The Shoe Quest...

[will]

Hello Stefan,
Kerstin and me met Bodo, the shoemaker, yesterday and ordered two pairs of shoes for ourselves. The shoes are of the style like the one from the picture below.
The price isn't fixed yet, because Bodo has little experience with that type (estimated price is 150€ for one pair).
We also asked him about his schedules for this year somewhere near you. He said he's doing a market somewhere near Munic this summer, but he couldn't remember the exact date. If you want to contact him, you can visit his hp at http://bododanneck.de .

[Andrea L Redden]

I managed to get in touch with Daire O'Rourke, who's writing the book on the shoes from the Dublin excavations, in May last year with a similar question only I do 1008AD.

Only a tiny proportion of surviving remains are from single piece shoes. I think they are native Irish and probably worn and lost by native Irish traders. The inhabitants of 10th and 11th c. Dublin wore composite shoes the style of the period and similar to other footwear from other Viking centers.

The shoes you showed in your first post look OK to me.

Andrea Willett
NVG Dubh-linn

[kerstin]

Thank you for checking, Andrea. So, the native irish should go well with the shoe Will posted then.

John, our one piece shoes will be finished in September. I'll post pictures then and let you know the exact price. The shoemakers were not sure, how much time the sewing is going to take, so we only got the estimated price.

Kerstin

[Andrea L Redden]

Hello Kerstin!

If native Irish, particularly earlier period, is what you do then the available evidence says so. I've added some scans of Irish shoe patterns and decoration. You'll notice your shoe is the top left-hand one. They're from pages 157-8 of Primitive Shoes by Margarethe Hald, Copenhagen, 1972, ISBN 87 480 7282 6. She's taken them from Lucas, A.T. 'Footwear in Ireland' County Louth Archaeological Journal, Volume XIII, No. 4, Dublin, 1956. If you can find a copy of that you'll have all the information you and your shoemaker needs. Unfortunately for me there's no library in Australia that subscribes to the County Louth Archaeological Journal as I'd kill for a copy myself. I'm probably going to have to get it photocopied by the British Museum & posted which will COST.

Bye for Now,

Andrea Willett

[brendan]

I hav emade a pair of the type 1 and they turned out moderately well on first attempt!
2 things:
- the strange way that the sides join is essential as it adds structural strength
- the "tongue" type thing that sticks out to the front of the shoe is really hard to do right. But I am sure that an experienced (as opposed to merely obsessive) shoe maker will be able to deal with that

Brendan

[Billy]

ahem,

this might help

http://www.geocities.com/billymagfhloin ... cle11.html

[Andrea L Redden]

YOU LEGEND!

Thanks,

Andrea

[kerstin]

Yes, these are the cuts Bodo showed us in his book, he calls them "the Lucas shoes", so we are talking about the same thing. He said the cut of the first type is not very difficult to make, but the actual sewing will be hard work as a very thick leather has to be used to make them stable. He thinks that "shoelaces" must have been used, the cut and the picture of the finding would suggest so. Thank you for the link, Brendan. It was good to find this back in the article, Page 370 ff...

Around the front of the shoe was a semi-circular slit on the edges ofwhich are holes for the string by which it was kept closed and made adjustable.

Brendan, do you have a photo of your shoes? I'd be interested to see them.

Kerstin

[brendan]

that was billy that provided the link!

I do not have a picture right now...must try and get one.

Brendan

[kerstin]

oops! Sorry
Thank you Billy!