Chopine Chopine A chopine is a type of women's platform shoe that was popular in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Chopines were originally used as a patten, clog, or overshoe to protect the shoes and dress from mud and street soil. Chopines were popularly worn in Venice by both courtesans and patrician women from ca. 1400–1700. Besides their practical uses, the height of the chopine became a symbolic reference to the cultural and social standing of the wearer; the higher the chopine, the higher the status of the wearer. High chopines allowed a woman to tower over others. During the
Hulk (medieval ship type) the median rudder as well as oars as depicted in some illuminated manuscripts would make the hulk more maneuverable than the cog, and the larger vessel could provide a better platform for fighting. Hulk (medieval ship type) A hulk (or "holk") was a type of medieval sea craft, a technological predecessor of the carrack and caravel. The hulk appears to have remained a relatively minor type of sailing ship apparently peculiar to the low countries of Europe where it was probably used primarily as a river or canal boat, with limited potential for coastal cruising. The only evidence of hulks