Open-back Shoes from the Southern Crypt in Piaseczno, Pomerania Province

Abstract

A discussion on modern shoes is limited on account of the scarcity of sources provided by archaeological research. This gap is to a certain extent filled by museum collections and iconography. This is why it is so important to publish new finds as one can only initiate discussion on isolated artefacts of open-back shoes based on such publications. Such a pair was found in the southern crypt of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Piaseczno. These are unique objects as it is possible to identify all their elements and to determine the quality of leather, which was rather thick. Their general state of preservation is good. The condition of the leather on the soles, heels, and uppers indicates that the shoes were intensively used when their owner was alive. There is no difference in cut between the left and the right shoe, however, deformations resulting from wearing allow to say which shoe was worn on which foot.

The pair of shoes found in Piaseczno and described above represents a valuable contribution to the discussion on open-back shoes. When interpreting such finds, the basic difficulty is the determination of their function. In specific circumstances, functions of overshoes and home shoes could to a certain extent overlap. However, it seems that in the modern era separate pairs of shoes were made to serve these different purposes. Unfortunately, the only evidence that would allow to lean towards one of the options involves the categories of massiveness and size of the shoes, and the diversity of the materials used.

The paper uses a number of names for open-back shoes (pattens, mules, chopines, slippers, pantables) to reflect the linguistic richness. There is no doubt that different designs used to have individual names, however, the scarcity of accounts makes it very difficult to reconstruct the linguistic reality of old.