The pigache, also known by other names, was a kind of shoe with a sharp upturned point at the toes that became popular in Western Europe during the Romanesque Period. The same name is also sometimes applied to earlier similar Byzantine footwear.
The pigache, also known by other names, was a kind of shoe with a sharp upturned point at the toes that became popular in Western Europe during the Romanesque Period. The same name is also sometimes applied to earlier similar Byzantine footwear.
The English name pigache was borrowed from French, where the name was originally used for a kind of hoe and as a hunting term for a wild boar hoofprint longer on one side than the other. [2] It appeared in Medieval Latin as pigacia [3] [4] and pigatia . [5] The pigache is also known as the pigage, [6] pulley shoe, [7] [8] pulley toe, [1] or pulley-toe shoe. [9] Less often, Orderic Vitalis's terms of opprobrium are reworked into names: scorpion's tail or ram's horn shoe. [10] The name pigache is also sometimes also applied to earlier pointed Byzantine footwear from as early as the 5th century. [11] It is also simply glossed as a pointed-toe shoe [12] and sometimes conflated with the later poulaine.
The pigache had a pointed and curved toe, [6] which Orderic Vitalis compared with the tail of a scorpion [4] (quasi caudas scorpionum). [3] The shoes were sometimes stuffed to make the extension firmer and more erect. The end of the toe was sometimes adorned with a small bell. [6] The points of pigaches were, however, more moderate in length than the later poulaines [4] which spread from Poland in the 14th century.
The pigache was worn in the late 11th [12] and early 12th century [6] and excited the ridicule of poets and historians and the censure of clergy [4] to the point it is sometimes described as "notorious". [8] St Anselm banned its use by English clerics at the 1102 Synod of Westminster, alongside enacting the Gregorian Reform and prohibiting slavery, sodomy, clerical marriage, and the inheritance of benefices and other forms of simony. [13] As a returning papal legate, the former professor Robert de Courson banned other faculty of the University of Paris from wearing them in August 1215. [14] The same year, the Fourth Lateran Council also banned them for Catholic clergy. [15] [16] Orderic Vitalis blamed the creation of the pigache on Fulk of Anjou [7] (1043–1109), claiming he used it to disguise the deformity of his bunions [4] [17] [3] from his young bride Bertrade in 1089. [18] [19] The fashion historian Ruth Wilcox offers that it may have been a simple adaptation of the Normans' sabatons, which they had extended to a point and turned down in the late 11th century to better hold their stirrups during battle. [20]
The pigache became common in England under William Rufus (r. 1087–1100), whose courtier Robert the Horny (Robertus Cornardus) [17] used tow to curl the ends of his shoes into the form of a ram's horn [4] (instar cornu arietis). [21] Orderic blamed the spread as caused by and contributing to the effeminate men (effeminati) and "foul catamites" (foedi catamitae) involved in the royal courts of Europe, [17] while simultaneously describing how most courtiers adopted the fashion to "seek the favors of women with every kind of lewdness". [22] [23] William of Malmesbury similarly condemned the shoes in terms questioning the wearers' masculinity. [1] Guibert of Nogent, while no less dismissive, associated the style more with women and blamed its origin on footwear exported from Islamic Cordoba, whose residents he separately associated with effeminacy and homosexual rape. [1]
After its initial excesses reaching about 2 inches (5 cm) beyond the foot, [20] the style settled into a more conservative and compact form for a century until the Black Death and the spread of the still more excessive poulaine style from Poland in the mid-14th century. [12]
A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. Though the human foot can adapt to varied terrains and climate conditions, it is vulnerable, and shoes provide protection. Form was originally tied to function but over time shoes also became fashion items. Some shoes are worn as safety equipment, such as steel-toe boots, which are required footwear at industrial worksites.
Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serve the purpose of protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from rough ground; stability on slippery ground; and temperature.
The White Ship was a vessel transporting many nobles, including the heir to the English throne, that sank in the Channel during a trip from France to England near the Normandy coast off Barfleur, on 25 November 1120. Only one of approximately 300 people aboard, a butcher from Rouen, survived.
Converse is an American lifestyle brand that markets, distributes, and licenses footwear, apparel, and accessories. Founded by Marquis Mills Converse in 1908 as the Converse Rubber Shoe Company in Malden, Massachusetts, it has been acquired by several companies before becoming a subsidiary of Nike, Inc. in 2003.
Tabi are traditional Japanese socks worn with thonged footwear such as zori, dating back to the 15th century.
Orderic Vitalis was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. Modern historians view him as a reliable source.
A climbing shoe is a specialized type of footwear designed for rock climbing. Typical climbing shoes have a close fit, little if any padding, and a smooth, sticky rubber sole with an extended rubber rand. Unsuited to walking and hiking, climbing shoes are typically donned at the base of a climb.
Fulk IV, better known as Fulk le Réchin, was the count of Anjou from around 1068 until his death. He was noted to be "a man with many reprehensible, even scandalous, habits" by Orderic Vitalis, who particularly objected to his many women and his influential footwear, claiming he popularized the pigaches that eventually became the poulaine, the medieval long-toed shoe.
Flip-flops are a type of light sandal-like shoe, typically worn as a form of casual footwear. They consist of a flat sole held loosely on the foot by a Y-shaped strap known as a toe thong that passes between the first and second toes and around both sides of the foot. This style of footwear has been worn by the people of many cultures throughout the world, originating as early as the ancient Egyptians in 1,500 B.C. In the United States the modern flip-flop may have had its design taken from the traditional Japanese zōri, after World War II as soldiers brought them back from Japan.
A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armor that covers the foot.
Winklepickers or winkle pickers are a style of shoe or boot worn from the 1950s onward, especially popular with British rock and roll fans such as teddy boys. The feature that gives both the boot and shoe their name is the very sharp and long pointed toe, reminiscent of medieval footwear and approximately the same as the long pointed toes on some women's high-fashion shoes and boots in the 2000s. They are still popular in the goth, raggare and rockabilly subcultures.
Bertrade of Montfort, also known by other names, was a Norman noble from the House of Montfort. She was countess of Anjou (1089–1092) through her first marriage to Fulk the Rude and then queen consort of France (1092–1108) through her initially bigamous marriage to Philip I. Condemned in her era's ecclesiastical histories, she played a role in the popularization of pigache footwear and founded a daughter house of Fontevraud Abbey at Hautes-Bruyeres.
Chuck Taylor All-Stars or Converse All Stars is a sneaker manufactured by Converse. Initially developed as a basketball shoe in the early 20th century, its design has remained largely unchanged since its introduction. The shoe consists of a stitched upper portion, and a toe cap and outsole usually made of rubber. Although Chuck Taylors are made of various materials such as leather or suede, the original and most widely known version is made from cotton canvas. The innovative detail of the original shoe was the "loose lining" of soft canvas that was intended to provide flexibility and prevent blisters.
Toe socks are socks that have been knitted so that each toe is individually encased the same way as fingers within a glove.
Poulaines, also known by other names, were a style of unisex footwear with extremely long toes that were fashionable in Europe at various times in the Middle Ages. The poulaine proper was a shoe or boot of soft material whose elongated toe frequently required filling to maintain its shape. The chief vogue for poulaines spread across Europe from medieval Poland in the mid-14th century and spread across Europe, reaching upper-class England with the 1382 marriage of Richard II to Anne of Bohemia and remaining popular through most of the 15th century. Sturdier forms were used as overshoes and the sabatons of the era's armor were often done in poulaine style. Poulaines were periodically condemned by Christian writers of the time as demonic or vain. Kings of the era variously taxed them as luxuries, restricted their use to the nobility, or outright banned them. After becoming more common as women's footwear and expanding to awkward lengths, poulaines fell from fashion in the 1480s and were seldom revived, although they are considered an influence on some later trends such as the 1950s British winklepicker boots.
A liripipe is an element of clothing, the tail of a hood or cloak, or a long-tailed hood. The modern-day liripipe appears on the hoods of academic dress.
Ciocia is a kind of Italian footwear, now typically associated with the rural population of mountainous areas of Italy and the western Balkans. The traditional form of ciocie are made with large leather soles, tied to the leg by straps bound between the ankle and the knee. Rather than socks, a large piece of loose cloth was placed around the feet, ankles, and calves under the ciocie.
Pancartes were medieval historical documents, drawn up by a monastery, that recorded a sequence of gifts to the monastery. They were created in order that the whole group of grants or gifts could be confirmed by the ruler. They are known from Normandy and other northern French regions. Sometimes they were created over a number of years as successive gifts were added to the original document. Generally the various grants were tied together with a narrative usually quite short, that linked the various gifts to a short history of the religious house. These documents were a frequent product of monastic houses in Normandy during the early 11th century and afterwards. Normally, they were not a product of the lay administration's chanceries, but came from ecclesiastical sources.
Sibylla of Conversano was a wealthy Norman heiress, Duchess of Normandy by marriage to Robert Curthose. She was regent of Normandy during the absence of her spouse.
A duckbill, bearpaw or cow's mouth was a style of shoe with a broad toe which was fashionable in the 15th and 16th centuries. This style started with Charles VIII of France, who had an extra toe, and was later worn by Henry VIII of England. It replaced the excessively long toe of the poulaine but also tended to become impractical, as it became enlarged with stuffing and horns and so could be a foot wide, giving the wearer a waddling gait. It might also be adorned with slashes to show the fine lining and sumptuary laws were introduced to restrict all these excesses.
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