Mediæval Europeans wore wooden-soled patten shoes, which were ancestors to contemporary high heels. Elizabeth Semmelhack, curator at Toronto's Bata Shoe Museum, traces the high heel to Persian [1] horse riders in the Near East who used high heels for functionality, because they helped hold the rider's foot in stirrups.[2] She states that this footwear is depicted on a 9th-century ceramic bowl from Persia.[3][4]
It is sometimes suggested that raised heels were a response to the problem of the rider's foot slipping forward in stirrups while riding.[3] The "rider's heel", approximately 1 1⁄2 inches (3.8 cm) high, appeared in Europe around 1600.[2] The leading edge was canted forward to help grip the stirrup, and the trailing edge was canted forward to prevent the elongated heel from catching on underbrush or rock while backing up, such as in on-foot combat. These features are evident today in riding boots, notably cowboy boots.