# Medieval Shoes are Surprisingly Simple to Make.

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** Bernadette Banner
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JeaRTR6PpE
- **Источник:** https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/44420

## Транскрипт

### Segment 1 (00:00 - 05:00) []

(gentle music) (nailing clinking) - [Bernadette] What about historical shoemaking draws you specifically? - I like the sort of simplicity to it. You have to take your time with making it. You can't just wizz it through a machine. And I like the detective work. There's something a lot more satisfying about digging through little archeological reports where there's a fragment of leather here, and there's a little bit there, and there's a paragraph in a book that somebody has written, that I find much more satisfying. You know, would I get this much joy from making modern shoes? I just don't think I would. - Do you ever find yourself in the admittedly rather niche position of needing a pair of 15th century appropriate shoes? Because I have, that is very much the situation that I am in currently. But unfortunately, as with styles that went out of fashion 600 years ago, this is not exactly the thing that one can just go onto the worldwide web and place a next day shipping order for. We're going to have to go to a shoemaker and have a pair of shoes made, which also means we get to learn about the process. So I'm about to head off to the countryside to go pay a visit to historical shoemaker friend, Eva, who is going to teach us the surprisingly simple method of making medieval shoes. (train humming) What better way to occupy our time on the train journey than to catch up with the latest drama happening over in June's Journey, the compelling Hidden Objects mystery game that we all know and love around here, and the sponsor of this video who allow us to take on projects like this. The game's eighth anniversary is coming up, or shall I say spooky-versary, because this year's theme is all things creepy and mysterious. There are going to be loads of special events happening throughout the month, including a brand new mystery set out for you by June herself. There will be exclusive new Halloween-themed decorations for your island, which I will most definitely be endeavoring to collect all of, because your girl is Halloween trash. But I personally also have a fun little June's journey theme surprise coming for you later this month. Let's just say there is ghost hunting involved, and for some reason a giant whisk, but. So if you're not yet a June's Journey player, now is definitely a great time to jump in. There's gonna be so much going on this month. And for those of you who are already June's Journey players, get hype. Download June's Journey for free by clicking the link below or by scanning the QR code on screen. And, oh look, it's our stop. (gentle music) - Welcome to Stan's workshop. (chuckles) Yes, he's the brains behind it all. - [Marlee] It smells so good in here. - [Bernadette] Yeah, I love the smell of leather. - Medieval shoes. (hands smack) What do you wanna know? (chuckles) - [Bernadette] What sort of sources do you look to find out what these shoes were looking like and how they were made? - Obviously, if you can look at surviving examples, that's the best thing. - Yeah. - But the further back you go in time, the harder that gets. - Right. - So looking at surviving shoes, looking at fragments of surviving shoes as well, you can often tell by sort of impressions left on the leather, how they were stitched together. And then also in paintings and memorial brasses, because they often had- - Oh yeah. - [Eva] their little feet poking out at the bottom. - Yeah! - So some of them you can see how they've laced up or the decoration on them. So they can be decorated in all sorts of different ways, depending on how wealthy you are style-wise. So when we think of medieval shoes, you always have the ones with the big pointy toes. And they're not that fashionable In the 1430s. The super duper ridiculous pointy toes are kind of slightly earlier, and then they come back slightly later. - So by this point, we're not quite going full Timothee Chalamet, but we still do have a little bit of point in the shoe. - There's a bit of point. They're just a sort of gentle point to the toe. The love of my life is this book. My house was burning down, this is what I would take. He's categorized all the archeological finds into types of shoes by, you know, do they have a buckle? Are they side lacing? Are they slip on? Look at these ones. This is so jazzy. (chuckles) Shoes at this period, they're built quite differently to how we make shoes today. So cut out your uppers, which are the top bit of the shoe that you see. You stitch them together, you put any reinforcements in, you then cut out your sole, stick that on the bottom, and then you just sew round the edge and sew it altogether. So they're basically the same as clothes, where you make them inside out, and then you turn them the right way around. That has its pros and cons. It means you have a lovely quick shoe that you can make, and it's quite flexible, and it's like wear walking barefoot sometimes. But it means that you wear through them quite quickly. And so that's why later on, they change the way they make them. But yeah, at this point, we're very much in the like heyday of the turn shoe. This little bit of leather sort of shows it quite well. Depending on where it is on the hide

### Segment 2 (05:00 - 10:00) [5:00]

it has different qualities. This is sort of running up the back of the animal, and so you've got sort of nice thick bits in the middle, but obviously, around the edges where it's almost like around their wrists, it's a lot thinner, it's a lot stretchier. You probably wouldn't wanna use that for a shoe because it will stretch in weird ways. It's not as strong. You generally wanna like use the sort of thicker middle leather in the middle of the back and sort of round the butt, basically. That's the strongest bit. (water splashing) (gentle music) (scissors click) This is beeswax and resin. It's sticky and will strengthen the linen thread, and also just help the stitches. It'll just adhere to the leather a little bit better. - [Bernadette] Yeah. - [Eva] Your uppers, they're usually made of two, maybe three parts. So you'd have the front, the vamp, and then you have the sort of the back, which sometimes is split into two, so they're called quarters. But at this point, often they're just one piece around the back. So yeah, you sew the seams, they're all saddle stitched, so you stitch with both ends of the needle, and that way you get like a little knot in between each stitch. So it just makes it really, really strong. And then I've hammered all the seams down, and making sure it's as flat and as comfortable as possible. You put any reinforcements in. So I've put heel stiffness, but you have them around, you know, if you've got seams for lacing, you put them around, but anywhere that there's gonna be particular tension on it. So this will just make it a little bit easier to stitch through without stitching all the way through. (thread rustling) So I'm just trying to like come out the side of the leather there. You see, I'm just catching it, but I'm not going all the way through to the other side, which I've like tried doing with awls, and all sorts of different ways. And it turns out, just soaking it and doing it with a blunt needle is the easiest way to kind of do it. (thread rustling) - [Bernadette] That's so cool. I'm sure this is a very basic question. I mean, obviously the shoes are like left and right. When did that become a thing? Is there a specific period? Has it always been like that? - [Eva] It's not a basic question. (chuckles) - [Bernadette] Oh yeah, no, that's actually- - It's really not- - a really good question. - a basic question. Most early shoes we think have left and rights. I think Roman shoes Medieval shoes pretty solidly have left and rights. And then it changes in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. That's when they become straight-lasted, which is where you just have, you have like a symmetrical foot, basically. You have no left and right. You wear them into a left and right. And that's the abnormality, because then again, once you get sort of industrialization of shoemaking in the 19th century, you go back to having left and rights. So I'm not sure why they changed. Maybe it's easier to just make 10 straight-lasted shoes instead of doing five lefts and five rights, which is a bit more effort. You'd have to have twice as many lasts, then if you have a straight-lasted one, 'cause then people always go on about like, "Oh, well, you know, you'd swap them over so that you never had a left and a right. but I don't think that's true at all. I think the ones we've found that are like worn from the 18th century, we can tell that there's a left and right foot. They're just made without it. You know, they're not swapping the shoes around every single day, 'cause I think that'd be uncomfortable anyway. (gentle music) - Is this similar to the shoe that we did for "Greensleeves? " - Yes, that was a turn shoe. - Is it exactly the same? - More or less. So, I mean, this was my mockup for "Greensleeves," which you can see is a turn shoe. But I am gonna add a rand to our pair, which is just a really thin strip of leather that's just sandwiched between the sole and the upper. And that just adds a bit of protection to that seam along here. Stops too much water going in, and just makes it a bit hard-wearing, which I didn't do for the "Greensleeves" ones because the "Greensleeves" ones were just like, they were indoor shoes. They were never meant to be hard-wearing. Whereas if, I guess if you're going to war, you probably want nice dry feet. So I thought I'd try putting a rand in. Let's cut some leather there. There it is. (upbeat medieval music) (blade scraping) We'll cut another one. (blade scraping) (gentle medieval music continues) So I'm just gonna skive the edges of these down a little bit so that we get that sort of triangular shape, and that just means it sits a bit better against, compared to just being sort of flat against. - [Bernadette] Yeah, that's all the air coming out.

### Segment 3 (10:00 - 15:00) [10:00]

It screams. Wow. (chuckles) - [Eva] The holes don't go all the way through. They go out the side. And you also cut a little channel around the edge, and that just sinks the stitches into it. So again, as you walk on the inside of the shoe, you're not gonna wear through those stitches because they're just hidden underneath the surface. All of it helps make it last a little bit longer. So here I'm trying to come out the side of the leather and as close to the middle as I can. I don't wanna be too shallow 'cause otherwise you lose the strength. But I don't wanna be right on that edge because otherwise you've got that piece of thread as close to the ground as it could be, (chuckles) and you kind of don't want that. So getting the angle is always a bit trickier. (upbeat medieval music) (upbeat medieval music continues) You don't have to use shoe last for turn shoes. I have done because it's a bit easier to get the measurements right and to sort of build the shoe around the last. Let's put the sole on first. (gentle medieval music) (hammer tapping) I'm trying to minimize the amount of holes in the bottom of the sole for obvious reasons. So I'm going back to the ones I used before when I was cutting it out. (hammer tapping) But what I will do is I'll just sort of, when I'm done, I'll turn it over and I'll stamp like I did on these ones. And that just helps close up the hole a little bit. - [Bernadette] Wow, interesting. - [Eva] But I have seen a few medieval soles where you can still see the three little pinholes. So they obviously weren't too bothered about it. Make sure it's all in the right place. I'm gonna start by kneeing in heel and the toe just to hold it all in the right place. (hammer tapping) Obviously, there'll be folds of leather, but I'm trying to make sure they are underneath, because that'll all get cut off later on. (hammer tapping) There we go. We have basically a shoe. - [Bernadette] Hmm. - [Eva] I mean, I say basically, but there's still a fair bit to do, but ta da! - Yeah. - [Eva] There you go. Shall we sew it? - [Bernadette] Yeah. - [Eva] But the thing is, is you've poked all the holes through first. So you're not using it like a needle to poke the hole. You're literally just using it to guide the thread through the existing hole. I'm also covering the awl in beeswax and resin just so it, you're not forcing the leather as much, it should glide through a little bit easier. And now I'm gonna go through, and I'm just gonna catch the rand and the upper. - [Bernadette] So does the rand show on the outside? - It should do, yes. And it's sort of like a little flap that will just protect it. Okay, so got that first one in. Another thing I'd like to do is look at some originals and see how big their stitches are, 'cause I think we have that sort of like Victorian idea of like, "Ooh, thousands and thousands of teeny tiny little stitches. " Again, I don't think they were fussed about that in the medieval period. They're working to earn a living and churn out as many shoes as they can really. - [Bernadette] This does look like really tough work. - It's really hard on like your wrists and your arms and your fingers. - [Bernadette] Yeah. - [Eva] Apparently, from what I've heard, the word on the street amongst historical shoemakers is that if you do it for too long, you go mad. (chuckles) I mean, I would argue I'm already mad to be doing this, so. (both chuckling) - [Bernadette] How long does it take to make a pair of shoes? - [Eva] I mean, it all depends on how elaborate you wanna go. So turn shoes are quicker, but if you're good, I reckon you could churn them out pretty quickly in like less than a day, maybe. (bells jingling) Stan is so noisy. (both chuckling) (bells jingling) I don't know if he's as chuffed with his new collar as I am, but I love it 'cause it's got his little name on it. - [Bernadette] Oh, did you make his collar? - [Eva] I did. I made it the other night. - [Bernadette] Oh! - [Eva] When I was bored of making shoes and was like, "I need an easy quick win. " (chuckles) Oh, he's loving the fuss.

### Segment 4 (15:00 - 19:00) [15:00]

You can gave him a little chin scratch. That's what he really loves - [Bernadette] Oh yeah. (chuckles) (gentle medieval music) (blade scraping) (leather squeaking) (hammer tapping) (gentle medieval music continues) (water gurgles) - [Eva] That will sit in there for a couple of hours, maybe. Leave it for a little bit, come back and see how soft it is, and then we can turn it. - [Bernadette] And now for the grand reveal, and the important step which gives medieval turn shoes their name, turning them out so that all the construction gets safely protected from wear and tear. - [Eva] Now we have a shoe. Yoo hoo! There we go. Viola! (gentle medieval music continues) - [Bernadette] The shoes have made their way back to our studio in London, and they've barely had a moment outside their packaging when they're immediately whisked back on a train for the next phase of their life. I took a moment to slip them on at the station just to get a feel for them, and oh my, are they lightweight? Personally, I love being barefoot whenever possible. And I love shoes that feel like part of my feet. So I was really vibing with these. The soles are super flexible so you can really feel the shape of the ground under your feet, albeit a bit duller. So the rocky bits don't actually hurt, which I loved. I don't expect they would keep your feet very dry in the rain, which thankfully, it wasn't today. And as I would discover later, after standing on a cold floor for a few hours, don't really do that much to keep your feet very warm. But they would be absolutely delightful for walking through grass and fields, as I expect many 15th century perambulators were doing. Perhaps less so though on hard roads. In fact, when I ran into one of my hosts in route to my destination, the first thing I was asked was, "Have you been attacked by a pebble yet? " Thankfully, I had not. And the shoes saw me very safely to the armory. These shoes are going to be part of a big Joan of Arc themed project we're currently working on in the studio, part of which involves the addition of some leg armor. But in order to build the sabatons, or the foot protection, the armors will need a pair of shoes in the shape of the sabatons that we're going for. Hence our sort of retroactive decision to commission a pair of 15th century shoes, which also ended up giving us a great opportunity to learn about the process of 15th century shoemaking, so I'm not complaining. Matt and his team over at Lancaster Armory, who are building the leg armor for this project, have to hold onto the shoes in order, once again, to build the sabatons. So the shoes will be once again returned to the studio with their accompanying sabatons. This whole project is a collaboration between fantastic textile and now metal artisans coming together to reinterpret a Joan of arc themed armor gown. So if you missed part one of the designing of this project, that will be linked on screen for you here if you would like to go and catch up. And be notified of further parts in this series, do be sure to hit subscribe. Thanks once again to June's Journey for sponsoring this video, and for allowing us to take on big projects like this. Link's below if you would like to investigate more. (gentle mysterious music) (moves to upbeat music) - Stanley thinks he's hunting the door. You get 'em. What are you doing in there? - Oh my God, Stan wants to be our new cameraman. - I think he's found his calling here. - Yeah. - Camera Stan. - Oh my God, you are a menace to polite society. (Bernadette chuckling) I think we might have just as much Stan footage as we have leather. That's fine with me.