Origins
The origins of the biretta are uncertain. It is mentioned as early as the tenth century. One possible origin is the academic cap of the high Middle Ages, which was soft and square. This is also the ancestor of the modern mortarboard used today in secular universities. The biretta seems to have become a more widely used as an ecclesiastical vestment after the "synod of Bergamo, 1311, ordered the clergy to wear the 'bireta on their heads after the manner of laymen.'" The tuft or pom sometimes seen on the biretta was added later; the earliest forms of the biretta did not bear the device.
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Famous quotes containing the word origins:
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