Cap @museum.de

F: This piece of headwear is more than 500 years old. What might have happened to the person who once wore it? Today, we can only speculate. The cap (strictly speaking a bycocket) was found in the middle of present-day Bruchsal, on the ground floor of the Keep. This distinctive tower was built in 1358 by the bishop of the day, Gerhard von Ehrenberg. At the time, the tower was still part of a medieval castle complex. Later, the Keep was occasionally used as a prison and dungeon.

M2: But what exactly is the story behind the cap? Was the person who wore it sentenced to serve time in the dungeon? Were they a thief, a cheat, perhaps even a murderer? Or are we barking up the wrong tree entirely and that person was a respectable citizen after all?

F: One thing we do know is that the cap was made of brown felt in around 1500. It was a relatively expensive article, so the wearer must have been well-to-do. Headgear like this was worn equally by both men and women at the time.

M: The cap is curved at the nape of the neck and tapers to a point at the front. The turned-up band was repeatedly folded into small pleats to maintain the width of the brim. The comparatively tall shape of the crown is typical of the first half of the 16th century.

F: During painstaking conservation work, some small pieces of metal were found on the right-hand side, between the crown and the turned-up band. They were probably from a pin or brooch used to hold the brim in place at the front.