a part of dress made to cover the head. The origin of caps and hats is referred to the year 1449, the first seen in these parts of the world being at the entry of Charles VII. into Rouen; but from that time they began to take place of the hoods, or chaperoons, which had until then been used. When the cap was of velvet they called it mortier, when of wool simply bonnet. None but kings, princes, and knights, were allowed the use of the mortier. The cap was the head-dress of the clergy and graduates. Pasquier says that it was anciently a part of the hood worn by the people of the robe, the skirts of which being cut off as an encumbrance, left the round cap an easy and commodious cover for the head; which round cap being afterwards assumed by the people, those of the gown changed it for a square one, first invented by a Frenchman called Patrouillet. He adds, that the giving of the cap to the students in the universities denoted that they had acquired full liberty, and were no longer subject to the rod of their superiors; in imitation of the ancient Romans, who gave a pileus or cap to their slaves, in the ceremony of making them free; and hence the proverb, Vocare servos ad pileum. Hence, also, on medals, the cap is the symbol of Liberty, whom they represent as holding in her right hand a cap by the point.
The Romans were many ages without any regular covering for the head. When either the rain or sun proved troublesome, the lappet of the gown was thrown over the head; and hence it is that all the ancient statues appear bareheaded, excepting sometimes a wreath or the like. And the same usage obtained among the Greeks, at least during the heroic age, when no caps were known. The sort of caps or covers of the head in use among the Romans, on divers occasions, were the pitra, pileus, cucullus, galerus, and pallium; the differences between which are often confounded by ancient as well as modern writers.
The French clergy wear a shallow kind of cap called calotte, which only covers the top of the head, and is made of leather, satin, worsted, or other stuff. The red cap is a mark of dignity, allowed only to those who are raised to the dignity of cardinal. The secular clergy are distinguished by black leathern caps, the regulars by knit and worsted ones.
Churchmen, and the members of universities, students in law, physic, and others, as well as graduates, wear square caps. In most universities doctors are distinguished by peculiar caps, which are given them on assuming their degree. Wickliff calls the canons of his time bifurcati, from their caps. Pasquier observes that in his time the caps worn by the churchmen and others were called square caps, though in effect they were round yellow caps.
The cap is sometimes used as a mark of infancy. In Italy generally the Jews are distinguished by a yellow cap, but at Lucca by an orange one. In France, those who had been bankrupts were obliged ever after to wear a green cap, to prevent people from being imposed on by them in any future transaction. By several arrêts in 1584, 1622, 1628, and 1688, it was decreed, that if they were at any time found without their green cap, their protection should be null, and their creditors empowered to cast them into prison; but the sentence is not now executed.
Cap of Maintenance, one of the regalia, or ornaments of state, belonging to the kings of England, before whom it was carried at the coronation and other great solemnities. Caps of maintenance are also carried before the mayors of the several cities in England.
Cap and Button Isles, two small islands in the Straits of Sunda, which are supposed to be of volcanic origin. They are round in their figure, and their sides are steep and have a naked appearance. One of them, the Cap, is penetrated by two large caverns running horizontally into the rock, which are famous for producing the edible bird-nests so highly prized by the Chinese, and which constitute a great article of traffic. Long. 105. 48. E. Lat. 5. 49. S.