Early modern shoes and the ‘minimalist’ approach to footware

[Hans Hellinger]

Back in the punk rock days, there was a long running debate. Which is better for fighting, converse high tops which were almost like being barefoot, or big heavy boots. The former gave you more control for moving around more quickly, the latter turned your feet into weapons and made it safer to run across broken glass, hop barbed wire fences and so on.

Medieval fencers and infantry seemed to like the Kuhlmul or ‘cows mouth’ shoes, but Meyer seems to have his own version which sometimes seems to have been slashed like landsknecht clothing.

Most shoes prior to 1600 would seem to be rather minimalist by today’s standards.

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