a cover for the head. Caps and hats were not in general use before the year 1449, the fashion having been introduced, it is said, at the entry of Charles VII. into Rouen; from which time they began to take the place of the hoods or chaperons, which had till then been used. When the cap was of velvet it was called 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 a part of the hood anciently worn by persons of the robe, from which the skirts were cut off as an encumbrance, leaving the round cap a convenient cover for the head; and when the round cap was afterwards assumed by the people, those of the gown changed it for a square one, first invented by a Frenchman named Patrouillet. He adds, that the giving of the cap to students in the universities denoted that they had acquired full liberty, and were no longer subject to the control 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.
The Romans for many ages had no regular covering for the head. As a defence against the rain or sun, the lappet of the gown was thrown over the head. The same usage obtained among the Greeks, at least during the heroic age; yet hats or bonnets appear in the Panathenaic procession.
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 cardinals. The secular clergy are distinguished by black leathern caps; the regulars, by knit and worsted ones.
Churchmen, and the members of most universities, students in law, physic, and others, as well as graduates, wear square caps. In many universities doctors are distinguished by peculiar caps, which are given them on assuming their degree. Wickliff calls the canons of his time bifurcatis, from their caps. Pasquier observes that in his day the caps worn by churchmen and others were called square caps, though in fact they were round yellow caps.
The cap is sometimes used as a mark of infamy. In Italy generally the Jews are distinguished by a yellow cap, but at Lucca by an orange one. Formerly in France, bankrupts were obliged to wear a green cap, that others might be warned against trusting them. By several arrêts in 1584, 1622, 1628, and 1688, it was decreed, that if such person were found without his green cap, his protection should be null, and his creditors might cast him into prison.
Cap of Maintenance, one of the regalia, or ornaments of state, carried before the sovereigns of England at their coronation and other great solemnities. Caps of maintenance are also carried before the mayors of some cities, and likewise appear in heraldic bearings.