comitatus shoemaking guide revised web

8/13/2019 Comitatus Shoemaking Guide Revised Web

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Comitatus Kit Guide Making Shoes

Comitatus Shoe making Guide

Stephen Kenwright and John Conyard

For a more thorough discussion of Late Roman footwear, see the article 'In Their Shoes' ySte Kenwright!

Choices To re"enact Late Roman military life, you don't needa spatha, mail, or a helmet, utyou do need decent footwear! The main options for are# $% sandals, shoes or oots! &%honailed or plain soles

Roman dress is ery comfortale in hot weather and Roman sandal styles are actually stillfashionale, as well as practical, ut one must e realistic aout the (reat )ritish Summer#there will proaly e rain and almost certainly mud to contend with at times not to mention

the horses* Soldiers will need shoes or oots# there is much etter eidence for shoes in thelate C+th, and they particularly suit caalry and Liing istory, ut most of us prefer etteran-le support for marches and infantry displays! onails are slippy on flagstones and roc-and might hae to e remoed for some floors and groundsheets, whilst plain soles are slippyon wet grass, mud, long grass or slopes! Soldiers will e.perience more prolems with thelatter, so most start with honailed an-le oots and then sort out a pair of plain soled shoesfor the odd indoor or town"ased occasion! For more pedestrian /couldn't resist, sorry% Liingistory you might find the opposite more conenient!

Dura boots 0any memers wear the empire"wide C1rdstyle usually termed calcei an-leoots /termed the 2Ramshaw3 y Carol an 4riel"0urray and pi.ie oots y fans%, which giegood an-le support and -eep the weather out surprisingly well! oweer, they are tric-y toma-e, re5uiring some s-ill with lasting, si6ing, shaping and assemling components, withinner and outer sole, triangular heel stiffener thinned towards the top, amp"to"toe seam,integral laces 7 eyelets and honails! Finds from 8wammerdam and 9indolanda canapparently e used as the asis for a pattern!

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Typical 1rdcentury calceusreconstruction


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They can e made with strong enough leather to proide good an-le support and carry aom"proof e.ternal sole strong enough for heay honailing! The integral laces are apotential wea- point, so err on the wider side at first! 0ost find the commercial ersions frome!g! ;lantagenet Shoes cost effectie considering time, materials, 5uality and duraility!

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8wammerdam an-le oot of lasted construction /after )ishop 7 Coulston &::


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Fell boots early &ndcentury 9indolanda finds include other enclosed e.ternal sole an-leoots which had separate laces, called 2Fell oots3 y Carol an 4riel"0urray and the2Chesterholm3 with oal, rather than round, lace holes! =hile these finds are een earlier

than the 4ura >uropos type calcei, illustrations in the possily )ritish C?thVergilius Romanusmanuscript seem to show roadly similar oots, which suggest reconstructions might e co"opted for the Late and Su"Roman periods /although honails are strictly Roman%! Readymade and honailed ersions of these and other styles hae een offered at a discountedprice for Comitatus group memers y ma-er Roin )rown of the Legio 9III, trading asRigorali at http#@@www!rigoreali!co!u-@" en5uire politely efore ordering! They are also hard

to ma-e yourself, ut a cheap imitation can e made y modifying the 4eepee-a model of the4ura >uropos type calceus,cutting off the laces and trimming the an-le height, then holingand re"lacing with separate leather thonging!

One pieceshoes or carbatinaeare of simpler construction and can e worn with an e.ternal

sole and inner soles for comfort and duraility! The typical C&nd" 1rdforms consisted ofpierced rays, loops or Aust lace holes set around the sole which are simply gathered up oerthe foot and laced closed li-e a highland dancer's ghillie, centrally or meeting closer to one

side! 0ore sophisticated ersions with more shaped amps were found with the early C+th

caalry helmet at 4eurne! Fortunately, they are surprisingly easy to ma-e yourself, so this

guide will focus on them!

Salvianus Page1of $: Stephen Kenwright 2008

Late C1rd lasted low shoe from 9indolanda unfolded upper showing lasting margin

/dashed line%, outer and inner sole /after an 4riel"0urray &::$%
http://www.rigorevali.co.uk/http://www.rigorevali.co.uk/


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Materials

Footwear can e made from egetale tanned cow leather aailale e!g! from#http#@@www!lepreo!co!u-@hides!htmlor rawhide! Bou will enefit from thic- hide /e!g! ?mm% fore.ternal soles /say @D o6%! Bou can use soft hide for the upper, for e.ample +@? o6, althoughsome e.periments suggest thic-er leather can still e an adantage!

Bou will need an awl, leather needles, pliers, strong linen thread, a craft -nife and somethingto cut on, some newspaper @ card to draw patterns on, a felt mar-er and perhaps a pair ofscissors, some plastic ags and a role of gaffer tape!

To attach an e.ternal sole, you can sew them or use honails! (ood nails come from Stee4unford, :$D


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C+th 4eurne Shoe /after )ishop 7 Coulston &::


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Method 4raw a round your foot and cut it out to ma-e a sole template, then ma-e a patternto fit it# print out and low the picture up to H1 on a copier until the sole outline is inch lessthan your actual sole si6e! ne needn't worry aout the fancy decorated cut"outs! Hs theoriginal has li-ely distorted whilst in the ground and feet are ery aried in shape, this is not

an e.act science, so e rae* Some memers hae made up a trial piece in a cheap it ofleatherette etc! so they -now they are happy with the design efore cutting out their estleather! It will help you to cut out if you can print the final ersion of the pattern onto card!It's a good idea to -eep a spare or two in case of wear 7 tear in the cutting process*

ne method to fit shoes to the foot more e.actly is to wrap a plastic ag around the foot /withany soc-s you intend to use on%, then wrap this with a good layer of gaffer tape so it conformsto the foot and reaches to the desired height on the an-le! se scissors to cut the mold offyour foot carefully, slitting it Aust enough to allow you to open it out flat, leaing the roughshape of the 4eurne pattern or similar when flat# you now hae a tape ased pattern whichwill fit li-e a gloe or, if youGe done really well, li-e a shoe! Bou can transfer that to card, or

Aust use it to si6e the aoe pattern more e.actly! This gies you the shape of the upper, withintegral sole!

Bou can choose to add multiple e.tra sole layers if you wish To do this, use your soletemplate to cut a few e.tra soles, ta-ing ?mm off all around your sole template for the shapeof the inner sole! ne can uild up to &?mm high from ? layers this was done mostly withinsoles on C&ndfinds from ard-nott fort, with ? or < laminae laced together efore nailing!Eote that insoles of arying thic-ness could e used to gie additional height at the ac- ofthe foot, ut strictly spea-ing did not 'step up' li-e modern heels!

Sew the shoes up inside out! Bou Aust need to stitch at the ac- and front! H ariety of

stitches were used in Roman times, including tunnel stitch e!g! for the concealed seams ofheel reinforcements! ppers were usually Aoined with plain or lap seams, ut some wereutted! Eote that on the originals, the toe area was sewn to to the upper at the top, giing aslightly moccasin loo-, rather than at the sole leel, presumaly to reduce wear and tear andwater lea-s! Soa- the shoe and turn it rightside out! 4ry it off! Eail the e.ternal soles to theupper, clamping the nails oer! Stic- your insole inside! Stic- in a piece of leather as a healstiffener! Bou can stainthem lac-! Rip"cord aroundthe edges for a specialfinish!

It should loo- li-e this /uthopefully in ettercondition*%#

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The ery low @ open campagus seems to hae deeloped an assymetric cutting pattern! Hnearlier e.ample from Low am can form the asis of a pattern for reconstructions! >.amplesfrom the Eetherlands demonstrate the ariety of forms possile!

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The 4eurne shoe $ assemled

The 4eurne find included two low shoes generally identified as campagi militares/early C+th%%


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Salvianus Pageof $: Stephen Kenwright 2008

Low am campagus cutting pattern, early C+th /after an 4riel"0urray $DM%


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Late Roman footwear from CuiA-, Eetherlands, replicas y laf (ouit6

/after an 4riel"0urray &::M%


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Sandals pen topped soleaare simple to ma-e for light use! The soles can e made doulethic-ness and een honailed /though they are perhaps more useful plain, to slip on whenyou want to protect indoor flooring%! H thong is run y the ig toe is pushed through a slit inthe soles and held y a heart shaped end Aust li-e modern 'flip"flops', or threaded ac- forstrength, as aoe! They can hae an-le straps added to -eep them on more securely!

4ecoration scored set in from the edge /when the leather is wet% is typical of our period,echoing the mar-s of thonging or nailing on doule soles een when single!

appy coling together*

Than-s to 0artin 0oser, ;aul >lliott and arious memers of Comitatus for their help inpreparing this article!

Salvianus Page$:of $: Stephen Kenwright 2008

Sandal from CuiA-, Eetherlands C+th

comitatus shoemaking guide revised web

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