waisted" soles (soles which narrowed at the arch of the foot) and round heels were the standard. William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 and was crowned William I on Christmas Day 1066. His successor, William II, introduced a fashion for pointed shoes which remained popular and became more exaggerated over the next 300 years. These long toed shoes, called poulaines or Crackowe shoes, were fashionable for men and lengths for these shoes were eventually legislated by sumptuary laws. Young men would stuff wool and moss into the pointed extensions to keep them erect and soon the style began to include chains that attached to the knee in order to prevent tripping. It was at this point that the vulgar trend of painting these extensions in a flesh color began, and a favorite pastime of the younger crowd was to stand on the street and wiggle their feet suggestively at any young lady who happened by.

The Roman Catholic Church was shocked by the obscenity of the poulaines and banned them on the pretext that men could not kneel to pray while wearing them. The majority of the population ignored the Church's edict , though university professors were banned from wearing them. Then in 1347, at the height of the Black Plague, clergy named the Plague as God's revenge for wearing poulaines. Still, the style prevailed until the length of the shoes was legislated to denote a person's social status. Pointed shoes were prohibited to anyone who did not have an income of at least 40 pounds per year (the average income of most peasants at the time was from 12-20 shillings). A commoner was permitted no more than 6 inches, a bourgeois landowner could have points no longer than 12 inches, a knight could have up to 18 inches, barons were allowed up to 24 inches, and princes and kings could wear any length they liked. In 1367 Pope Urban V banned commoners from wearing pointed shoes by threatening excommunication or even death for the lowest classes of society, but he turned a blind eye to the nobility which gave them free license to wear the poulaine. The fashion or pointed shoes reached a peak around 1460 when Edward IV created a law prohibiting shoemakers from making shoes with more than two inch extensions for "underprivileged" people. The fashion finally died out a few years later in part because of two events: Duke Leopold II of Austria died because his long, pointed shoes prevented him from escaping assassins, and King Charles VIII of France had six toes on each foot, requiring him to wear broad square-toed shoes. Fashion follows the ruling class and so fashion changed to follow Charles the VIII.