A hat! a hat! my Kingdom for a hat!

A mock Tudor period hat 

Whilst the correct shape, the materials are wrong and proportion a little exaggerated, although I have no doubt people in the period did add lots of flashy bits to make them stand out.

This hat came as part of a job lot of theatrical medieval hats I purchased via eBay.

Perfect for your Shakespearian play.

"A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!", said Richard not me but King Richard the Third at the battle of Bosworth, at least according to Sheakspear.

Skull Past

This wool felt skull cap is one of my oldest hats

Made from 8 triangles of fabric sewn together

Now a chance to scan some old photos of me wearing the skull cap

Above me as part of mummers play

Below me in shorts at a music festival

Below me doing theatrical mediaeval reenactment at Warwick Castle

Not worn much recently, but one that got worn often.

Oriental Evil

This Hat as the look of a Mongolian hat but is a medieval European hat.

This is felt hat I believe copied from a woodcut of the period

Now many images of Mongolian hats can also be very similar to this and they would also wear a hat made of felt, it perhaps decorated with trims and maybe beads. The Mongolian did invade Europe in the 13th century so who knows perhaps ideas got swapped.

Jesters Hat

The jester hat is a silly hat with bells on worn by performers in the Tudor period and beyond.

Red and Green should never be seen, except on fools is a reference to a colour clash and peoples fashion sense.

I always like to think this phrase comes from the colours worn by medieval court jesters, but that probably not true, the phrase could come from the running lights on ships, which have traditionally been red on one side and green on the other. If another vessel saw green or red lights ahead in the dark, it would mean they were on a collision course. 

This is comercial hat found in job lot of hats I got off ebay used by a local theatre group.

Where does a werewolf go when he loses his tail? 

A retail store,  ta da.

Medieval Felt Hat

This tall hat, now looking a bit crushed was used roughly between 1320 and 1590, although apparently not worn in the early Tudor period, it did reappeared during the Elizabethan. 

This is felt hat made by shaping felt with hot water or steam.

Cow Pat Hat

This medieval cap is often called a cow pat hat because of its very flat when not on the head.

Made of fabric, its a brim about 5cm wide with the crown made of the same material made oversized  so it falls onto the brim, its then lined and as in this case decorated with feathers

Worn predominantly in Tudor period by peasants through to nobility and by men and women alike.

Same hat on another head

Sir Tis My Hat

This medieval hat is made in the style of a chaperon

It was made for me around 1990 for medieval theatre style reenactment at Warwick Castle for group called Knights Errant. 

Errant Knights being knights with no particular lord that wandered the country looking for adventure, duels, jousts, or just pursuing the values of chivalry.

Made from a platted band of brown, red and white wool forming the bourrelet around the head and separate wool cornette lined with linen, it forms a very comfortable simplified chaperon style hat.

I've worn this hat many time, for many characters, its still worn today and in excellent condition after 25 years of life.

Chaperon

The Chaperone is soft fabric hat worn in medieval northern Europe, it consist of a ring fabric around the head, a crown of loose fabric and long scarf like tail called a liripipe thrown over the shoulder.

The Chaperon developed from a woollen hood, where the hole for face in the hood ended being rolled until it become the band around the head and the large open neck hole becoming the cape hanging from the top.

A touted reason for this is possibly because it was cooler to wear it that way in hot weather. 

The hood evolved and became a actual style of hat that we call the Chaperon worn by the wealthy and nobility in the 13th to 15th Centuries, until it went out of fashion around 1480

Chaperons continued to evolve as the one I'm wearing here with the ring of fabric which was once a rolled up hood becoming padded Bourrelets around the the head in some cases growing almost turban like in proportions and cornette or cape which is the loose fabric hanging from the padded ring and the liripipe becoming extremely large and flamboyant.

Most contemporary portraits show Chaperons in one colour of fabric, but the belief is that was just the simplify the artist job since extravagant fabric from silks or damask were listed as being used.

One thing I note in England particularly during this period the chaperon was also a name for some styles of hood as well as the head covering I'm wearing here 

Merchant Cap

This is what I call a medieval pill box shaped merchant cap.

Many hats or caps don't have special individual names, so they are more often than not listed by the particular shape they are similar to such as pill box, skull, acorn shape no matter what style or period they are from which is fine but some need a bit more description.

 This cap was made to mimic a common medieval hat, normally of felt.

Now I like things in categories and what I can say about this hat is while similar in looks its not a smoking or leisure cap, they don't have turned up bands and are generally decorated with embroidery, sequins and tassels, so not a smoking cap. 

This hat falls into my category merchant cap, which is any hat that does not have its own type name and looks too good to be a peasant hat but not overdecorated enough to be a noble hat.

So you get medieval pill box shaped merchant cap.

Reversible Acorn Hat

This medieval style acorn hat is reversible, 2 hats for one

I'm not sure why I'm pulling a odd face, some hats make me do this.

Below I'm studying the complexity of turning something inside out or outside in or perhaps outside out since both sides are the outside of the hat, who knows.

Acorn hats appeared mainly in the late 15th Century although they existed before and after this period.

The style of these hats can vary considerable both in hight and style, some are skull tight, some are comedy tall, this one fall in between.

Reversible Acorn Hat by Mike The Hat