The Jewish hat, also known as the Jewish cap, Judenhut (German) or Latin pileus cornutus, 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.
The Jewish poet Süßkind von Trimberg (on the right) wearing a Jewish hat (Codex Manesse, fourteenth century)
Circumcision of Isaac, in the Jewish manuscript the "Regensburg Pentateuch", Germany, c. 1300
Figure in a Jewish hat holding a citron (etrog) for the holiday of sukkot in a medieval Hebrew calendar.
Christian painting of an Old Testament sacrifice, 1483, with various forms of Jewish hat, as well as turbans and other exotic styles. By this date it is hard to judge how illustrations like these relate to actual contemporary dress in Europe, or are an attempt to recreate historically appropriate ancient dress from styles of the contemporary Middle East.
Pointed hats have been a distinctive item of headgear of a wide range of cultures throughout history. Although often suggesting an ancient Indo-European tradition, they were also traditionally worn by women of Lapland, the Japanese, the Mi'kmaq people of Atlantic Canada, and the Huastecs of Veracruz and Aztec. The Kabiri of New Guinea have the diba, a pointed hat glued together.
John Michael Wright, Mrs Salesbury with her Grandchildren Edward and Elizabeth Bagot, c. 1676, Tate Britain
Scythian (Saka tigrakhauda) leader with the pointed cap typical of his people
The Hallstatt culture Warrior of Hirschlanden wears a pointed hat or helmet.
Relief in Hattusa, probably depicting Suppiluliuma II.