Jewish hat

The Jewish poet Süßkind von Trimberg (on the right) wearing a Jewish hat (Codex Manesse, fourteenth century)

The Jewish hat, also known as the Jewish cap, Judenhut (German) or Latin pileus cornutus ("horned skullcap"), was a cone-shaped pointed hat, often white or yellow, worn by Jews in Medieval Europe. Initially worn by choice, its wearing was enforced in some places in Europe after the 1215 Fourth Council of the Lateran for adult male Jews to wear while outside a ghetto to distinguish them from others. Like the Phrygian cap that it often resembles, the hat may have originated in pre-Islamic Persia, as a similar hat was worn by Babylonian Jews.

Modern distinctive or characteristic Jewish forms of male headgear include the kippah (skullcap), shtreimel, spodik, kolpik, and kashkets; see also Hasidic clothing.


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