Shape '', in the Jewish manuscript the "
Regensburg Pentateuch", Germany, The shape of the hat is variable. Sometimes, especially in the thirteenth century, it is a soft
Phrygian cap, but rather more common in the early period is a hat with a round circular brim—apparently stiff—curving round to a tapering top that ends in a point, called the "so-called
oil-can type" by Sara Lipton. Smaller versions perching on top of the head are also seen. Sometimes a ring of some sort encircles the hat an inch or two over the top of the head. In the fourteenth century a ball or bobble appears at the top of the hat, and the tapering end becomes more of a stalk with a relatively constant width. The top of the hat becomes flatter, or rounded (as in the Codex Manesse picture). The materials used are unclear from art, and may have included metal and woven plant materials as well as stiffened textiles and leather. By the end of the Middle Ages the hat is steadily replaced by a variety of headgear including exotic flared Eastern style hats, turbans and, from the fifteenth century, wide flat hats and large berets. In pictures of Biblical scenes these sometimes represent attempts to portray the contemporary dress of the time worn in the
Holy Land, but all the same styles are to be seen in some images of contemporary European scenes. Where a distinctive pointed Jewish hat remains it has become much less defined in shape, and baggy. Loose turbans, wide flat hats, and berets, as well as new fur hat styles from the
Pale of Settlement, remain associated with Jews up to the eighteenth century and beyond.
History (
etrog) for the holiday of
sukkot in a medieval
Hebrew calendar. The origin of the hat is unclear, although it is often seen as ultimately evolving from the same origin as the
mitre, perhaps from late Roman styles, which may themselves derive from the hats of ancient Persian clergy. Hats worn (by Pharaoh's advisors, among others) in the illustrations to the
Old English Hexateuch, a manuscript of around 1030, have been seen as an early form, and they appear in the
Mosan Stavelot Bible of 1097. The first recorded instance of a “Jewish hat” or “Judenhut” was around the 11th century in the Flanders region. The wearing of these distinctive hats originate from European Christians who wore such hats before mandating that it become a symbol for European Jews. According to Sara Lipton, "The few surviving early medieval references to Jewish clothing likewise suggest that Jews dressed no differently from their Gentile neighbor". In Europe, the Jewish hat was worn in France from the eleventh century, and Italy from the twelfth. The
Gniezno Doors were probably made in Germany around 1175, and two Jewish merchants depicted on the doors wear them. Under
Jewish law, observant Jews should keep their heads covered almost all the time, and indeed men of all religious groups tended to wear hats when outside in the
Middle Ages to a much greater extent than today. Unlike the
yellow badge, the Jewish hat is often seen in illustrated Hebrew manuscripts, and was later included by German Jews in their seals and
coats of arms, suggesting that at least initially it was regarded by European Jews as "an element of traditional garb, rather than an imposed discrimination". The hat is also worn in Christian pictures by figures such as
Saint Joseph and sometimes
Jesus (see below). However, once "made obligatory, the hat, hitherto deliberately different from hats worn by Christians, was viewed by Jews in a negative light". A provincial
synod held in
Breslau in 1267 said that since Jews had stopped wearing the pointed hats they used to wear, this would be made compulsory. The
Fourth Council of the Lateran of 1215 ruled that Jews and Muslims must be distinguishable by their dress (Latin "habitus"), the rationale given being: "In some provinces the dress of Jews and
Saracens distinguishes them from Christians, but in others a degree of confusion has arisen, so that they cannot be recognised by any distinguishing marks. As a result, in error Christians have sexual intercourse with Jewish or Saracen women, and Jews and Saracens have intercourse with Christian women. In order that the crime of such an accursed mingling shall not in future have an excuse and an evasion under the pretext of error, we resolve that (Jews and Saracens) of both sexes in all Christian lands shall distinguish themselves publicly from other people by their dress. According to the testimony of scripture, such a precept was already made by Moses (Lev.19.19; Deut.22.5.11)".
Local regulations However, not all European medieval monarchs followed these pontifical resolutions. King
Andrew II of Hungary (1177–1235) ignored demands from the Pope on several occasions; this gained him excommunication twice. At that time many Jews were in royal service. The excommunications even forbade Andrew II from being present at his daughter
Elisabeth of Hungary's
canonization in Germany. The hat was mostly found north of the
Alps, despite some of the earliest examples being seen in Italy, and was not found in Spain. Additional rules were imposed by local rulers at various times. The council decision was confirmed by the
Council of Vienne of 1311–12. In 1267 the hat was made compulsory in
Vienna. A doctor (
Jacob Mantino) was given a temporary dispensation from wearing it in
Venice in 1528, at the request of various distinguished patients (at the time in Venice each profession had special clothing rules).
Pope Paul IV ordered in 1555 that in the
Papal States it must be a yellow, peaked hat, and from 1567 for twenty years it was compulsory in
Lithuania, but by this period it is rarely seen in most of Europe. As an outcome of the
Jewish Emancipation its use was formally discontinued, although it had been declining long before that, and is not often seen after 1500; the various forms of the
yellow badge were far more long-lasting. This was an alternative form of distinguishing mark, not found in Europe before 1215, and later reintroduced by the
Nazis. It was probably more widely required by local laws, for example English legislation concentrated on the badge, which took the form of the two
Tablets of the Law. In some pictures from all parts of the
Middle Ages, rabbis or other Jewish leaders wear the Jewish hat when other Jews do not, which may reflect reality. Such examples of this hat-wearing can be seen nearly 350 years after the Fourth Lateran Council. Regions divided into many states, such as Renaissance Italy and Germany, had local laws in this as in other fields, leading to difficulties for travellers who might not be aware of the local regulations. For example, in Italy a Leone Segele was arrested in
Lodi for wearing a black hat, as was acceptable in his home city of
Genoa, instead of a yellow one, required in Lodi. These dress codes became a normal part of what it meant to be a Jew living inside Catholic dominated European societies. In a late addition to local rulings, the very strict and locally unpopular
Counter Reformation Pope Paul IV ordered in 1555 that all Jews in Rome were required to wear the yellow hat "under the severest penalties." When he died, his statue, erected before the
Campidoglio just months before, had a yellow hat placed on it (similar to the yellow hat Paul IV had forced Jews to wear in public). After a mock trial, the statue was decapitated. It was then thrown into the
Tiber. ==In art==