leather
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...
or
cloth
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is n ...
, enclosed by material, and laced, from above the toes to the top of the boot, and open across the toes.
The word buskin, only recorded in English since 1503 meaning "half boot", is of unknown origin, perhaps from
Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th French ''brodequin'') or directly from its Middle Dutch">French language">French ''brodequin'') or directly from its Greek ''kothornos'' () or Latin ''cothurnus'') was worn by Athenian Tragedy">tragic actors (to make them look taller). Buskins therefore sometimes appear as a symbol of tragedy, often contrasted with "sock" (from Latin ''soccus''), the low shoe worn by Comedy (drama), comedians.
The buskin was also worn by hunters, and soldiers in Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek, Etruscan civilization, Etruscan, and Ancient Rome, Roman societies, to protect the lower legs against thorns, dirt, etc.
Byzantine emperor
The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...
s were formally clad in purple buskins, embroidered in gold with
double-headed eagle
The double-headed eagle is an Iconology, iconographic symbol originating in the Bronze Age. The earliest predecessors of the symbol can be found in Mycenaean Greece and in the Ancient Near East, especially in Mesopotamian and Hittite Empire#icon ...
s.John Julius Norwich, ''A Short History of Byzantium'', Penguin 1998, p. 248.