Ancient shoes - with tales of falling over

[@robpegler6545]

Now there's a scene I want to see in a medieval war film: "I am your nemesis... _whoaahh!_" SPLAT "Ha! Now I have you... _aaarrgh!_" SPLAT

[@moritzkockritz5710]

sounds like a monty python skit

[@JonathanHilierChannel]

+Kyrill I agree xd

[@fan9775]

+Kyrill What's a Monty Python? Is it French? I don't like French, they taunt all the time!

[@EmperorGray]

Whisper "I've got you now! You're so dead!...yaah! CRASH Bridge master casually turns around. "Stab."

[@francisaustin6901]

lame

[@billlupin8345]

I'm not a reenactor, but I AM an engineer... maybe try hobnailing just the perimeter of your next set of shoes. It should still grip the earth, but when you're on pavement/stone, the leather at the center will grip.

[@Camcolito]

Sounds like problem solved to me.

[@dELTA13579111315]

Just put 1 inch long spikes every centimeter or so and use them as the weapon

[@lspthrattan]

Ooh, good idea! Thank you! (lol, the hobnail edging, I meant :) )

[@ulalaFrugilega]

"Dem Ingenieur ist nichts zu schwer" - German saying, translated: nothing's too difficult for an engineer.

[@emilychb6621]

@@lspthrattan Another option is to just hobnail the front of the shoe. The same way you do with spiked shoes for ice nowadays. When walking on soft ground (or ice) you fully roll the foot, and when on hard ground you walk with a more flat gait.

[@backseatslidepuzzle]

*i am your nemesis!*

[@fluffyzhangfei]

+Derp Derpson *draws sword* "Why!?" >:(

[@ICEknightnine]

+fluffyzhangfei because the plot said so!

[@palebluedot7435]

@@ICEknightnine and so that it was was murdered after begining my narration. About these..... Nemisi....nemesisis Rivals. *Spat*

[@engleberteverything421]

"I am your nemesis." -my nemesis

[@Tork789]

I now get the grasp why the muddy field at Agincourt was considered as one of the main reasons english won the battle.

[@Otto_Von_Beansmarck]

shoes didn't really play much of a part in it. as the main problem was their horses were getting bogged down in the mud

[@savethesnails9608]

@@Otto_Von_Beansmarck yeah but the horse shoes...

[@utewbd]

@@savethesnails9608 GOT EEM

[@cocobutter3175]

​@@utewbdTwo years later, after wondering about medieval shoes way too early in the morning, and these last two comments have me cackling, waking up everyone in the house.

[@ICEknightnine]

Shadow of mordor: Orc chief: "I am your nemesis!" *slips* Weaknesses: Fear of Caragors, Muddy surfaces

[@N3M3K3]

+ICEknightnine "Mordor" "Muddy surfaces" Oh dear

[@xBloodBoundx]

He ded..lol

[@aidanallen1976]

I wanna play that game again. I loved finding the coolest orc and letting him kill me multiple times so he'd be super fucking cool and then having one final boss battle.

[@TheRomanRuler]

Maybe only have nails near the sides of the shoes, so that center area where most weight goes on hard surface has no nails, but on soft surfaces you sink more so weight goes more on the sides, and those sides would have nails. In Finland that is how winter bicycle tires are made.

[@pnodi5584]

+TheRomanRuler your main wight would still be closer to center, and the solemly side nails wouldn't be enough to hold back a moving person. they are after all rounded pieces of iron (either by design or wear.)

[@user-jy2sj4ed4i]

@@pnodi5584 no

[@Isvoor]

I smile every time I hear authentiboots. I love that word.

[@markkim7348]

Authentiboots?

[@volusian95]

Let it be known that it probably wasn't one of Lindy's ancestors who took down the Viking on Stamford bridge

[@ulalaFrugilega]

Calgach V. Lol If it was, he'd be turning in his grave…

[@utewbd]

Your avatar really enhances the comment.

[@foobar201]

Suddenly, I understand why farmers would wear wooden clogs. Can't really run, but they will work on most surfaces.

[@MrDUneven]

Makes sense now.

[@eikons]

Having worn wooden clogs often as a kid, I can tell you they don't do well on slippery surfaces at all. We had a hard wooden balcony, which if it got wet was almost indistinguishable from ice when wearing clogs. I had fun sliding across it but it's a death trap if you're not expecting it. It's a lot like the wet bridge Lloyd was talking about in the video. The clogs do really well in the fields though, not particularly because of grip - but because they are thick and don't have any seams that let moisture through. It was the rubber boots of the pre-rubber-boot era.

[@VampireShogun]

The dent in My leg can attest to this.

[@jwenting]

foobar201 clogs work well on soft, boggy, muddy, surfaces. Not so much on cobbles or other hard surfaces.Main reason farmers use them is because they are a lot better for driving a spade into the ground than soft soled footwear, and they offer some protection from being hit by sharp things falling on your foot that'd go through a rubber boot like a knife through butter. Having worn them as a kid, and at times an adult, I find them highly uncomfortable, to the point that I tend to have blisters almost constantly when wearing them. Comes in large part from not having them custom made of course, and not wearing thick woolen socks in them to cushion the feet from rubbing against raw wood.

[@ServantofBaal]

Hm... imagine you could easily add notches to the bottom to add traction

[@phillipallen3468]

This is the guy I so desperately wish had been my history teacher -- all the way through school. He would have been wondrous!

[@HelenaOfDetroit]

Player: "I've rolled a natural one." GM: "Right, then you miss him completely, your shoes slip on the rocky cliff face, and you plummet to your death."

[@pequenoperezoso3743]

brutal

[@NotTheCIA1961]

Solution - one hob nailed shoe and one smooth shoe.

[@justhope2117]

thought exactly like that. all tho you would have one of your legs higher than the other one which makes it uncomfortable

[@themaskedavenger2101]

another solution two pairs of shoes. though that might not be practical

[@Rwnds7967]

soo.. pair of shoes on your feet, and one on your hands?

[@themaskedavenger2101]

I was thinking having one set of shoes on your feet and one at your camp

[@TheOneLichemperor]

Hob nailed heels and smooth toes?

[@simontmn]

Shoe grip stat - sounds more like a Runequest kind of thing. >:)

[@lindybeige]

The d20 was for hit location.

[@colinmacaoidh9583]

Yeah, kinda, although Rolemaster actually had rules to cover this. I distinctly recall a game where our parties main warrior catastrophically fumbled his Movement and Maneuvering check for a downhill charge, stepped in a gopher hole and snapped his ankle, because it left me facing our bad guys all by my lonesome :P Both RQ and RM had strong influences from the experiences of early reenactors like the SCA, hence the ability to replicate all the stupid random things that can occur.

[@bentoth9555]

Definitely a Rolemaster thing. Either way, a bit too simulationist for my taste. ;)

[@noahmiller8042]

sounds like a gurps thing

[@Noone-rc9wf]

+ - Willpower + - Perception + - Speechcraft/Charisma/Talking Skills/Something you don't have + - Strength +1 Shoe Grip Are you sure you want this change to your character?

[@grannytorrelli2560]

You see, the mistake you made in both stories was charging at people who you easily could have ended rightly with a pommel throw.

[@englebertmagentaschweiger1447]

A wonderful Skallagrim reference on another channel.

[@PongoXBongo]

Or snuck up on. Alerting your enemy is the ultimate telegraphed attack.

[@Micsmit_45]

Englebert Magentaschweiger ye we get s lot of those around here

[@BBL.Soldier]

amazing skal reference on a completly different channel

[@Gnurklesquimp]

A well executed reference

[@quetch2]

and now we know why the high ground was valued

[@Rotcivcom]

You underestimate Lindy's power

[@litigation_jackson]

Caligae work very well on earth, but I'm sure their performance suffers on Mars

[@rmalarkey188]

The latest old Lindy vid KZbin serves me! its like a stroll through memory lane.

[@IVIaskerade]

The "falling over on pavements" is a fully integrated mechanic in the Battletech games. Mechs can move at very high speeds (in excess of 100km/h) without any trouble at all on soft ground, but any time they attempt to do so on a road, they tend to fall over. It's also relatively difficult to change direction on hard surfaces if you're going at a decent clip.

[@HitodamaKyrie]

Have they not considered making rubber mech shoes?

[@IVIaskerade]

HitodamaKyrie That's likely already factored in.

[@CarrierHasArrived]

***** But what of their roads?! They'll be chewed up and will need constant resurfacing!

[@Woofdeath13]

HaveBKYourWay Thats why you send mechs to the enemy cities. Your wreck their infrastructure and have a mech.

[@prophetofbeans6781]

If only orbital bombardments weren't banned in the Ares Convention then you could smash up those pesky roads and run over rubble as Kerensky intended.

[@MrDael01]

Lindy you are awesome! Seriously, your videos are always so to the point and so witty. And you make everyone who watches them smarter about not just history but everyday practical things. I wish there were more KZbinrs like you! :)

[@TheRealmDrifter]

+Lindybeige Please make "A point about points." If you could point out a few pointers, that would be nice.

[@t-bone6636]

@@Father_Fedyou both got a point there...

[@Julio-it1pl]

That would be kinda pointless

[@theplotdragon]

Thank you for the video on this. I actually incorporated different types of boots in my Tabletop adventure stories after watching this video last year. It added lots of fun moments! Thanks for bringing this to my attention and keep up the amazing informative content!

[@Rasgonras]

Wow, I happen to live in the town where the Uetersen bog shoes were found. What a coincidence of information and ... well, coincidence. Someone wore a pair of shoes that happened to be preserved through the ages, found in 1789, a british man fashioned himself some shoes after them, and then, on a most peculiar device that spreads information, shoes it to anyone who might be interested, one of whom happens to live in the same area were the shoe was lost/deposited/sacrificed/thrown away (who knows).

[@TreeCamper]

Bare feet!

[@lindybeige]

Quite effective before the invention of Lego.

[@gummipalle]

Lindybeige Another secret danish weapon...

[@partytor11]

You want shredded feet? Because that's how you get shredded feet.

[@AnotherDuck]

What if you studded your shoes with Lego blocks and trampled your opponents' feet?

[@TreeCamper]

Having a six year old boy, I have stepped on many Lego bricks with bare feet. Point taken.

[@counterstrifekid]

See, you failed because you didn't finish him rightly.

[@jackeyboy6538]

Jackson Fortune yeah the only use for swords is their pommel you're not supposted to actually hit people with it.

[@scottessery100]

Ive just started looking back at your first videos and your still the same! 😂👍🏽😊 not changed a bit

[@Traderjoe]

Did ancient fighters alternate between being shod and barefoot depending on the terrain? Was their footwear easy to kick off if needed? Was anything else other than hobnails ever used, like strips of rawhide or something else?

[@timothymclean]

My first thought was a shoe with hobnails in front and bare leather in back. No idea how well that would grip in either surface, or for that matter if it would screw with feet in the long term.

[@metalmishap]

Instead of front and back, what about half and half lengthwise. So you would put more weight on the outsides of your feet for one type of terrain, and on the inside edge for another type of terrain. Maybe with an extra string of leather on the bare edge to try and make the sides equal height.

[@SapioiT]

Or mimic the design of current-day car tires, with zig-zagging channels, usually 4, with the channels in the middle slightly offset forward or backwards compared to the channels on the sides, and the adjacent zigzag corners being connected through a straight channel. The size of the channels should be roughly the size of an inverted hobnail, so the gap/channel would be smaller the closer to the feet you get, so as to not simply break. Also, it could be made with resin/tree-sap pitch/glue, by combining resin/tree-sap with ash and possibly crushed terracotta or crushed stones (no smooth surface = better gluing together) to provide more strength for less glue. And it would be cheap to replace, too! That would add some weight, sure, but the grip might be worth the price.

[@merpius]

Not too far different, but they could have created a primitive tread by attaching strips of thick leather running the width of the sole to create high and low points; then you coudl get some level of grip on soft/muddy ground because you have the ridges, but the material woudl still be soft/porous enought o create grip on hard surfaces. Definitely still not as good as some soft rubber cleats, but not too bad.

[@skipbellon4342]

You could bring covers for you hob nail shoes. Wear the covers under the soles and if you need traction, remove the covers. put the covers back on when returning to smooth ground.

[@Lordcorben]

As we could say in Spain...: "Eres un máquina!" I take inspiration on your vids to narrate my games, and I really enjoy the way you explain, it's a Masterclass! Keep going!

[@stramster1]

In a fight... fall over first... got it! lol I love you Lloyd.

[@handonthegat2989]

Ive been watching you for 3 days non stop. Well sleep and all that. Great content. I havn't had a bad thing to say. Keep up the great work!

[@gassmanet]

I remember using straw and twigs under our sealskin boots as a child in the north of Norway -- excellent grip, even on ice.

[@darkblood626]

I shall sneak modern shoes onto the battlefield and become a god!

[@EndingTimes0]

Hobnails on the front half, smooth on the back, shift your weight depending on the surface!

[@Swakkzmc94]

+Jamie Smith I was thinking something along the same lines,

[@christosvoskresye]

+Jamie Smith Or the other way around. I don't know if there's historical evidence for that, though. Probably they just specialized for where they thought the main fighting would be.

[@pnodi5584]

+christosvoskresye you would want the nails on the front, due to what lindy says, going up a hill, u need the traction, and when going up a steep hill, you move on toes, not heels, flat surfaces you move on heels aswell as toes.

[@JJoh4040]

"AIN'T NOBODY GOt time for that"

[@XBlueM0ndayX]

+Pnodi hub What if you're going up a hard slope?

[@diannabowen3868]

You are a DELIGHT to listen to!! I was laughing out loud! Thank you very much!!!

[@pimpedouthorseradish5696]

I'm curious, Roman soldiers famously wore hobnailed caligae, but also famously built thousands of miles of paved roads to march across. Now, the roads would certainly make the baggage trains easier to get from point A to point B, but the armies were always infantry heavy, and with much of the roads either cobblestone or even concrete pavement stretched through otherwise untamed wilderness, how did they get on?

[@clockworkkirlia7475]

Most of the fighting would, I imagine, have been in places where roads were less common.

[@waseatenbyagrue]

Maybe they changed shoes.

[@pimpedouthorseradish5696]

The battles would have been relatively brief compared to the weeks and weeks of marching to get to them. Remember, the thing soldiers did the absolute most of was march to and from the battles and set up camp. There might not even be a battle, just reinforcing a position on the other side of Europe to be more intimidating.

[@brandoncowan9029]

pimpedouthorseradish Well, I can personally attest that slowly walking with hobnails on hard surfaces is not very bad, but running is bad... So I guess it would be fine most of the time.

[@89tonstar]

pimpedouthorseradish ON the march they probably didn't wear their combat shoes, manufacturing tens of thousands of caligea simply because they would be worn out on the march wouldn't make much sense logistically since the Romans spent a huge amount of time marching and very little time actually fighting. I believe I have seen reenactors with their Furca with several pairs of caligea handing on the back. Most troops likely would have simply marched barefoot or with simply leather shooes.

[@Luciffrit]

Which is why later hob nails moved to the toe and heel or just rimmed the entire foot. You have grip there when you dig in and you have flat leather for hard surfaces. A bit of a compromise and not the best at either. (didn't see the previous comments about such.)

[@PremijerPlenky]

Could you perhaps do a video on late Roman army? It is not a very popular topic and I would like to hear your take on it.

[@MrDUneven]

He should do a video series of it. One hour each.

[@Aegox]

They look comfortable. But in most situations I'd take the thing that works and inst all comfortable over the thing that looks pretty and are comfortable. I bet would of been really funny to watch Lloyd and a knight falling over themselves in battle because of the mud.

[@lughfiregod16]

Alternatively being barefoot gives you good traction almost anywhere, but you give up foot protection.

[@lughfiregod16]

tane gurnick Yes I have, I actually go barefoot in grass relatively often, the morning dew never really has been a problem for me. Obviously modern running shoes are amazing, but that has nothing to do with what I said, what the OP said, or what the video is about really. It's about the dilemma they had before rubber soles came around.

[@lughfiregod16]

tane gurnick I never said being barefoot was better on grass then shoes, I said it was better on hard surfaces where at the time they had no good traction.

[@lughfiregod16]

tane gurnick Stone, cobble, and wood.

[@lughfiregod16]

tane gurnick Battles in cities weren't that uncommon. The rarity of the terrain wasn't the point though.

[@Stormfox93]

3:52, no very good with puddles? Actually they are. Because they are open to air, your feet would dry very quickly after becoming wet. So trenchfeet never is an issue for you. That is why they are open like that. One day I wore caligae for an opening day of a Roman watchtower museum (outdoors) on a rainy day. When I went inside to warm up a little, my feet dried very quickly. And yes those hotnails hurt after walking on them for a day on hard surfaces.

[@PsylomeAlpha]

Raphet Kchotto those shoes were found in a bog. one can only assume that design was common around bogs, and thus was common around areas that would be wet most of the time. the design of those shoes would allow the water to run out of them instead of building up and festering more heavily, which would mean that at least when your foot was in the air and about to land back in the bog it would get some reprieve. it would effectively reduce the amount of time your feet would be exposed to water by half.

[@PsylomeAlpha]

Raphet Kchotto those shoes are from an area with bogs. bogs usually mean that wherever those shoes were found is another place where 'nothing dries "very quickly"' if it wasn't somewhere in the UK. cue the rest of my comment.

[@grendelum]

Stormfox - s’why I wear the modern day equivalent on a daily basis, a closed toe sandal. I live in SW Florida and they work *_brilliantly_* all year, even when it’s *chucking* down rain as it often does in the summer or the cold few weeks of winter. It is as you say... if your feet get wet, they _very_ quickly dry once you’re in an environment where that’s possible (so, dry basically... or _”not in the rain”_ as we call it). It’s also great because I *_hate hate hate_* socks... I haven’t worn them for several years now !! Edit: I walk barefoot whenever possible and as I live on the beach, that’s quite often.

[@use5555]

as an amateur historian myself I really enjoy your channel. Thank you for doing such a good job and I love your humor. I have always wondered why in ancient warfare they did not concentrate on bare feet. This would seem to me to be a very vulnerable area especially since full coverage shoes and boots did not come along until about the past 500 years. This could be an interesting show. How about it?

[@philh8496]

I love reenacting (18th century for me). You can go to the beautiful, majestic hills and fall down them. Then you go a majestic fort, where the fates of empire were decided and go ass-over-tea kettle down the stairs. Or dream of dreams. Thousands line the streets as your proud unit marches with machine like precision, under flying colors, ears full of martial music, and heart full of pride. When you slip on hose poo, taking out your whole line and the Ladies Club just behind you.

[@remusgrrrl]

This was great info, and fun to watch. You made it all so very interesting and funny.

[@paulrudd1063]

I am convinced medieval people knew about shoe grip. I am also convinced that anybody working outside would think about this. But there seems to be an absence in the archaeological record of boots with grip. But, I think that this is because any sensible viking warrior would simply slip his hobnailed sandals over the top of his turn shoes. We live in a disposable society where all maufactured goods are single-use and designed to be replaced. They lived in a world of layering, and of quality manufacture. Turnshoes are useless in the wet. Why not slip your Roman sandals on over your warmer shoes and hose? It just makes sense. Get off the boat, slip on your fighting sandals! and your armour. When you think about something like the battle of Stanford Bridge, where the AS army caught the Danes off their guard, forcing them to assemble without their armour, imagine if they were still in their furry ugg boots and hadn't had time to slip on their 'fighting sandals'! The course of history altered forever because Harold's army were fighting against a whole host of blond warriors slipping over in battle!!!

[@Chugosh]

In the time I played at some kind of reenactment I had a number of experiences that proved the value of modern shoes in combat, too. One guy had his football shoes on under a false soft leather boot with holes in the bottom for the knobs to poke through. Neat video.

[@GallowglassAxe]

And this is why the Irish light infantry (aka the Kern) fought exclusively bare footed up until the mid 17th century.

[@TMacca-yv1lb]

When my Dad was in the Aust Artillery they had a guy who was running late for parade come running down stairs in 1950's issue hob nail boots onto polished floor and then straight through plate glass doors.

[@trollforge]

Lindybeige Have you ever tried caligae with hob nails on the balls of your feet and the heals bare? I seem to remember finding period examples while researching SCA garb, years ago.

[@markwelschmeyer2426]

my thoughts aswell

[@Poitisan]

yup, thought about it as well. any experiences or sources?

[@trollforge]

Poitisan I never did get around to making them, and I haven't attended or even really thought about the SCA in more than 12 yrs. It was an on line source though, and as I was seriously considering it it must have been reliable, a museum or university...

[@IVIaskerade]

The only downside I can see with them is that you would have to run on soft surfaces and walk on hard ones to avoid the slipping problems - humans naturally put their heels down first when walking, but shift to their toes when moving at higher speeds. If you attempted to walk on soft ground, your heel would go down first and you'd have no grip - same with running on hard surfaces.

[@PsylomeAlpha]

IVIaskerade I naturally walk on the balls of my feet all the time when I'm wearing light shoes, but modern shoes force me to walk heel-first.

[@thelegendofzeldageek6497]

You are one of the few who knows how to properly pronounce the æ sound in Latin, my respect for you has increased once more

[@TheMultifun]

Where can you do fights like that? Sounds so awesome

[@bilbowagons7932]

now this is a channel with quality content

[@Mtonazzi]

I wear pure leather sole and had that problem at the beginning. Thatis, until the mother of a friend who happened to be an artisan gave me a tip: superficial diagonal cuts all over th lenght of the soles. That actually gave me a decent (though not perfect) grip on almost every flooring. I do get pissed when others "cheat" either using "leather wrapped" modern shoes or glue rubber soles onto their "authenticals" soles.

[@PsylomeAlpha]

Matías Tonazzi I recently "repaired" some sports sandals with some paracord and some wire staples using techniques copied from designs of authentic shoes I've seen, but I'd never call them authentic in the least. I just got tired of them sliding all over the place and used knowledge I've accrued from studying how people did when they didn't have the materials and tools we have at our disposal today.

[@Mtonazzi]

PsylomeAlpha Ah, but your case wouldn't piss me off since you wouldn't call them "authentic". The ones that get on my nerves are the ones who say "this is an accurate medieval shoe" and then you see the rubber sole glued with contact cement there. Normally my approach with the public at fairs is telling them about the specifical thing they ask (or I pick up something if they're unsure) and do a "show and tell", explaining the why, how and when, then I go onto the actual processes of the making and usage; and finally the modern consesions I took in the hope I may end up encouraging them into entering this fantastic world.

[@gazpal]

As an apprentice moorland gamekeeper, I was supplied a pair of hobnailed shepherd boots. First visit into town (Alston), proudly wearing my new boots - clipclopping around and making sparks on the cobbles. I exited the first shop in the market square (Top of a fairly steep hill) and didn't stop skidding on the cobbled road until I'd reached the bottom of the hill - narrowly avoiding a bus, string of happy shoppers and the local taxi rank. Vibram soles are so much better

[@BigSwede7403]

Reminds me of that winter (Swedish winter, lots of snow) LARP. Outside the tavern were a pretty steep slope that got walked on a lot. Only took like 3 hours before it was essentially a short bobsled track.Even people with disguised modern boots had a hard time getting up or down it. Then came the "Trolls". 3 of them, wearing slick rubber boots made to actually look like "troll" feet. Completely slick on the sole. Watching 3 trolls sliding down that slope waving and flailing to keep balance makes me chuckle to this day.

[@FunnyAsSin]

6:24 So smoothed soled leather is only good for walking around on Earthy patches and the hot nail boots are good for muddy tracks, I wish video game designers would consider this fact. It adds a beautiful depth. Excellent video. Maybe not shoe grip factor but maybe run speed, jump length, height, etc.

[@workshoponwheels4936]

How about making a profile on the leather? Plane rubber soles also don't give good grip, for good grip they profile the rubber soles. But it can be that they wear to quickly, I'm not sure about that.

[@Nevir202]

What I was thinking is make a nice separate sole like his second example boot, but have it pierced with holes all over and then make a pattern on the sole with tough leather lace. When the tread/lace wears out just redo it.

[@workshoponwheels4936]

Nevir202 What I also think of, for walking on snowy forest trails, I have seen the use of a rubber studded think you can pull over your shoes, they provide more grip than spikes for what I have seen. It should be possible to make that out of leather and metal. Don't know about the comfort though, modern shoes do spread the the pointy pressure of those studs, but I think leather would do that less. And it certainly wouldn't be authentic

[@TiberiusWallace]

I used to do wwii reenactment doing American 2nd Rangers. While in my jump boots at Maidstone Asda and the conveyer escalator and the 20 degree or so incline on metal might as well have been an ice slope.

[@drevyek1785]

So, what was the combat solution? I can imagine a mix of the two, where it is hobnailed on the sole, but not the heel, or hobnailed on the heel, but not the sole (like modern loafers or other men's dress shoes). You could also take advantage of the fact that earth is generally soft, and therefore can contour more to the arch of your foot. If you were to hobnail the only the arch (and maybe the whole middle of the shoe), then the hobnails would 'engage' only on a soft surface, while a leather sole would dominate the major pressure points of the heel and the ball, allowing for grip on harder or smoother surfaces.

[@MadnerKami]

In Re: Combat Solution - Simple: Hobnailed shoes. Just consider how rare actual city fighting was even until modern times. By far the most combat happened in the countryside and even villages and towns largely didn't have more than just trampled-hard dust roads in general.

[@Xandros999]

MadnerKami Btw. Did cityfighting become more common because of the dissolution of rigid battlelines and emphasis on small-unit tactics during WW1 and onward would make the dense and complex terrain of multistoried buildings ideal for a defender or underdog, and sooner or later, especially given protracted or desperate combat, fighting would gravitate to built-up areas?

[@MadnerKami]

Xandros999 I think city-fighting became generally more common during the 19th century (see the german-french war in 1870-1871 for example), at least in Europe. City fortifications were largely rendered obsolete by the advances in artillery technologies and were practically extinct by the early 20th century. Laying sieges on cities largely became an issue of "torturing" the enemy (Leningrad), rather than trying to avoid a costly fight about the battlements. By the end of the 20th century city-fighting became the norm, because of the asymetric warfare employed by The Enemy™, who basically forced the opposition to fight in cities, a development that is actually foreshadowed in WWII even for larger military formations fighting each other (see Stalingrad). All in all, for modern (western) armies, city-fighting is one of, if not the primary focus, even though it's undesireable and unwanted. City-fighting is basically what Jungle-Fighting was in Vietnam and is the modern equivalent to the Thermopylae. It gives you a chance to force a technologically, numerically or tactically superior enemy into a situation in which he can not utilize his advantages over you to it's full extend and has to fight on your terms. Basically, the siege is not layed onto a city from the outside anymore, but the siege is happening inside the city nowadays.

[@CliventheTraveller]

Drevyek Ancient boots had no heel apart form the sole. That was a very recent invention.

[@sword7166]

Drevyek

[@RussJennings]

You read my mind! I've been wondering about ancient shoes for a while.

[@dajolaw]

These are the exact same conclusions I came to when dressing in 18th century Revolutionary War shoes. It really helps explain why measured cadences were used more often than full on charges, in spite of how counterintuitive it would seem to us today. (Not to say that both sides didn't know when to rush on when needed--Brits knew how to fight in both open and closed order, in spite of the legends.) It's also why I think any HEMA club needs to occasionally practice in historic footwear, on various types of surfaces. I think it would explain a lot about the footwork used in traditional manuals.

[@poubelle_blanche]

Ah reenactment the S.C.A., I loved fighting. My favorite tactic was to grip the inside of the enemy's shield with my shields edge, and pushing force an opening whereupon I would chop down on the shield arm and then it was a quick finish.

[@matthewmccallum7838]

WHAT ARE THOSE !!!!! Couldn't help myself

[@thepariah3516]

Get Out.....

[@Dunkleosteusenjoyer]

My uncle fought in the Vietnam War and had a funny shoe related incident too. Him and his platoon, roughly 20 guys, encountered enemy machine gunners, 6 men with 4 machine guns and 2 rifle ambush them, my uncle and his unit kill 5 of them with grenades and the last one runs away, only to trip on his untied boots and get captured.

[@danielpintjuk]

here is an idea, thick leather sole with carved out channels to create texture.

[@sonntagsgamer4266]

maybe partly boiled to make it harder?

[@Hillbillyhound]

one thing iv learned when hunting in my soft soled moccasins is you can wrap your feet in a bit of rope or heavy twine works kinda like snow chains on a car. in relay greasy mud and climbing hills and mountains its the only way to get around. tho it can be uncomfortable on hard ground but wont skid around like nails. my great granddad used to do the same on leather soled shoes working on the mud way back in the turn of the century

[@LarlemMagic]

Half nailed half not? Benefits of both?

[@BeenieBomb]

+LarlemMagic I would imagine that would leave not the best of both worlds but a terrible in-between. Like a sword-ax or a pen-pencil

[@LarlemMagic]

BeenieBomb I would like to test it or someone else to test it. I would imagine it being trying to simulate your feet and where the traction is on them.

[@BeenieBomb]

LarlemMagic I feel like it may work depending on the pattern. Maybe have the nails only in the center of the sole, so it grips the earth but when you're on hard ground the rest of the sole wraps arounf the middle and touches the ground?

[@schwarzerritter5724]

+BeenieBomb I have a pen-pencil. It is quite useful for drawing outdoors.

[@BeenieBomb]

Schwarzer Ritter Oh, that's very nice to hear!

[@welshpete12]

You could say, that was a gripping story !

[@TheFabulousRBK]

I genuinely hope my DM doesn't see this video.

[@Karanthaneos]

As someone who's about to master a Runequest game in the ancient world... this is just perfect

[@gregwarner3753]

Convergent evolution of the Vibram sole boot. I have a very warm pair of fur lined slippers. They are so old the tread is worn smooth. Step outside on a frost covered deck on a cold morning. Instant crash. FWIW - I wear lugged sandals through most of the winter with heavy wool socks. Keeps my feet warm and comfortable even when wet. I do wear good boots in extreme snow, slush and wet conditions if i have to go out at all.

[@umidontno040394]

so did the Zulus have it right to just be barefoot? decent grip on everything.

[@OzoneoceanMJM]

I think shoes give you the advantage of being able to move at a pretty constant rate over a wider variety of surfaces. If you go barefoot all the time your soles get pretty resistant, but actual shoe soles mean you don't have to worry cutting or impact injuries from terrain so you don't ever have to carefully pick your way like even the hardiest barefooter will have to do at many points.

[@PJDAltamirus0425]

Ozoneocean MJM Also, running barefoot means if you are running if anything else besides bare desert, you run the risk of foot infections. Western Europe is to rough, mud, and forest ridden for long marches on Bare feet to be pracitcal.

[@umidontno040394]

Ozoneocean MJM but back in the day there wasn't any near as many sharp things on ground as there is today. hardly any broken glass, no needles etc. I used to walk and run around my woods a lot when I was a kid, barefoot. didn't have to much problem. my parents made me stop because they were afraid i'd step on a needle or something. my feet got pretty tough though. I can also say that running uphill is definitely WAY easier barefoot. although, I have heard too much running barefoot on hard surfaces (concrete and stuff) can be bad for your feet. still, the best distance runners today run barefoot (Kenyans, Ethiopians).

[@OzoneoceanMJM]

Shard sticks and thorns can cut into the sides of your feet as well as the soles. But shoes aren't just about simple protection, they allow movement without slowing down or being careful over a number of dificult surfaces equally. When you're barefoot you have to change the way you approach different terrain.

[@lukutiss1324]

umidontno040394 At camp I used to play football and run around barefoot. The football pitch was very hard ground and had a few small stones on it. Within a few days your feet got tough, and actually grew to where they would be hard to fit into your shoes which fit just a few days before. I think the best footwear for re-enactment (or indeed any activity which requires fast movement across varied surfaces) would be barefoot, wrapped in thin cloth to protect the foot slightly.

[@MilsurpWorld]

I had a similar moment at a reenactment. I was in a trench and there were tanks and APCs shooting at us so I grabbed a panzerschreck. I tried to go down the trench line to get a better shot when I stepped on the smooth wooden boards that were on the bottom of one section of the trench and slipped because German boots have hobnails. By the time I recovered it was too late. It's interesting how using historical items in reenactments gives you a far better understanding of them.

[@Valkanna.Nublet]

I hope my DM doesn't watch this :p

[@clitcrusader4897]

Direct message? Danish man? Dungeon master?

[@Barskor1]

Add a secondary sole of leather to the hobnail shoes anchored at the toe on top with ties at the far end and sides. To switch to hard flat ground you untie the ankle straps flip the secondary sole under the shoe retie at the ankle and the middle with the side straps.

[@joelcheeseman4628]

Bear foot?

[@thedefilier]

+joel cheeseman the claws would help

[@korona3103]

This brought back memories of playing rugby at school. The boots with the big plastic studs turned ordinary concrete pavement into a painful non-stick surface. Although if you were good enough there was a kind of weird skater-like run you could do where you wouldn't fall over. Most people preferred the more sensible heel-toe clop.

[@Saar0s]

one foot nailed, one foot smooth :D

[@markwelschmeyer2426]

one step forward one step back

[@EZCarnivore]

Why not... front half of each foot nailed, back half smooth? Ingenious!

[@Saar0s]

ザックエック me and you.. will rule the WORLD!!

[@alagorrogala1174]

ザックエック that would be the equivalent of the jack of trades, but with the twist master all master of none, it would really serve with no benefit unless you walked horribly awkward and that would do you far worse.

[@duran3d]

ザックエック That was exactly my though.

[@Calaeth]

I can't say that I have ever heard a more entertaining story about somebody falling over. It's lyrical slapstick :)

[@nickc4063]

I am your nemisis

[@HipnikDragomir]

It's cute how excited you are about this. Fun video.

[@Parma-John]

666 commen..... Oh Dammit!

[@thechildofthedamned]

i was a volunteer, at a danish iron age village for 3 weeks where i used the same kind of shoes as the third pair, so comfortable especially when you first wrap your foot in a piece of lambskin with the wool still on, on the inside. never tried a pair of modern shoes/boots that comes even close to that kind of comfort.

[@maciblobmicsurlift492]

Stab

[@thebeardedchad]

Maciblob Micsurlift Yes that! I laughed for a few minutes about that one, I had to pause the video

[@pacolet2994]

4:11 Like cleats on smooth cement. For some reason my high school put that all around the running track that encircled our football field, so there'd usually be someone who wiped out real hard.

[@stenviking7737]

Can't but agree about the issues with using shoes with hobnails. I got my german ww2 low boots, made completely made out of leather, with the sole covered in hobnails and and iron heel. They work perfectly in the forest or on 'organic' surfaces, but as soon as you hit gravel, bricks or flat and stiff surfaces you will either slide around without any control or hurt your ankles. You will fall over time after time, and that is something you should be prepared for. Completely impractical. They look nice, though.

[@EattinThurs61]

Bad in cold weather though metal leads heat.

[@jdzencelowcz]

Better idea than my previous post: Add hob-nails to the toe section of your shoes, double sole them for comfort, & when on soft or hard ground, point your toes up or down accordingly.

[@robertkubrick3738]

You can tie rags onto your footgear, like rope on the smooth soles like tire chains and also rags would give hobnails grip on stone. In Korea, when they were going to attack up a frozen mountain the troops would weave a mat of grass and tie it to their boots for grip on ice. Those who ....nevermind.

[@SapioiT]

I wonder why they didn't use the pattern we currently have on tires, especially all-terrain tires. There are so many models, it's funny. They could even use resin/tree-sap pitch/glue to make the layers, eventually with crushed terracotta, or smashed rocks, or even sand or dirt, to make the layers either use less tree sap (which might be somewhat rare, due to the effort needed to get it) or to make it stronger through the inclusion of larger pieces that can still bind strongly to the mixture (unlike smooth rocks). Also, if you instead of using hobnails, use a mix between hobnails and smooth surface, meaning that you have zigzaging channels roughly the size of an inverted hobnail, have the ones close to the middle be slightly offset forwards or backwards compared to the ones close to the sides, and have the adjacent zig-zag corners connected through a straight channel, you'd get roughly the same type of texture as used by vehicle tires. That would add some weight, sure, but the grip might be worth the price. You could try to check their grip and comfort and make a response video to this comment and other comments suggesting improvements.

[@muttonchops3426]

Man, I love his storytelling.

[@densamme1752]

Have you tried rope soles? My grandpa had a pair of old leather boots with soles made of hemprope and the shafts made of birch bark. He said that his grandfathers boots had soles of root and tendon fibers and that the harder tendon fibers acted in a similar fashion to the hobnails you talked of.

[@adamsandquist7477]

I'm liking this video just because you made your own pair of shoes at age seventeen there, Lindy.

[@PsylomeAlpha]

I came across a modern solution for people just getting into HEMA who don't have the money to get the supplies needed to make authentiboots just yet. there are a type of shoes designed for wear in natural bodies of water called water moccasins. (yes, like the snake.) they have a lightly textured sole WITHOUT A HEEL that has roughly similar levels of grip on pavement to leather, at least once the bottom of the shoe has worn the nubbins down a tic (I'd suggest getting some flex seal or something to repair the soles if you're going to be wearing them for any extended periods of time) but they also grip somewhat decently to mud. they usually look a lot like those danish bog shoes made with modern materials, though sometimes with a synthetic foam mesh and an elastic band instead of the slits with a leather tie.

[@macnutz4206]

I saw an exhibition of artifacts from a Roman villa in Britain several years ago and one of the objects was a very well made Roman boot, with a heel and hob nails on the sole. It was a sturdy boot that was obviously based on the idea of a sandal but tied up to cover the foot completely. It looked like it could have been made in the early twentieth century.

[@zackari]

i love this video because its full well why some soldiers would be found without shoes sometimes back in the day.

[@jyxtheberzerking4824]

perhaps nail the toes, the ball of the foot, and around the edge of the heel? you can get loads of grip with toes, they're one of the most essential parts of walking, and the ball and heel are where great portions of weight are focused, but it still leaves most of the heel and front of the foot empty for grip on smooth surfaces. dunno if that would actually work, just a thought.

[@MrBranboom]

Are copper hob nails any better? I know they would ware out quite quickly in day-to-day on stone/pavement, but copper is softer, and very abrasive. (Ask a machinist, they'll tell you how copper eats tooling)

[@TheRealFlamingNinja]

Perhaps a good compromise would be to have a smooth area on the ball of your foot and studs around the toe and heel areas that way you have a modicum of grip on both types of surfaces.

[@eileenjohnston6835]

Very cute! Good job with this video. Sitting here chuckling!

[@kevinsullivan3448]

I have a pair of Gillies that are really nice to wear, but they have modern textured rubber soles. To look at them you would think they would be fantastic on wet of otherwise slippery ground, but that is not the case. Insteat the texture fills up with mud/sand/rotting plants and they become, effectively, smooth soled shoes. The only place they are useful is smooth hard surfaces and then only when they are clean.

[@robertrobertson7129]

Truth.. I had a disagreement with another gentleman behind the steps in HS and the polished floor and my leather shoes were ill matched. It came out a draw as the other fellow was a tad larger but the floor gave him the same problem.

[@ciananmortem3127]

Hey Lindy, love the videos. One thing though, ever considered getting a banded collar shirt (Not the kind that need a separate collar and stays, but a buttonless one)? They make them, then you won't have to flip the collar up. Strange thing to mention, I know, but still.

[@beowulf4100]

three row hobnail halfinch apart with plank lining wrapped with leather...so only the middle of the caligae are hard track resistant