An almuce was a hood-like shoulder cape worn as a choir vestment in the Middle Ages, especially in England. Initially, it was worn by the general population.[1] It found lasting use by certain canons regular, such as the white almutium worn on the arm by Premonstratensian canons. Use of fur-lined almuce was against the rules of the canons, leading to requests for dispensations from the rule, as described by Alison Fizzard.[2] It also survives in the tippet and hood worn by some Anglican priests.
The almuce or amess is defined by E. L. Cutts as a tippet of black cloth with a hood attached, lined with fur, worn in choir by canons, and in some counties of England by parochial rectors.[3] The academic hood is a derivative from the medieval almuce.
The almuce was originally a head-covering only, worn by the clergy, but adopted also by the laity, and the German word Mütze "cap" and Swedish mössa[4] "toque" is later than the introduction of the almuce in church, and is derived from it.[5]
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