FIG. 21.
The shoe (Figs. 22 and 23) is found in Franconia, in all places where, in the sixteenth century, battles had been fought with the rebellious peasants. We may, therefore, be justified in fixing its origin mainly from that period, for which also speaks its high perfection of form. We find here still the bent-up heel and toe (the latter broad and thin) of the south European form.
FIG. 22
FIG. 23.
The staved rim of the Spanish Arabic Turkomanic shoe is observed to be undergoing a change to that of a groove. The broad surface of the shoe evidently led to the beveling of the same, so as to lessen sole pressure. The size of the nail holes remains still like that of the Huns; but the unsunk southern nail heads yet serve to improve the hold on the ground. The calks were next placed forward, perhaps from an uncultivated sense of beauty, or from the high bending up of the hind part of the shoe, which would necessitate a high and heavy unsightly calk.
From this time on horseshoeing in south Germany fell back very quickly, and loses all scientific holds of support after the thirty years war. In the mean time toe protection in the form of a calk had spread from the colder north over southern Germany; whereas this north German invention did not find favor in England in consequence of her mild oceanic climate.
Also, the calks in England, as well as in the southern countries, on the same ground, therefore, with good reason, could at no time be adopted. This did, however, not interfere with the use of the calk in the colder south Germany, where after a use of nearly 1,500 years it has maintained its local and climatic adaptation. Notwithstanding the occasional aping by foreigners, it has remained victorious in its original form, and has been chosen in many countries.