Patten (shoe)
Pattens, also known by other names, are protective overshoes that were worn in Europe from the
Names
The word patten probably derives from the
Medieval period
Pattens were worn during the
Types
There were three main types of pattens. One of these types had a wooden 'platform' sole raised from the ground, either with wooden wedges or iron stands. A second variant had a flat wooden sole, often hinged. The third type had a flat sole made from stacked layers of leather. Some later European varieties of these pattens had a laminated sole; light wooden inner sections with leather above and below.
In earlier varieties of pattens, dating from the 12th century on, the stilt or wedge variety were more common. From the late 14th century, the flat variety became increasingly common. Leather pattens became fashionable in the 14th and 15th centuries, and in London, appear to have begun to be worn as shoes over hose in the 15th century, spreading to a much wider section of the public.[2] Most London patten soles were constructed of alder, willow, or poplar wood.[2]
In 1390, the Diocese of York forbade clergy from wearing pattens and clogs in both church and processions, considering them to be indecorous—contra honestatem ecclesiae.[3] Conversely, the famous rabbi Shlomo ibn Aderet (the Rashba, c. 1233 – c. 1310) of Aragon was asked if it was permissible to wear patines on Shabbat, to which he replied that it was the custom of "all the wise in the land" to wear them, and was certainly permitted.[4]
Since shoes of the period had thin soles, pattens were commonly used mainly because of unpaved roads, as well as the fact that indoor stone floors were very cold in winter. Furthermore,
) — was usually thrown directly into the street (often with minimal advance warning), making full foot contact with such an unpleasant surface highly undesirable. Thus, pattens tended to only make contact with the ground through two or three strips of wood and raised the wearer up considerably, sometimes by four inches (ten centimetres) or more, in contrast to clogs, which usually have a low, flat-bottomed sole integral to the shoe.Early Modern period
A later pattern of patten which seems to date from the 17th century, and then became the most common, had a flat metal ring which made contact with the ground, attached to a metal plate nailed into the wooden sole via connecting metal, often creating a platform of several inches (more than 7 centimetres).
Etiquette and practicality
Wearing of pattens inside church was discouraged, if not outright forbidden: perhaps because of the noise they made, the oft-commented "clink" being the consensus term for the sound;
she disliked many of the customs of the place, and particularly dreaded the cold damp arising from the flag floors in the passages and parlours of Haworth Parsonage. The stairs, too, I believe, are made of stone; and no wonder, when stone quarries are near, and trees are far to seek. I have heard that Miss Branwell always went about the house in pattens, clicking up and down the stairs, from her dread of catching cold.[8]
Pattens were not always easy to walk in, and despite their practical intention, literary evidence suggests that they could appear, at least to males, as a further aspect of feminine frailty and dependency. Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary for 24 January 1660:
Called on my wife and took her to Mrs Pierce's, she in the way being exceedingly troubled with a pair of new pattens, and I vexed to go so slow.
From the Middle Period Poems of John Clare (1820s):
She lost her pattens in the muck
& Roger in his mind
Considered her misfortune luck
To show her he was kind
He over hitops fetched it out
& cleaned it for her foot...
("hitops" are high boots)
From Thomas Hardy's The Woodlanders of 1887, though set earlier in the century:
he saw before him the trim figure of a young woman in pattens, journeying with that steadfast concentration which means purpose and not pleasure. He was soon near enough to see that she was Marty South. Click, click, click went the pattens; and she did not turn her head.
She had, however, become aware before this that the driver of the approaching gig was Giles. She had shrunk from being overtaken by him thus; but as it was inevitable, she had braced herself up for his inspection by closing her lips so as to make her mouth quite unemotional, and by throwing an additional firmness into her tread.
"Why do you wear pattens, Marty? The turnpike is clean enough, although the lanes are muddy."
"They save my boots."
"But twelve miles in pattens—'twill twist your feet off. Come, get up and ride with me."
She hesitated, removed her pattens, knocked the gravel out of them against the wheel, and mounted in front of the nodding specimen apple-tree.
Other uses of the term
The word could also be used as a term for a wooden soled shoe, that is a
The Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers
In
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Excavated Dutch pattens, c. 1465. Only two places contact the ground. (Archeological site of Walraversijde, near Ostend)
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Mid-15th centurypoulaines. The necessary pattens for outdoor use were usually even longer. (Detail of a 15th-century illuminated manuscript of Renaud de Montauban)
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The man on the right is wearing pattens. 1475–1480 (Table of the Mortal Sins. detail: Invidia)
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Left: German 15th-century wooden patten. Right: Dutch 18th-century patten of metal circle type. (Deutsches Schuhmuseum Hauenstein )
See also
Notes
- ^ "patten". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ a b c d Grew & al. (2001).
- OEDdespite quotation being in Latin: "clogges et pattenes"
- ^ "Medieval Jewish History: An Encyclopedia. Edited by Norman Roth, Routledge". Myjewishlearning.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- ^ "Children's pattens made in Montgomery, 19th century". Gathering the Jewels. Archived from the original on 10 October 2007.
- ^ Persuasion, start of Chapter 14
- OED
- ^ The Life of Charlotte Brontë, by Elizabeth Gaskell
- ^ "Pair of Pattens". Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
References
- Grew, F; et al. (2001), Shoes and Pattens, Museum of London, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, ISBN 0-85115-838-2.
External links
- Pattens and overshoes in 15th-century art
- Excavated German patten
- Scroll down to Finding a Patten of John Gough for good photos of a circle-type patten, and good text on Early Modern pattens
- Several examples of 18th-century women's pattens
- Pattens from Manchester Art Gallery
- Website of The Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers, history page
- "Pitter Patter of Pattens". www.shoesbyrobert.com. Shoes by Robert. Retrieved 1 November 2021. (making hinged pattens)