The Romans also wore them when traveling

They were not used in w. Europe till the twelfth century; beaver hats are first mentioned ab. 1260, and hats with ostrich plumes are noticed by Froi art ab. 1340. Felt and beaver hats then became general as a mark of rank and distinction. Fifteenth century hats had very high and steeple-like crowns, with broad, pointed, or turned-up brims, with tall plumes sometimes jeweled along the stems. They were often made of taffeta, velvet, and sarsnet. From 1500 to 1560 they were low-crowned and narrow-brimmed, but both brims, and crowns increased in in Hats (1500-1550). The size wore his plain with broad brim and sugar-loaf crown. of the brim led to its being looped up and brought about the various fashionable cocks of the eighteenth century. Silk began to supersede beaver ab. 1820.