Welsh 7th or 8th century - the whole bare legs, bare feet thing

[WorkShy]

I'm looking at moving on to Welsh 7th/8th century but I'm not hugely keen on the choices. It's small ranges of metal from GB and Footsore (so little variation and harder to mod). Footsore "Early Welsh" seems 10/11th century. They all seem to have this idea of bare legs, bare feet (even one shoe!). This seems to stem from a small number of sources, often biased against the Welsh, and hundreds of years after the period I'm focussed on.

It's similar with the Irish and Picts. Loads of bare legs and feet. Except those with bare torsos who often magically aquire full length trousers! By contrast representations of the Romano-British of the 5th/6th centuries typically have trousers, shoes etc.

So does Cadwallon'a army in say 633 really need bare legs and feet? Do you see this characteristic as genuinely tangible or just a visual trope to allow differentiation between "Celts" and Saxons minis? 

[Old Hob]

This was one thing that use to wind me up as well, but in the case of Ireland and Scotland there's documentary evidence of country people going barefoot well into the 19th century. This wasn't because they lacked shoes, rather that the shoes would get soaking wet in no time - so either you needed several pairs of shoes per day or risked catching a cold/developing trench foot from constantly wearing sodden shoes. Not sure what the evidence is for Wales, mind you.

Personally, I imagine I'd probably want to slip my shoes on before having a scrap, but then again, with no grip on the soles this might not be the best idea either.

[Daeothar]

I'm an absolute noob on the subject (so please take my statements in that light!), but to me it seems that calluses from walking barefoot are well and good in warm and dry climates, but once skin gets wet for a longer time, it gets soft and easier to penetrate, especially the insides of hands and soles of feet.

So while walking barefoot on rough ground is not an issue, once those same feet get wet, they are much more prone to piercing/cutting by sharp rocks or even twigs, regardless of the calluses. And, as mentioned, contemporary accounts on different armies relatively close by, both geographical and temporal, have them all shoed and trousered. And I'm adding my own logical thinking here too; it does not really make sense to go barefoot into battle. Besides; there is enough evidence to suggest that shoes could be made (relatively) watertight, even this far back.

All of which makes me believe that the biased accounts simply tend to paint the Welch and Irish in a bad light (in this case, primitive/barbarous), as is often the case of course. Same thing with Germanic and Gaulic tribes fighting naked as described by the Romans; sure there might have been isolated occurrences, but the majority would have fought clothed. It does make for a more spectacular read though...

[has.been]

My first Wargaming opponent (Steve O'Leary AKA Oscar, are you still wargaming? Whiggy)
a proud Welshman (despite the Irish name), was very happy to boast about the 'One shoe'.
Claimed it gave them better grip on rough terrain.

Also
I do recall reading of an American Colonel(?) going barefoot for his first month in
Vietnam (a definitely soggy country) to toughen his feet. Weeks of agony, but then
the soles of his feet were tougher than the Army boots.

[Rochejaquelein]

In Osprey's recently released book on Post-Roman Kingdoms (5-th to 8th centuries), all of the recreations (including Welsh) are shown wearing some form of footwear and only one of them is not wearing full length trousers (7th century Welsh from Alt Clut partially bare legged).

[WorkShy]

In Osprey's recently released book on Post-Roman Kingdoms (5-th to 8th centuries), all of the recreations (including Welsh) are shown wearing some form of footwear and only one of them is not wearing full length trousers (7th century Welsh from Alt Clut partially bare legged).

I've got that book and I did notice that aswell. Though I'm always careful not to assign to much weight to any Osprey book. The academic quality is variable and there is an awful lot of extrapolation from small samples of information (otherwise some of these books would struggle to be more than a few pages in length!).

[vodkafan]

I am happy to accept that they went barefoot or with just one shoe so that they would be easily distinguishable on the wargaming table hundreds of years later 

[has.been]

I am happy to accept that they went barefoot or with just one shoe so that they would be easily distinguishable on the wargaming table hundreds of years later 

 

[carlos marighela]

Everyone knows that the real distinguishing feature of the Welsh is having one leg shorter than the other. 

[has.been]

Everyone knows that the real distinguishing feature of the Welsh is having one leg shorter than the other. 

Inclined to be Welsh?   

[vodkafan]

Sniper's nightmare when they bob from side to side walking like that 

[carlos marighela]

The clever sniper just puts his point of aim about 18 inches above the sheep in front of the target.

[has.been]

The clever sniper just puts his point of aim about 18 inches above the sheep in front of the target.

Naughty!

[vodkafan]

The clever sniper just puts his point of aim about 18 inches above the sheep in front of the target.

 

[jon_1066]

I think this is one of those things that you can do as you see fit.  If you want Welsh bare foot then go for it but it would be hard to prove they didn’t have shoes if you used figures that are shod.