Cordiner Trade
Emblem - Cordiner’s knife, half moon surmounted on a ducal coronet
(a small crown of a Duke)
Cordiner is the Scottish word for shoemaker. The Cordiners were very particular
about achieving a high standard of workmanship, and this was evident with the
introduction of fashion shoes, which people in Dundee had to go elsewhere for,
but the quality that the Cordiners expected, was rectified. This trade is still
confined to those who ply the craft.
Records go back to 1560
Patron Saints for the shoemakers - St. Crispen and St. Crispinian
They were the brothers St Crispian and St. Crispinian said to have been of the
Crown, who settled in the middle of the Third Century to preach the Gospel. In
order to make a living they worked as shoemakers at nights, and legend has it
that the Angels supplied them with materials for their work. October 25, the
anniversary of the day which they were martyred is still celebrated in the
shoemaking trade. For a long time a French shoemaker’s kit was referred to as
his “St Crispin”, and his awl as “St Crispin’s Lance.