Foot traps or caltrops are simple defensive weapons with enormous tactical effectiveness against infantrymen and horses. Written sources date back to the 4th century BC, but their invention probably goes back much further. Both historical and modern footwear offers little protection against them. The sharp spikes easily pierce through soles and feet. In the best case scenario, the victim can pull a caltrop without barbs out of their foot, but with barbed tips this is no longer possible without additional injury. To protect the feet, authors of military manuscripts from the 15th to the early 17th century regularly recommend iron soles that are strapped under the shoes like wooden clogs. Beyond the pictorial and rare textual sources, no original iron soles are known so far, so it is unclear whether they actually existed or not.
Based on this facts, the idea arose to test the functionality and practicality of iron soles as protective equipment in experiments and, based on the results obtained, to be able to make a better assessment of whether or not they could have existed in the 15th and 16th centuries. To this end, a pair of iron soles was reconstructed based on illustrations from 15th-century manuscripts, such as Konrad Kyeser's Bellifortis and similar military books, and extensively tested in the field.
The practical trials showed that iron soles firmly strapped under shoes are perfectly suited for use in the field after a short period of adjustment. They provide a perfect protection for the feet. They allow the wearer to walk and even run across paths, meadows and fields with remarkable safety, even in hectic situations. Based on the tests, it seems very likely that iron soles were used in the late Middle Ages.
The detailed results of the tests were presented in detail in the journal Experimental Archaeology in Europe in 2025:
Andreas Franzkowiak: .issin sol behebet dir din füß gesunt – Eisensohlen gegen Fußangeln. In: Vereinigung zur Förderung der Experimentellen Archäologie (Hrsg.) Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa. Jahrbuch, Vol. 24, 2025, pp. 61-73. (German)
Abbildungen
- Top: Konrad Kyeser: Bellifortis. Elsass ca. 1460. Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt a. M., Ms. germ. qu. 15, Fol. 174r.
- Photo: Andreas Franzkowiak