I think the pilgrims wore mostly caps. The black hat was indeed a Sunday best kind of lid. The buckle, I believe originates from the shoes of that period and was carried over to the hat.
Have you thought about making a video on more pop culture hats like the pointy Wizard Hat or the Witch's Hat? Maybe something to consider for next Halloween?
If you look up prints of Jews from the middle ages, you would see that they are wearing pointy hats.. that's where the stereotypical witches hat comes from.
@@ironandzinc The cone-shaped pointed hat that Jews in Medieval Europe wore was very probably the inspiration for the stereotypical wizard hat. The witch hat on the other hand likely got it's shape from the tall quaker hat, because Quakers allowed women certain rights many other christian denominations at the time did not. There were even female Quaker ministers. Other Christians found that very suspicions and suspected the hand of the devil in play. Especially when Quaker women began to have their meetings in secret to hide from just such persecutions. Soon caricatures appeared showing Quaker meeting with women ministers seducing men to the devil while wearing the Quaker hat depicted in ever more exaggerated forms.
This frenchmen RU-vidr most likely get this wrong on the Pilgrims hat. Looks like an dutch captains hat what it most likely was at the beginning. The buckle is most likely no decorative but to adjust the hat to the individual head size. Itis an early dutch protestant seamans hat. Early english and dutch joined often to confront together the spanish and portuguise. Origins seem to be dutch but I have seen spanish noblemen as well with these.
capotains often hat precious pieces of jewelry in the place of the buckle so i could imagine that later artists thought that, since the pilgrims were more modest, theyd replace the jewels with a simple buckle. Buckles were sometimes worn during that time on hats but not these large ones and not at the front. However so far ive only found one depiction of a hat buckle that im 100% sure is from the early 1600s.
Thanks a lot for this footage. I was not familiar with the fact that this hat, well known from Rembrandt´s paintings, was nowadays related to Thanksgiving.
great video as usual i had no idea the buckle was added to make them look more old fashioned happy Thanksgiving to everyone who reads this hope your day goes well
There is a Canadian thanksgiving holiday as you stated , but it has nothing to do with the American version, as the pilgims are not part of our history. For most Canadians it doesn't symbolize anything, although it is still a time to get together and feast with family and friends. I think we invented it to have a long weekend in the fall.
See also the history of women preachers of the 16th-17th century in some sects such as quakers being labeled as witches. they wore this pointy hat "uniform" of their congregants ==> witches hat.
Hey Ho, Hat Historian--you got a big "WRONG' on the sugar loaf hat {Pilgrim/Separatists hat]. The buckle is at the rear. The original hat was photographed in the early 20th? century, and the buckle was shown. It was small and used to adjust the hat on your head, using the hat band. For reason lost to sense, the buckle side was more showy it was thought, so it has been depicted as if the back was the front of the hat. ALL hats were made thus, and adjusted thus. In the time this writer was involved in the living history world of 1775-1786 my EXPENSIVE cocked hat was made to 'about my size. I went for a final fitting, wearing my wig. The hatter then steamed the rabbit fur felt, placed the HOT HAT to my head, adjusted the leather hat band with the REAR buckle to my EXACT head shape. We chatted till the hat cooled. After that it was allways a perfect fit, and would stay on even in a heavy wind.
Is there any possibility for the buckle to have been added later than the initial time it was worn? Looking at period depictions (front and back alike) or indeed on other original hats from the period, I have never spotted any buckle at all, save for *one*. Which can be found in Jacob De Gheyn's 1607 manual at arms, where a musketeer (of Prince Maurits' personal life regiment) can be seen having one on the side of his hatband. Like the example you mentioned, the buckle is a lot smaller than the stereotypical ones we see on the modern depiction of the sugar loaf hat. But also of a more oval model, more common at the time.
The separatists (later the “Pilgrims”because they had to wander about looking for a place where they would not be persecuted) were actually considered radicals by the firmly closed-minded King of England and his religious advisors. Even the English Puritans looked down on them. Odd, when you consider that people today think the Pilgrims were Puritans. They were later absorbed by them geographically, but remained more tolerant than the others.
An even odder anachronism is the association of the blunderbuss with the Pilgrims. William Bradford, in his advertisement for later colonists advised “Let thy peace be long in the barrel “ as they would mainly be used for fowling. The blunderbuss was a naval boarding weapon with a very short range, useless in hunting.
Please keep in mind that many will watch your channel on a small screen. Keeping yourself on camera while showing small inset pictures of your subject is.. less than ideal.
