Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1981, Page 242

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A pair of Hide Shoes
size would seem to suggest that these shoes were made for a woman.
Where, then, can we find any points of comparison for the type
represented by the Leksvik shoes?
Even though most of the remains of shoes found during excava-
tions of our medieval cities consist of soles only, and although com-
plete shoes or boots are fairly rare among these finds, it is quite
clear that footwear of the type represented by the Leksvik shoes
was not in common use in the cities at that time. The details of the
medieval types of shoes vary greatly, following the changing fashions,
but they all have one important feature in common: they are stitched
together from two main parts — sole and uppers. Only one of the
medieval shoes found forms an exception to this rule — in 1918 a
small shoe of thin leather, made from one piece, was found on a
vacant lot at Gamlebyen in Oslo. Its heel was stitched together with
a thong, and it was laced with a thong in front of the instep.7)
Sigurd Grieg assumes that this shoe is of an older type than those
normally found in the medieval city sites.
An examination of the finds of shoes from the medieval cities and
castles in other parts of Scandinavia gives the same result: Sweden
has yielded considerable finds of shoes and remains of shoes, espe-
cially from the cities of Lund, Kalmar and Uppsala, but also from
other medieval cities, such as Sigtuna and Visby.8) The material
comprises a great many forms and variations reflecting the demands
fashion made on footwear for different purposes: tall shoes or boots
(k)angor), ankle-high shoes (oskulskuar) and several types of heavy,
slipper-like low shoes, including the so-called soccus. Shoes and boots
could be drawn tight either by means of lacing or by thongs above
the instep or at the side. But they all have one feature in common
— they have soles. In other words — they consist of two principal
parts, soles and uppers. Footwear cut from one piece, like the Leksvik
shoes, does not occur at all in the Swedish medieval material.9) To
the best of my knowledge this is true also of the Danish material,
such as the comprehensive find from the castle site Boringholm near
Horsens in Jutland.10) As POUL NØRLUND emphasizes,11) the
shoe with a sole is typical of the Middle Ages; shoes of the Leksvik
type were not consistent with the fashions normally followed in
the cities and castles of the time.