More stockings? Yes, please!
My biggest research project so far has been an investigation of the stockings from the 16th and 17th centuries. However, my work did not end with the publishing of the article in Archaeological Textiles Review. During CoVid lockdown, I managed to track down another pair of stockings, and as soon as the lockdown in our country ended, I went to see them.
They belonged to Johann Sporck (?1595-1679), originally a German peasant, who joined the army at the beginning the Thirty Years War. He gradually rose in rank and shortly before the end of the war was ennobled. He died as the Count von Sporck and owner of rich estates in Bohemia.
Unlike other stockings I have studied, his burial stockings were knitted from wool; not in as a fine gauge as silk stockings, but still quite fine: 50 loops (stitches) and 100 courses (rounds) per 10 cm.
The legs of the stockings are similar to other stockings I have seen, but the feet differ.
Most of the stockings found in the Czech Republic date back to the late 16th century or the first half of the 17th century, and they had been constructed in the same way. The typical feature they share is a triangular gusset bordered on one side by the selvedge of the heelflap and on the other two sides by marker ribs (false seams), along which the foot was shaped. This was achieved by decreases running from the ankle to the toe along the gusset/instep border and by increases along the gusset/sole border. There is, however, one pair, which I did not include in my article due to its difference from the others and later dating (approx. 1650-1750). It resembles much more modern hand-knitted socks, having only a short gusset and most of the foot knitted as a simple tube without any shaping.
The stockings of Johann von Sporck look like a transition between these two styles. They have triangular gussets, but although the marker ribs along the instep/gusset borders go all the way to the toe, decreases were worked only along their upper parts. There are also marker ribs along the gusset/sole borders, but without any increases nearby. Therefore the marker ribs along the sole do not form an angle as in the earlier stockings, but run parallel.
A similar construction was observed in the stockings of Swedish King Karl X. Gustav (1654). Both pairs also have Balbriggan heels (but other stockings of various styles have them too), and the lines of the decreases run not only below the marker ribs defining instep/gusset border, but also above them, which I have not seen in any other stockings.
The ankles of Sporck's stockings are decorated with a floral pattern (probably a tulip) in reverse loops (purled stitches). This is quite simple in comparison to many elaborate clocks from Western or Northern Europe; however, most of the Central European stockings do not have clocks at all.
Moreover, there is another pattern in a quite unusual place: at the ball of the foot.
Another uncommon feature is two reverse-loop courses, after the loops for the gusset were picked up from the heelflap selvedge.
These last two peculiarities are rare, but not unique. I vaguely remember hearing about similar features during a knitting history conference, probably in 2017. In that year, I attended two such conferences (in Copenhagen and in London), and now I cannot recall where and from whom I have heard it.
I will be grateful to any fellow researcher who has remembered it, and also for any other information on similar stockings. For the first half of the 17th century I had enough comparable items, for the second half, there are hardly any.
They belonged to Johann Sporck (?1595-1679), originally a German peasant, who joined the army at the beginning the Thirty Years War. He gradually rose in rank and shortly before the end of the war was ennobled. He died as the Count von Sporck and owner of rich estates in Bohemia.
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| Kuks - the burial place of the Sporck family in Eastern Bohemia |
Unlike other stockings I have studied, his burial stockings were knitted from wool; not in as a fine gauge as silk stockings, but still quite fine: 50 loops (stitches) and 100 courses (rounds) per 10 cm.
The legs of the stockings are similar to other stockings I have seen, but the feet differ.
Most of the stockings found in the Czech Republic date back to the late 16th century or the first half of the 17th century, and they had been constructed in the same way. The typical feature they share is a triangular gusset bordered on one side by the selvedge of the heelflap and on the other two sides by marker ribs (false seams), along which the foot was shaped. This was achieved by decreases running from the ankle to the toe along the gusset/instep border and by increases along the gusset/sole border. There is, however, one pair, which I did not include in my article due to its difference from the others and later dating (approx. 1650-1750). It resembles much more modern hand-knitted socks, having only a short gusset and most of the foot knitted as a simple tube without any shaping.
 |
| Schema of two styles of stocking feet |
The stockings of Johann von Sporck look like a transition between these two styles. They have triangular gussets, but although the marker ribs along the instep/gusset borders go all the way to the toe, decreases were worked only along their upper parts. There are also marker ribs along the gusset/sole borders, but without any increases nearby. Therefore the marker ribs along the sole do not form an angle as in the earlier stockings, but run parallel.
 |
| Stockings of Johann von Sporck (inv. number NPU KU03103) |
A similar construction was observed in the stockings of Swedish King Karl X. Gustav (1654). Both pairs also have Balbriggan heels (but other stockings of various styles have them too), and the lines of the decreases run not only below the marker ribs defining instep/gusset border, but also above them, which I have not seen in any other stockings.
The ankles of Sporck's stockings are decorated with a floral pattern (probably a tulip) in reverse loops (purled stitches). This is quite simple in comparison to many elaborate clocks from Western or Northern Europe; however, most of the Central European stockings do not have clocks at all.
Moreover, there is another pattern in a quite unusual place: at the ball of the foot.
 |
| Stockings of Johann von Sporck, detail of the pattern in the sole |
Another uncommon feature is two reverse-loop courses, after the loops for the gusset were picked up from the heelflap selvedge.
These last two peculiarities are rare, but not unique. I vaguely remember hearing about similar features during a knitting history conference, probably in 2017. In that year, I attended two such conferences (in Copenhagen and in London), and now I cannot recall where and from whom I have heard it.
I will be grateful to any fellow researcher who has remembered it, and also for any other information on similar stockings. For the first half of the 17th century I had enough comparable items, for the second half, there are hardly any.