Fashion for pointy shoes unleashed a wave of bunions in medieval England

By Piers Mitchell, Affiliated Lecturer in Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge
Jenna Dittmar, Research Fellow, Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen

The 14th century saw the arrival of an abundance of new styles of dress and footwear in Europe, coming in a wide range of fabrics and colours. Among these new fashion trends were “poulaines” – rather eccentric-looking medieval shoes with a lengthy pointed tip.

The archaeological and the historical record suggests that this new fashion item was widely adopted by England’s medieval society and that, by the late 14th century, almost…

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