39915 shoes&pattens
4

14

Shoes and Pattens

In the same deposits, however, are at least twelve fragments of a rather different style, a tali ankle-shoe or fuli boot. The most complete (Fig. 13) is a man’s boot, very rounded at the toe, which originally stood to a height of c.200 mm and thus reached nearly to mid calf. It is of ‘wrap-around’ construction with a smali triangular insert at the base on the inner side - common to many ankle-shoes and boots of this period - and two morę inserts at the top and above the instep. There was no stitching along the upper edge, for binding or a topband, but there were reinforcement-pieces over the opening flaps at the front; and, sińce stitching runs right across the instep, almost cer-tainly there was a tongue, though this itself has not survived and its form is uncertain. The boot has four sets of thong slots, arranged in seven tiers, and there are impressions from a narrow draw-string, c.l mm wide, running horizontally between them; it is not elear, however, from the surviving fragments whether this was a single string wound continuously round the leg or seven separate strings tied together at the front. On a second, smaller and much morę fragmentary boot of the same generał type part of the drawstring remains in place (Fig. 14). There are three tiers of slots surviving and the string, which appears to have been deliberately twisted, perhaps for decorative effect, is knotted at the lowest slot on the outer side; this suggests that it was then wound continuously upwards in concentric circles around the ankle.

On the examples already described the draw-strings passed through slots cut in the upper, but some boots had a morę complex and omamental arrangement whereby they passed through loops in thongs c.5 mm broad, which ran vertically upwards. These thongs were themselves threaded loosely through pairs of slots, and each had a spade-shaped terminal which was anchored against the lowest slot on the inside. The most complete boot of this type comes from a deposit of the 13th century but is best considered here in the generał discussion of the style (Fig. 15). It is of normal ‘wrap-around’ construction, with a trape-zoidal insert on the inner side, a topband and a long triangular edging strip which was sewn to the vamp throat at the base and formed an overlapping flap for opening. The boot has only one vertical thong - on the outer side over the ankle, where it could be seen to best effect - and three series of

13, 14, 15 Late 12th-century boots. Scalę 1:3 approx.

slots, at the instep, on the inner side and at the heel, to support the drawstring. The string itself is only partly in place, but it seems possible that it was secured by a knot tied against the inside of the single perforation at the instep and then wound continuously upwards through the slots and thong. The purpose of the smali surviving knot in the other end of the drawstring is unclear.