[Regia-NA] Embroidery on shoes

[Steve Etheridge]

Hi Al

Magnus wrote:
>
>>Larsen, Arne J. Footwear from the Gullskoen Area of  Bryggen. (The Bryggen 
>>Papers, Main Series, vol. 4) Oslo: Scandinavian University Press, 1992. It 
>>has a discussion on leather embroidery,   especially for shoes. In this 
>>case it was largely decorative.
>

and Carolyn Priest-Dorman wrote

>And it is, of course, all from contexts later than Rega period.
>

Shoe Decoration

A hasty reading of AY17/16, */Leather and leatherworking in Anglo-Saxon 
York/* gives me the following

It would appear that vamp-stripe decoration in silk was starting to be 
practiced at the end of the C11th, being mostly used on boots of “Type 7”, 
that is a single piece upper reaching to the ankle or just above, with a 
side seam and closed by one or more thongs.  A few earlier examples that 
/may/ have this decoration are noted, but the style’s heyday was clearly in 
the c12th and C13th.

Other decorative techniques were in use earlier however.  Heel stiffeners 
(that’s the pointy bit at the back of the sole that curves around the heel) 
were “decorated” with simple tooled straight lines.  The tops of shoes could 
be embellished with a top band.  Some of these show evidence of holes for 
decorative stitching or thonging.  (Two silk embroidered versions of these 
are extant in c12-c13th levels at York).  Some top bands are deliberately 
sewn onto the upper “furry side out”, perhaps for comfort, perhaps for show. 
  These top bands were sometimes extended to form the flaps for closing the 
shoes.  This appears to have been the C10th form of decoration, which 
disappears in the C11th and probably never reached Dublin.

One (heavily repaired) shoe from a mid C10th context had a cut like an 
asterix  next to the side-seam, which might be a maker’s or owner’s mark.

Hope this helps

Steve

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