"By _chausses_ was meant what we now call long stockings or hose. The
stockings were of the same colour and material as the braies, and were
kept up by the lower part of the braies being pulled over them, and tied
with a string.
"The shoes were made of various kinds of leather, the quality of which
depended on the way in which they were tanned, and were either of common
leather, or of leather which was similar to that we know as morocco, and
was called _cordouan_ or _cordua_ (hence the derivation of the word
_cordouannier_, which has now become _cordonnier_). Shoes were generally
made pointed; this fashion of the _poulaines_, or Polish points, was
followed throughout the whole of Europe for nearly three hundred years,
and, when first introduced, the Church was so scandalized by it that it
was almost placed in the catalogue of heresies. Subsequently, the taste
respecting the exaggerated length of the points was somewhat modified, but
it had become so inveterate that the tendency for pointed shoes returning
to their former absurd extremes was constantly showing itself. The pointed
shoes became gradually longer during the struggles which were carried on
in the reign of Philippe le Bel between Church and State.
|