Category: Male clothing > medieval headwear

Jester's hood - Cap 'n' bells

Jester's hood - Cap 'n' bells

Century: XIII, XIV, XV

CODE	Material	Standard ? × SPES products - technology & methods of manufacturing Machine-made standard - products with visible signs of using modern methods and tools in their production; e.g. visible outside and inside seams in clothing made with the use of a machine. Mixed standard - products with visible signs of using both modern and traditional methods and tools in their production; e.g. main, inside seams in clothing are made with the use of a machine while outside stitches and details are sewn by hand. Hand-made standard - goods with visible signs of using only traditional methods and tools in their production; e.g. all seams in clothing are sewn by hand. *NOTE. We always use high quality materials and fabrics while making our products - the above standards of their production are not related to the materials used.	Price
GMWS0400	Wool	Mixed	99.00 EUR

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A spacious medieval headwear reaching the forearms. This model of a jester’s hood is made of wool in two contrastive colors. It has a linen, pleasant to touch lining. The collar of our cap ’n’ bells covers most of the torso. The horns are finished with round bells. You can wear this jester’s hood with spacious garments (like robe), as well as with clothing fitted to body shape (like jopula), preferably multicolored.

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Cap ’n’ bells jester hat in sources

Sources with this example of a jester hat can be found in the 14th century manuscripts. On the pages of The Luttrell Psalter you can notice depictions of medieval jesters wearing hoods with long horns (or ears), finished with round bells. The work is dated back to 1325-1340.

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The clothing of a medieval jester

It wasn’t hard to recognize a jester in medieval times - usually he significantly distinguished himself with his clothes. Towards the end of age people often wore colorful costumes, fools combined them in even more daring ways, for example as a colorful chess board theme. Costumes were also decorated with cutouts, bells, pointy shoes, and special scepter.

The most eye-catching element of the jester's costume seems to be his headwear. Usually it had a form of unusual hat or hood. It could have a form of horns with bells (Cap ’n’ bells), cockscomb crest, or donkey’s ears. The bells in his hat attracted the attention of courtiers and portended the appearance of a fool.

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What are the types of medieval headwear?

Similarly to the outer garment, headwears speaks of the social status and in case of women of their marital status. In medieval iconography hardly ever can we find figures without any head wear. During all the period of the Middle Ages a hood was the most widespread head wear. Its functions were protective and sometimes symbolic, ritual or representative. Medieval headwear includes: caps, hats, coifs, hoods, kerchiefs and others. Hoods were often made of cloth, however caps and hats were made of felt.