Jewish iconography
The round cap of Isaiah on the Portico of Glory, a 12th-century work, evolves, as in all of medieval Western Europe, in line with the growing open manifestation of antisemitism, until it transforms into the typical pointed hat that identifies and ridicules Jews.
Ethnologic Museum
The formation of a stereotype
Thus, in the illuminations of the Cantigas de Santa María, collected in Galician by Alfonso X ‘The Wise’ in the mid-13th century, three types of pointed hats can be seen: 1) in the form of a tassel, 2) like a prismatic helmet, 3) a hat with wings. Hats that, at times, the illuminators also covered with a similarly pointed hood. Christians, on the other hand, wear a dignified bonnet (Cantiga 25). The intention is to exemplify and discriminate in order to demonstrate Christian superiority, which at that moment is expressed in a peaceful way: the aim is to convert the Jews with miracles of the Virgin that they did not recognize.
