Seventeenth century boots – who owned them, who made them, what did they use them for, and what did they cost

 Who owned boots?

As Spufford and Mee indicated not the poor, “this item of footwear received scant acknowledgement by administrators of sixteenth and seventeenth century poor relief.” (1 p. 57) However boots appear in lots of probate inventories. Of just over fifty people in provincial seventeenth century wills and inventories who give an occupation, eleven are described as gentlemen and four as esquires, putting them among the gentry. One of these gentlemen receives a salary from the King being “at His Majesty's Chapel Royall” at Windsor, and another is verger of the Cathedral Church at Litchfield, so the term gentleman has many connotations. One man, not described as a gentleman, is the governor of the hospital of the Holy and Blessed Trinity at Long Melford, Suffolk. There are four clerics, one described as a minister, one as a rector, and two vicars, one of whom doubled as a schoolmaster. In agriculture there are eleven yeomen who owned boots. The artisan trades are widely represented with: bakers, blacksmiths, butchers, carpenters, clothiers, coopers, glovers, innkeepers, shepherds, whitawers and wire drawers. Then there are boots for the military. In 1640, at the time of the Bishops’ Wars, Howard of Naworth Castle in Cumberland fitted out four light horsemen, this included paying for “4 paire of bootes for my Lord's 4 light horse menne 40s.” (2 p. 359) When the Civil War started in 1642 orders from the Royalist Army to the shoemakers of Northampton were for four thousand pairs of shoes, and six hundred pairs of boots. (1 p. 227)

Figure 1: Boots c.1655. Livrustkammaren. 

What was the fashion?

The standard image of boots in the mid seventeenth century is of bucket tops. Figure 1 shows a pair from around 1655 in the Livrustkammaren .  In the first half of the century straighter, narrower boots, with or without a small turnover at the top, were common, as seen in Figure 2, the monument to Sir Henry Slingsby who died in 1638.  These could also be worn without being turned down, as seen in the portrait of Gustavus Adolphus by Jacob Elbfass (Figure 3).

Both Slingsby’s and Gustavus’s boots are of the thinner leather that prompted a comment in a 1606 play “one that more admires the good wrinkle of a boot.” (3 pp. Act 3,Scene 4) By the end of the century the wrinkle of a boot was less admired. In 1687 a gentleman, Richard Stapley, “paid Henry Sharpe of Cuckfield for a pair of bootes and sashoones, 13s.” Sashoones or sashunes were, according to Randle Holme, “stuffed or quilted leather to be bound about the small of the leg of such as have long heels, to thicken the leg, that the boot may sit straight and be without wrinkles.” (4)

Figure 2: Sir Henry Slingsby, St John's Knaresborough. 1638

Charles I’s wardrobe accounts show both thin and thick boots being purchased. In 1635 the King received 27 pairs of thin boots and 6 pairs of “strong thicke bootes” as well as two pairs of Spanish leather boots. (6 p. 89) In 1647 James Master paid for “a pa of thinne waxt boots 12s 6d.” (7 p. 168)The toes of the boots, like those of shoes, were rounded in the first half of the century, becoming squarer by the second half of the century. Figure 4 shows three boots in the Livrustkammaren dating from between 1650 and 1700.

 Boots for riding and for walking

Often, but not always, the fact that the boots are specifically for riding is shown by what other items they are paired with. One of the best instances of this is the 1637 Hampshire yeoman, Christopher Lester, whose probate has, “one pair of boots, a saddle and a bridle 10s.” (6) Spurs may also be an indicator that the boots were worn for riding. In 1609 a Bristol butcher, Richard Mascoll, whose estate was worth just under £23, had a pair of boots and a pair of spurs. (7 p. 8) The well-armed yeoman William Sanders in 1614 had, “one long boe and a few arrowes and all his appell wth swords bootes spurres and two daggers” (8 p. 24)

 

Figure 3: Gustavus Adolfus by Jacob Elbfass. Kalmar Castle

 Household accounts sometimes specify whether boots are purchased for riding or for walking. James Master in 1648 purchased a pair of summer riding boots for 14s, and the following year a pair of walking boots for 11s. 6d. (7 p. 175 & 185) Giles Moore, a rector in Sussex in 1658, paid “Tho: Stone of Hoadleigh Shomaker for a paire of black new walking Bootes 12s” (11 p. 269) In1685 John Duel, presumably because he could not wear heavy boots when he was ill, owned “an old pair of light boots in his sicknes 1s.”

Heavy “jack” boots are associated with riding at the end of the seventeenth century. An examination of a pair in the collection of the National Museums of Scotland explains the jacking process and has x-rays of the boot. (Figure 5)

  

Figure 4: Boots 1650-1700. Livrustkammaren 

 What were they made from?

Very rarely do any accounts indicate the type of leather the boots were made from. A term that is often used is neat’s leather, which is leather from cattle. There were a range of statutes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries which limited shoes and boots to leather from cattle. (12 pp. 245-256 )

Boots and shoes – the price differential

A classic indication of the issue in taking the prices given in probate inventories too literally can be seen in a series of 1607 depositions. A pair of boots had been removed from a house before the inventory was taken, four people then stated what they thought the boots were worth, Ralph said they were worth 5s, Hugh said 12d or 13d, David said 2s 6d, and Joanna said they were not worth above 6d. (10 pp. 10-12)

However, it would appear that boots were at least twice the price of shoes, and sometimes more. At the beginning of the seventeenth century Richard Godsell had men’s shoes in stock valued at 1s 3d a pair, while smaller women’s shoes were around one shilling, and the boots were valued four shillings a pair. (13 p. 59) By the 1630s the price of shoes had risen to between two shillings and 2s 8d, depending on size, while boots were around five shillings. (14 pp. 121-2) In 1672 Richard Kirby has shoes between 1s 8d and 3s 4d, (15 p. 78) He does not stock boots but another maker has them at nine shilling a pair. (16 p. 67) These prices are from shoemakers probates, the prices gentry and above are paying for boots were higher.

Early in the century, 1605, Sir William Fitzwilliam was paying nine shillings for boots. (17 p. 388) Charles I’s 20 pairs of strong riding boots in 1635 cost £24, so more than one pound per pair. (6 p. 85) In his 1648 London accounts the Earl of Bath has payment to “Mr Evans for a pair of new boots for my Lord £1 8s.” (18 p. 142) By 1662 Samuel Pepys boots, purchased from Mr. Wotton, the shoemaker, “cost me 30s.” (19 p. 24th Sept)

 

Figure 5: Boots. National Museums of Scotland. c.1690

Could you buy them ready-made?

Several shoemakers of the period have quantities of boots in stock ready for sale. In 1607 the cordwainer Miles Guy had in his shop: “2 dossen & 5 paier shoies, 17 paier of bootes, 11 paier of boot legges, .....” His probate shows he was also owed money by three people to whom he had provided boots. (20 pp. 89-90) Also in Darlington in 1617, John Fawcet had in his stock “19 paire of maid boates, 4 doze of maid shoes, five paire of childrens shoes...with all the shopp gear £12 10s” (20 p. 155) In Bristol in 1634 John Shipway had fifteen pairs of boots in his stock. (9 p. 89) At the beginning of the eighteenth century William Warriner in Lincoln had, “ten paire of boots for men, one paire for boys £2 18s.” (21 p. 137)                     

             

References

1. Spufford, Margaret and Mee, Susan. The Clothing of the Common Sort 1570-1700. Oxford : OUP, 2017.

2. Ornsby, G. ed. Selections from the Household Books of the Lord William Howard of Naworth Castle. Publications of the Surtees Society. 1878, Vol. 68.

3. Anon. The return from Parnassus. 1606 . Amersham : Tudor facsimile texts, 1912.

4. Turner, E. Extracts from the Diary of Richard Stapley, Gent. of Hickstead Place, in Twineham, from 1682 to 1724. . Sussex Archaeological Collections. 1849, Vol. 2.

5. Holme, Randle. The academy of armory. [Online] 1688. [Cited: July 12, 2024.] https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A44230.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext.

6. Strong, Roy. Charles I's clothes for the years 1633-1635. Costume. 1980, Vol. 14, pp. 73-89.

7. Robertson, S. The expense Book of James Master 1646-1676 [Part 1, 1646-1655], transcribed by Mrs Dallison. Archaeologia Cantiana. 1883, Vol. 15, 152-216, pp. 152-216.

8. Hampshire Record Office. Inventory of Christopher Lester, Hants. RO 1637A/065. 1637.

9. George, E. and S. eds. Bristol probate inventories, Part 1: 1542-1650. Bristol Records Society publication. 2002, Vol. 54.

10. Groves, J. Bowdon wills: wills and probate inventories from a Cheshire townships, part 1: 1600-1650. Sale : Northern Writers Advisory Services, 1997.

11. Bird, Ruth, ed. The Journal of Giles Moore of Horsted Keynes, 1655-1679. Lewes : Sussex Record Society, 1971.

12. Clarkson, L. A. The organization of the English leather industry in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries . Economic History Review. 1960, Vol. 13, 2.

13. Reed, Michael, ed. The Ipswich probate inventories 1583-1631. Suffolk Records Society. 1981, Vol. 22.

14. Brinkworth E.R.C. and Gibson, J.S.W. eds. Banbury wills and inventories. Pt.2, 1621-1650. Banbury Historical Society. 1976, Vol. 14.

15. Adams, Beverly, ed. Lifestyle and culture in Hertford wills and inventories for the parishes of All Saints and St. Andrew 1660-1725. Hertfordshire Record Publication. 1997, Vol. 13.

16. George, E. and George, S. Bristol probate inventories, Part 2: 1657-1689. Bristol : Bristol Records Society publication 57, 2005.

17. Harland, John (ed.). The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Hall… 1582-1621, Part 2. Cheetham Society. 1856, Vol. 35.

18. Gray, Todd. Devon Household Accounts 1627-59. Part 2 . Exeter : Devon and Cornwall Record Society, new series, vol. 39, 1996.

19. Pepys, Samuel. Diary. [Online] https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary.

20. Atkinson, J A., et al eds. Darlington wills and inventories 1600-1625. Publications of the Surtees Society. 1993, Vol. 201, p.111-114.

21. Johnston, J. A. Probate inventories of Lincoln citizens 1661-1714. Woodbridge : Boydell, for the Lincoln Record Society, 1991.