Judenhut
- For the modern Jewish skullcap, see kippah.
The Judenhut or Jewish hat or Jewish cap (German for "Jew's
hat"; Latin: pilleus cornutus, or "horned skullcap") was a white or yellow cone-shaped
pointed hat worn by Jews in Medieval Europe and some of
the Islamic world. Initially worn by choice, its wearing was enforced in Europe after 1215 for adult male Jews to wear while outside a ghetto in order to distinguish Jews from others. The
hat may have originated, like the phrygian cap it often resembles, in
The Islamic World
In 807 Harun al-Rashid ordered all Jews living as dhimmi under Muslim rule to wear yellow, pointed hats and yellow belts.[citation needed] In 850 the caliph al‑Mutawakkil ordered Christians and Jews to wear both a sash called a zunnah and a distinctive kind of shawl or headscarf called a taylasin (the Christians had already been required to wear the sash).[2] With frequent variations (yellow veil, wearing a wooden golden calf around the neck) a requirement for distinctive dress remained in force well in much of the Islamic world the 19th century, when Mahmud II issued regulations for the last time in 1837.[citation needed]
Europe
In Europe, the Judenhut is seen in France from the 11th century, and Italy from the 12th, presumably arriving from the Islamic world. Under Jewish law, observant Jews should keep their heads covered almost all the time.[3] Unlike the yellow badge, the judenhut 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".[4] 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"[5] A law in Breslau in 1267 said that since Jews had stopped wearing the pointed hats they used to wear, this would be made compulsory.[6]
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 publically 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)".[7]
More detailed rules were enacted locally by rulers. The council decision was confirmed by the Council of Vienne of 1311-12. In 1267 the hat was made compulsory in Vienna. A doctor was given a temporary dispensation from wearing it in Venice in 1528, at the request of various distinguished patients.[8] Pope Paul IV ordered in 1555 that in the Papal States it must be a yellow, peaked hat, and in from 1567 for twenty years it was compulsory in Lithuania, but by this period it is rarely seen in most of Europe.[9] 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.[10] This was another form of distinguishing mark, not found in Europe before 1215, and later reintroduced later by the Nazis.
The shape of the hat is variable. Sometimes, especially in the 13th 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.[11] 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 14th 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.[12]. The top of the hat becomes flatter, or rounded (as in the Codex Manesse picture).
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 15th century, wide flat hats and large berets. In pictures of Biblical scenes these sometimes represent attempts to portray the contemporary dress of the (modern) 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 18th century and beyond.
A Judenhut could also be used as a stigma for usurers and magicians, not necessarily Jews.[citation needed]
Judenhut in art
The Judenhut is frequently used in medieval art to denote Jews of the Biblical period. Often the Jews so shown are those shown in an unfavourable light by the story being depicted, such as the money-changers expelled by Jesus from the Temple (Matthew.21.12-17), but this is by no means always the case. The husband of Mary, Saint Joseph, is often shown wearing a Judenhut, and Jesus himself may be shown wearing one, especially in depictions of the "meeting at Emmaus", where his disciples do not recognise him at first (Luke.24.13-32).[13] Sometimes it is used to distinguish Jews from other peoples such as Egyptians or Philistines.
In notable contrast to forms of jewish badge, the Judenhut is often seen in Hebrew manuscript illuminations such as Haggadot made in medieval Europe (picture below). In the Bird's Head Haggadah (Germany, c. 1300, now Jerusalem), the figures wear the hat when sitting to eat the Passover Seder.[14]
See also
References
- ^ Medieval Jewish History: An Encyclopedia. Edited by Norman Roth, Routledge
- ^ Medieval Jewish History: An Encyclopedia. Edited by Norman Roth, Routledge
- ^ Although this may not yet have acquired the force of law at this period. See Roth op cit.
- ^ Françoise Piponnier and Perrine Mane; Dress in the Middle Ages; p. 138, Yale UP, 1997; ISBN 0300069065. Seals from Norman Roth, op cit. Also Schreckenburg p. 15 & passim.
- ^ Piponnier & Mane, op & page cit.
- ^ Medieval Jewish History: An Encyclopedia. Edited by Norman Roth, Routledge
- ^ Schreckenburg, Heinz, The Jews in Christian Art, p.15, 1996, Continuum, New York, ISBN 0826409369
- ^ Jewish Encyclopedia
- ^ Pope:in the Bull Cum nimis absurdum. Lithuania, JE:"Yellow badge".
- ^ Schreckenburg:288-296
- ^ For example as worn by the Old Testament figures on the Klosterneuburg Altar of 1181
- ^ Occasionally small straight "stalks" are seen earlier, eg Schreckenberg:77, illus 4, of c.1170
- ^ Schreckenburg:125-196
- ^ Meyer Schapiro, Selected Papers, volume 3, Late Antique, Early Christian and Mediaeval Art, pp. 380-86, 1980, Chatto & Windus, London, ISBN 0701125144
Parts of this article are translated from de:Judenhut of 13 July 2005
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
