Calcei boot pattern?

[Robert Vermaat]

You made these yourself? Wow..<br>
Will you add a picture of your self in complete gear to the top section?<br>
<br>
Valete,<br>
Valerius/Robert <p></p><i></i>

[Lucius Aurelius Metellus]

Hi Robert!<br>
Yes, I made all of my own clothing, armour, and equipment, from my head to my feet. Yes, I will post a photo of myself in the top section, although the best one I have is not so clear, my friend's camera that I borrowed was not so good. I don't have any body armour or shield yet, all I have is my ridge helmet and my spatha, whose grip I hand carved, but I will post a pic with me in my late Roman "uniform" (I use that term VERY loosely!) <p>Lucius Aurelius Metellus, miles gregarius, Secunda Brittanica</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=luciusaureliusmetellus@romanarmytalk>Lucius Aurelius Metellus</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v384/Lucius68/Lucius.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 9/19/04 5:40 pm<br></i>

[Anonymous]

Lvcivs,<br>
<br>
You are well on your way. Your kit looks great so far. I only hope my boots will turn out that well. I am drooling over Ivor Lawton's boots in Dan Shadrakes book. Although I may just make a pattern like yours.<br>
<br>
It looks like you made the toes seperat from the sides. Was this made from one piece and an additional sole?<br>
<br>
Also where did you get the orbiculi and segmentae from?<br>
<br>
Dave/Cicero <p>[url=http://www.freewebs.com/davekufner" target="top]www.freewebs.com/davekufner[/url]</p><i></i>

[Lucius Aurelius Metellus]

Hi Dave!<br>
Hope you are having a nice day. Thanks for your kind words. Yes, the toe of my boot is seperate from the uppers. The upper is one piece, stitched to an insole, and the "toe cap" then stitched to the insole and upper. Then three more layers of sole leather are added to the bottom of the insole, creating a sole about 5/8" thick. The soles are very stout, and I can easily march over rocky or rough terrain with no discomfort at all. They are almost as comfortable as modern sneakers on my feet. I still have to hobnail them, but I have to order the nails first. Good quality hobnails of the proper conical shape are difficult to find.<br>
Please forgive me, my understanding of Latin is minimal, so you will have to explain to me what you mean by orbiculi and segmentae? Once I know what they are, I will be happy to tell you where I got them.<br>
Hang in there with your boots, you can do it! The pattern is not hard at all, but make sure you measure well and make a "mock up" out of an old sock and duct tape, you don't want to mess up your leather. Leather can be very expensive, and once it's cut, there's no easy way to repair it...it can be very unforgiving! <p>Lucius Aurelius Metellus, miles gregarius, Secunda Brittanica</p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Lvcivs,<br>
<br>
Orbiculi are the circles on your tunica and segmentae are the squares on your tunica. Tunica=shirt.<br>
<br>
I'd be happy to know where you find your hobnails too.<br>
<br>
Dave <p>[url=http://www.freewebs.com/davekufner" target="top]www.freewebs.com/davekufner[/url]</p><i></i>

[Lucius Aurelius Metellus]

Hi Dave!<br>
I made them from a nice woven wool tapestry fabric, as close as I could come to a good Roman pattern in wool. The tunic itself is also soft wool. It looks bright red in the photo, but is actually a deep wine red in color.<br>
I have found some hobnails that might work, from a reenactment "sutler" in Rhode Island, but the name escapes me right at this moment. If you will give me about 30 minutes, I will find his site and post the info here for you. <p>Lucius Aurelius Metellus, miles gregarius, Secunda Brittanica</p><i></i>

[Lucius Aurelius Metellus]

Here you go Dave.<br>
www.najecki.com/repro/Shoes.html <br>
You can also get some good hobnails at Tremont cut nails. I think they call them "decorative wrought nails", or something like that. They might be a better bet, since you can order a larger quantity of them. Each of my boots will take about 80 hobnails in their soles.<br>
I hope this helps you out! <p>Lucius Aurelius Metellus, miles gregarius, Secunda Brittanica</p><i></i>

[aitor iriarte]

Well, to name them properly, the vertical strips are 'clavi'. If the patches would have been square instead of being round, they would have been called 'tabulae'.<br>
Nice equipment, Lucius, I'll try to e-mail you later!<br>
<br>
Aitor <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Ave Lucius,<br>
<br>
I want to congratulate you on your beautiful kit items. Very nice work indeed.<br>
<br>
I am curious about your boot construction. Are they made on a last? How is the upper attached to the sole? What weight leather did you use? Although everyone really has to figure out there own pattern to fit their foot, and ultimately make their own shoe, it would be a tremendous boon to the Roman world if you could provide a picture of your pattern, and a description of your construction techniques.<br>
<br>
I am building a shoe page for my website, and would be delighted to include a page on your shoes. If you are interested, please e-mail me offline.<br>
<br>
You can view my site at www.florentius.com <br>
<br>
Vale, Q Florentius Agrippa<br>
LEGVIVICPF <p></p><i></i>

[Lucius Aurelius Metellus]

Ave Jared,<br>
Thank you for your compliments!<br>
Yes, my boots are made on a wooden last. The upper is made in one piece, and stitched to the innermost layer of the outer sole using sinew, then the other layers are added to that one, and nailed on using hobnails. I usually add about three more layers of leather for the complete sole, bringing it to a thickness of approx. 5/8" to 3/4". Before I add the other sole layers, though, I attach the toe piece, which is seperate, and I stitch it to the same innermost sole layer, and then to the upper as well. I stitch it to the upper using a "edge-flesh butt seam", which gives an almost invisible seam on the outside of the boot, although you could make the stitches visible on the outside like the Vindolanda boot. The leather I used for the uppers is 4-5 ounce vegetable tanned leather, rubbed down completely with oil, which darkens the leather and gives it a nice russet color, and also softens and waterproofs the boots as well. They are very sturdy boots, as comfortable as modern sneakers to me, and the sole will wear out and have to be replaced before the uppers ever will.<br>
I did indeed make a pattern for them, but once I began construction, I had to tweak my pattern a bit from my original plans to make the toe fit to the uppers properly.<br>
I will try to find my pattern and instructions and send them to you. I don't mind if you post them to help other reenactors out. Others have helped me, so I don't mind returning the favor! <p>Lucius Aurelius Metellus, miles gregarius, Secunda Brittanica</p><i></i>

[FAVENTIANVS]

SALVE! Here are mine:

[Theodosius the Great]

Avete,

Does anyone know what the literary sources say about the color of Equestrian Boots ? I can only find literature on Senatorial boot colors.

Would red, white, or a combination of red/ white or red/ black have been used ?

Thank you ...

[Graham Sumner]

Hello Jaime

I have looked at the evidence which I have available and sadly that is not much and probably will not answer your questions.

Norma Goldman 'Roman Footwear', in 'The World of Roman Costume', Eds Sebesta and Bonfante, Wisconsin 1994, states that there is no literary or artistic evidence to indicate exactly how the equestrian shoeboots differed from those of he Senator. She adds that the edict of Diocletian puts them at a lower price.

However there is a small article on the three types of shoeboot including the equestrian published in German. H.R Goette, Mulleus, Embas, Calceus: Ikonografische Studien Zu Romischem Schuhwerk', Jahrbuch des Deutchen Archaeolgischen Instituts 103. 1988. pp.401-464

If you cannot read German the relevant illustration showing the three types of boot are reprinted in Osprey's 'Republican Roman Army 200-104 BC' N. Sekunda. 1996. The Equestrian boots are the same as the Senatorial boots but without all the straps and laces. Much plainer than those you have made Jaime. A pair are illustrated I believe on the equestrian statue of Nonius Balbus from Pompeii which should appear in many general books on the subject.

No indication of colour but if the equestrians were like every other Roman they would probably try and make their boots looks as close as the upper class Patrician and Senatorial boots as possible.

Hope this helps

Graham.

[Martin Moser]

Hi Graham,

allow me to slightly correct the title above: It should be

Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts

(- I realized when searching for the book) Looking forward to have a glimpse at it, thanks for mentioning it!

Another source is

Lau, Otto. Schuster und Schusterhandwerk in der griechisch-römischen Literatur und Kunst. Bonn 1965.

He writes that white was normally used for calceus muliebris, made of alumn tanned leather (p.119, ibid.). Calcei normally were black (p.117), the calceus patricius of reddish leather according to Isidor (p.147).

Examples of surviving 1st century AD calcei can be seen in

Göpfrich, Jutta: Römische Lederfunde aus Mainz. Offenbach: 1991

[Theodosius the Great]

Hello Jaime

I have looked at the evidence which I have available and sadly that is not much and probably will not answer your questions.

Hi Graham.

Thank you for checking.

If you cannot read German the relevant illustration showing the three types of boot are reprinted in Osprey's 'Republican Roman Army 200-104 BC' N. Sekunda. 1996.

Alas, I'm monolingual :roll: But I have the book and I just found the illustration you cited.

The Equestrian boots are the same as the Senatorial boots but without all the straps and laces. Much plainer than those you have made Jaime.

True, but mine look like a different type. Those others are all enclosed. I wonder if my type even appears in the Republican era. They're similar to the type worn by the Emperors. I've seen tribunes wearing them, but they're, of course, less elaborate.

No indication of colour but if the equestrians were like every other Roman they would probably try and make their boots looks as close as the upper class Patrician and Senatorial boots as possible

Hmm...it sounds like white is a safe color with perhaps a little bit of red.

Hope this helps

It narrows the possibilities down. Thank you very much, Graham.

Hi Martin.

He writes that white was normally used for calceus muliebris, made of alumn tanned leather (p.119, ibid.).

I've read about calceus patricius, calceus senatorius, and calceus equester. But who would've worn "calceus muliebris" ?

Calcei normally were black

That's so odd, IMO. I'm sure it's true, but I thought black was thought to be an unlucky color with the Romans. In Graham's "Roman Military Clothing (1)" he mentions the story of Crassus in Syria almost causing an incident with his men for wearing a black cloak :roll: This prompted him to ditch it for a more traditional general's cloak (purple).