The Art of the Shoe. Marie-Josèphe Bossan
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covered the cleric’s foot. Pope Adrian I (772–795) instituted the ritual of kissing feet. When some clergy members deemed this rite undignified, a compromise was established. Henceforth, the papal mule would be embroidered with a cross. Kissing this cross was no longer a sign of servitude, but one of homage to Christ’s representative on earth. Regarding shoemaking, the French word cordouanier (which became cordonnier or shoemaker) was adopted in the 11th century and signified someone who worked with Cordoba leather and by extension, all kinds of leather. As in Antiquity, shoes were patterned separately for the right and left foot. Shoes made out of Cordoba leather were reserved for the aristocracy, whereas those made by çavetiers, or cobblers (shoe repairmen) were more crudely fashioned. The wearing of shoes began to expand in the 11th-century. The most common medieval type was an open shoe secured by a strap fitted with a buckle or button.
Other types included estivaux, a summer ankle boot of supple, lightweight leather that appeared in the second half of the 11th century; chausses with soles, a type of cloth boot reinforced with leather soles worn with pattens (supplemental wooden under soles) for outdoor use; and heuses, supple boots in a variety of forms originally reserved for gentlemen, but which became common under the reign of Philippe Auguste (1165–1223). In the early 12th century, shoes became longer. Called pigaches, these shoes were forerunners of the poulaine style a knight named Robert le Cornu is credited with introducing.
The Crusaders brought the exaggerated style with its inordinately long tip back from the East. It is based on the raised-toe model of Syrian, Akkadian, and Hittite culture, and reflects the vertical aesthetic of gothic Europe. When people of modest means imitated this eccentric fashion initially reserved for the aristocracy, the authorities responded by regulating the length of the shoe’s points according to social rank: 1/2 foot for commoners, 1 foot for the bourgeois, 1 and 1/2 feet for knights, 2 feet for nobles, and 2 and 1/2 feet for princes, who had to hold the tips of their shoes up with gold or silver chains attached to their knees in order to walk. The shoe length hierarchy led to the French expression “vivre sur un grand pied,” (to live on a large foot), denoting the worldly status represented by shoe length.
The poulaine was made of leather, velvet, or brocade. The uppers could sport cutouts in the form of gothic church windows, although obscene images were sometimes used. A small round bell or an ornament in the shape of a bird beak often dangled from the tip of the shoe. There was even a military poulaine to go with a soldier’s amour. Interestingly, during the battle of Sempach between the Swiss confederates and the Austrians in 1386, knights had to cut off the points of their poulaines because they interfered with combat.
Worn throughout Europe by men and women alike, as well as by certain clerics, the poulaine was condemned by bishops, excommunicated by religious councils, and forbidden by kings. But its immoral status only made the poulaine more seductive, and it was all the rage in the Burgundian court. Indeed, the poulaine would only disappear in the early 16th century, after a four century run.
Flat-soled shoes lasted the entire medieval period, but a heel was beginning to emerge as evidenced in Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Couple. The protective wooden pattens, depicted carelessly strewn on the floor in the left of the painting, exhibit an incline: the rear heel is higher than the front support.
Shoes were scarce and costly items in the middle ages, so protective wooden soles were used for going out in muddy backstreets. But the under soles made the shoes too noisy: it was strictly forbidden to wear them in church.
25. Poulaine. Bally Museum, Schönenwerd, Switzerland.
26. Liturgical shoe of plain embroidered samite. Spain, 12th century. Silk and gold thread. Historical Museum of Fabrics of Lyon, Lyon.
27. Poulaine style shoe. Bally Museum, Schönenwerd, Switzerland.
28. Martin de Braga. Caton in the Company of Scipion and Lelius, Standing before Him. Third quarter of the 15th century. The Hermitage Museum, Saint-Petersburg.
29. Jan van Eyck. The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434. Oil on panel. 83.8 x 57.2 cm. National Gallery, London.
30. Philippe VI de Valois Receives Tribute from His Vassal Edward III of England, detail of an illumination from the Chronicles of Jehan Froissart. 15th century. National Library of Paris, Paris.
The Legend of Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian
Crispin and Crispinian were two brothers from a patrician Roman family who converted to Christianity under the reign of Diocletian (245–313). Pope Caius (283–296) gave them the task of converting Gaul and in 285 AD they settled in Soissons to work as shoemakers and to preach the word of God. When the Roman general Maximianus Herculeus asked them to renounce their faith and to worship pagan idols, the brothers refused, which led to their frequent and cruel persecution. They were flagellated, pierced with awls, burned with boiling oil and molten lead, and finally thrown into the river Aisne with a millstone around their neck. Then a miracle occurred: the stone came loose and the shoemakers reached shore safe and sound, praising God. When Maximianus got the news, he had their heads cut off in 287.
Although their remains were left for vultures, the shoemakers’ bodies remained in tact; two old beggars gave the martyrs a proper burial. In 649, the Bishop of Soissons, named Ansérik, moved the two brothers’ remains into the crypt of his basicala, which later came to be called the Abbaye Saint-Crépin-le-Grand. When the shoemaker’s guild was established in the cathedral of Paris in 1379 by king Charles-le-Sage (1338–1380), the shoemakers chose Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian as their patrons, whom they formally celebrate on October 25th. Many images of Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian are still preserved in the chapels of parish churches where late medieval guilds paid tribute to their patron saints and dedicated altars.
31. Sign of shoemaker-bootmaker, “To Saint Crispin”. 1593. Carnavalet Museum, Paris.
32. Retable of the “Master at the Eyelets” (1500–1510): two scenes in the life of Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian. Scweizerisches Landesmuseum, Zurich.
33. The Martyr of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, votive offering of 1594 by painter Vital Despigoux. Panel on wood. Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral, Puy-de-Dôme.
34. Carpaccio. Two Venetian Courtesans, 1500. Correr Museum, Venice.
The Renaissance
At the end of the 15th century, poulaines fell victim to their own success and ended up popularized for common use. They were succeeded, without the slightest transition, by extremely wide, square-toe shoes designed for the fashion-conscious. As incongruous with fashion history as it may seem, this shoe was actually inspired by a congenital malformation: King Charles VIII had six toes on each foot, hence the very large toes of his custom-made shoes. The reaction against the previous fashion quickly went too far in the opposite direction. The Valois shoe worn during the reign of Louis XII (1462–1515) occasionally reached widths of thirty-three centimeters. The tip of the shoe, which was stuffed and decorated with animal horns, resembled a cow’s head, leading to nicknames such as mufle de vache (cow muzzle), pied d’ours (bear foot), and bec de cane (duck bill). The shoe’s eccentric form meant people had to straddle wide in order to walk, which naturally provoked sarcastic remarks.
During this same period, Venetians were wearing shoes called chopines, also known as mules échasses (mules on stilts) or pied de vach (cow feet). Attached to the foot with ribbons,