40022 shoes&pattens9

Shoes from London sites, 1100-1450

Table 6. Shoes (all sizes) from ‘Baynards Castle’, late 14th century.
	Buckie	Front- laced	Side- laced	Front- latchet	Side- latchet	Buckie or latchet	Toggle	Not known	Total
Shoe	51	11	2	44	30	25	2	37	202
Ankle-shoe	4	17	12	1	—	1	1	8	44
Boot	—	—	4	—	—	—	—	2	6
Not known	18	10	1	14	2	18	—	102	165
Total	73	38	19	57	32	44	3	149	417

Table 7. Shoes (all sizes) from Trig Lane, late 14th century.

	Buckie	Front- laced	Side- laced	Front- latchet	Side- latchet	Buckie or latchet	Toggle	Not known	Total
Shoe	—	—	—	1	—	_	_	4	5
Ankle-shoe	—	1	8	—	—	—	—	—	9
Boot	—	1	6	—	—	—	—	—	7
Not known	—	19	5	10	—	4	-	11	49
Total	-	21	19	11	-	4	-	15	70

paratively rare at ‘Baynards Castle’ (cf. Figs. 55 & 58); and the high proportion of the latter -almost invariably from ankle-shoes or boots -could be regarded as part of a broader trend whereby this type of footwear steadily increased in popularity from the mid 14th to the early 15th centuries (cf. Tables 5 and 11).

If, therefore, the Trig Lane group seems to fit the pattern established from other London sites, ‘Baynards Castle’ is clearly at variance with it. Seasonal factors might be held partially respon-sible - perhaps shoes were worn morę often in summer and boots or ankle-shoes in winter - but the distinctive naturę of the assemblage is empha-sised still further by the fact that very few of the soles have been repaired; fewer than 9 per cent of the total, compared with a rangę of 35-50 per cent in other London groups (cf. p. 89-90 and Table 15). This could imply that the shoes came from households that were rather wealthier than average, or even possibly, in a few cases, from the Royal Wardrobe, which in the 14th century lay just to the north of the ‘Baynards Castle’ site. Consistent with this is the observation that many shoes are ąuite remarkably pointed, a feature that doubtless could have been afforded only by the morę fashion-conscious elements in society.

As shown above (p. 26), a rather broad, rounded toe style was favoured in the mid 14th century, but in the last ąuarter of the century almost every type of shoe was at least slightly pointed. This can be seen from Table 8, which is an expression of the rado between the length of the shoe beyond the end of the foot and the length of the foot itself, as estimated from impressions left by the toes or bali of the foot; the ratio is tabu-lated, first, in conjunction with the fastening types (8a) and, secondly, in comparison with the actual foot lengths converted to their modern shoe size equivalents (8b). From this it can be seen that side-laced boots and front-laced shoes or ankle-shoes seem to have had the shortest points - no morę than would be consistent with their sug-gested workaday function - and that low-cut, buckled or latchet-fastened shoes seem to have had the longest (Table 8a). At ‘Baynards Castle’, these ‘poulaines’, which were notorious in their day and are well documented in contemporary literaturę and illustrations (see below, pp. 115—7), sometimes reached a length of over 100 mm and were normally stuffed with moss or hair so as to retain their shape. Even some of the tiniest children’s shoes had quite pronounced points (cf. Figs. 53-4), although, as might be expected, the