Patten (shoe)

In this detail of the Arnolfini Portrait of 1434, these pattens have been taken off inside the house.
"Lovers on a Grassy" or "Garden Bank", a 1460s engraving by Master E. S. The man has discarded his very long pattens; the woman still wears hers.

Pattens, also known by other names, are protective overshoes that were worn in Europe from the Middle Ages until the early 20th century. In appearance, they sometimes resembled contemporary clogs or sandals. Pattens were worn outdoors over a normal shoe, had a wooden or later wood and metal sole, and were held in place by leather or cloth bands. Pattens functioned to elevate the foot above the mud and dirt (including human effluent and animal dung) of the street, in a period when road and urban paving was minimal. Women continued to wear pattens in muddy conditions until the 19th or even early 20th century.