[MR] Wikipedia: Pigache, Pointed-toe Shoes 1.0

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Today in Wikipedia's "Did You Know . . . ?) section, there is a teaser
about shoes called "pigaches". These were the first major European middle
ages manifestation of shoes with long pointed toes as a fashion trend.

Pigaches (aka "pulley shoe" and other names) had exaggerated toes which
turned upward and were often stuffed to make them look like rams' horns,
sometimes adorned with a small bell. They appeared in the late 11th century
and were popular throughout the 12th. Pigaches may have been introduced
into England by one Robertus Cornardus (aka "Robert the Horney"), a
courtier to King William Rufus.

Pigache shoes were forbidden to English clergy by St. Anselm in 1102,
possibly as a useless vanity. Hatred of the shoes was echoed by other
religious authorities in the following years into the 13th century.
The shoes were blamed for all sorts of social ills, including licentious
behavior. Their use died out during the Black Death in the 14th century.

For the story see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigache .

That was not the end of pointed-toe shoes though. Just when authorities
thought they had . . . uh . . . stomped out this terrible fashion trend, it
came roaring back in the late 14th century as the poulaine, an even more
extreme toe-elongation. Call it Extended Toe 2.0, if you will. The poulaine
supposedly was first fashionable in Poland, thus the name. In this variant,
the toes became so long that they were sometimes connected by cords to a
belt. The Burgundian court, leaders in all things fashionable, loved
poulaines. English King Edward IV detested them, and completely banned
manufacture of shoes with pointed toes more than two inches long in 1465.
Poulaines went out of fashion in the 1480s when French King Charles VIII
made broad-toe shoes popular (he had six toes on each foot, not an
uncommon mutation).

More about poulaines is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poulaine .

Thank goodness for Red Wing chukka boots, the salvation of my feet at SCA
events.

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Continuing the quest to keep Merry Rose relevant.