A Conquering Hat: a History of the Bicorn

[@Redhand1949]

Your closing, "I tip my hat to you," is priceless!

[@donjones4719]

The bicorn worn sideways always puzzled me with its impracticality. On a sunny day the wearer had the sun in his eyes, on a rainy day the rain was in his eyes, and with its large size it must have been a full time job to hold on to it on a windy day. I understand that back in the day hats were worn with a very tight fit but the sail area of the hat is huge. Worn fore and aft there still was only limited protection from the sun and rain.

[@princecharon]

Napoleon's personal style was so well-known, and his presence on the battlefield so important to the troops, that Wellington said his hat was worth 40,000 men.

[@kriptoniteXD]

Love the channel! Last Summer I met a guy who colects hats of each country that he travels to. I was immediately in love by this hobby! I have to thank KZbin algorithm for showing this channel!

[@hathistorianjc]

I try to do the same thing Glad you enjoy the videos!

[@daringdare5078]

I’m surprised you haven’t made a video on the béret as your channel is half French and it’s the best hat around.

[@hathistorianjc]

Patience, you must have. ;)

[@bbyng7316]

Please don't waste your very good energies on the Berét? It is silly and boring. Many thanks in advance.

[@daringdare5078]

@@bbyng7316 Too late, mate.

[@brandonzhou2233]

@@bbyng7316 bro what do you have against berets

[@spokes1018]

And it takes the British army to wear it correctly

[@Nooblivious]

Very interesting niche, hope it pops off virally for you

[@d1egomon194]

Holy shit there’s an entire channel dedicated to hat history? We live in the right timeline

[@anthonylangley8717]

Nice. I started watching and figured I’d give the video a couple of minutes of my time, and ended up watching the whole thing. Well done.

[@robert-trading-as-Bob69]

I wonder if the Montera, the kind of bicorn looking matador hat made famous by bullfighters, was a bicorn originally, stylized and downsized? It came along, according to Wikipedia, in the mid 1830s which was the height of the bicorn cocked hats popularity.

[@bern1228]

Thank you for the tip of the hat. I tip my hat to you as well, good sir. Always entertaining and informative. Best wishes!

[@nikofloof6731]

I find it kinda funny that these hats are widely associated with pirates in childrens media, despite seeing next to no use in the golden age of piracy. Interesting history as well

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

Only like successful privateers wore them.

[@andrewhumphries4029]

Excellent portrayal, thank you. Of course the fore and aft bicorn fashion in the UK military (and others who emulated it) was set by the Duke of Wellington. As a hard-riding general it was ideal for staying, pressed down to his ears, fixed to his head during his legenday gallops around the battlefield!

[@TyrSkyFatherOfTheGods]

Wonderful video! I was delighted to see the former Lieutenant Governor of my home province of British Columbia, Hon. David Lam, in court dress - which has become so rare, unfortunately. One image I would have liked to have seen is that of Anne, the Princess Royal. She really rocks her admiral's bicorn.

[@grepora]

The well known mantle clock often called the Napoleon hat clock (or less elegantly, the hump clock) is formally called the Tambour clock.

[@christophergraves6725]

I love the bicorn. It looks stylish and elegant- a sign of the Eighteenth Century when even the military was more stylish and elegant.

[@simontemplar6279]

Agreed. This is an elegant and expressive uniform hat.

[@Westyrulz]

I wear mine to disco's.

[@johnrobinson4445]

Really excellent presentation. I enjoyed it very much and it answered all of my questions. Thank you.

[@brickbuildingbros3574]

I just found your channel and I love it! I love to see channels about more specific topics of history. I hope you succeed here on KZbin.

[@ianrogerburton1670]

I will always remember seeing for the first time as a kid an illustration from "Oliver Twist" of Mr Bumble the Parish Beadle with a ginormous bicorn. As local ceremonial officials Beadles dressed impressively so that they got noticed - just like my action figure of Napoleon (complete with bicorn) who is staring at me right now.

[@onearmy942]

Well done, 👏 bravo! I always had a curiosity about those hats, haven seen them in so many films and books. Thank you for this bit of historical detail.

[@sgtmtrush]

You didn't mention it's also the everyday head-wear of Cap'n Crunch.

[@jonathanulrich4905]

Just found your channel.I never knew I wanted to learn about the history of hats.thank you for your videos.enjoying them very much

[@Tybold63]

One of my favourite hat models - excellent video as usual! I prefer the Napoleonic way to wear it, just for the aesthetic I might add.

[@AndrejPanjkov]

What a great channel this is!

[@ERJones-fd6oh]

I've learned so much about this iconic hat, thank you.

[@simonholdsworth6867]

In land use, it makes sense to wear the bicorn with the long edge oriented front to back - this is to reduce drag during long land marches. In naval use, it makes sense to wear the bicorn with the long edge orientated side to side, parallel with the shoulders - this is to increase the effective sail area of the vessel so as to more speedily propel it through the water.

[@KAZVorpal]

So you're saying the bicorn and tricorn were essentially a cowboy hat with the brim turned up... Where can I see an example of such a had without the folds? Also, did they ever unfold it during rainy or sunny weather, to protect their head and face the way brims only exist to do in the first place?

[@blacksquirrel4008]

I always heard Spanish police and the Carabinieri kept them so they could nap against a wall while still in uniform.

[@resolute123]

Great video! I hope you would consider doing a video on US Cavalry Stetson.

[@philvanderlaan5942]

I think your talking about the Hardee hat , and if so it’s more of an Infantry hat.

[@resolute123]

@@philvanderlaan5942 I know what you are talking about (Iron Brigade), but a modern tradition with the US Army's cavalry is associated with the Stetson. Think "Apocalypses Now. "

[@stormeaglegaming5395]

Thanks for this lesson

[@leifewald5117]

Making a video on the bicorn hat Now that’s soldiering

[@EricsTableNapoleonicBattles]

Another great and informative video. Since my channel focuses on the Napoleonic Era, I had my logo include a bicorn (although I don’t wear one in my videos!)

[@colintwyning9614]

Very informative, I love these historic details, Thankyou ( presently catching up on all your hat videos)🎩🎓🧢🪖⛑👒

[@TheQuietProfessional]

This was awesome info. Beautifully made and very informative. Congratulations!!

[@charlesgrimm13]

Thanks, this is both informative and enjoyable!

[@dennis12dec]

On my visit to France 🇫🇷 some years back I stumbled upon the Bastille Day Parade in Paris, those marching along the Champs Elysee wearing the bicorn hats are students of the prestigious École Polytechnique.

[@Philobiblion]

Excellent video. Have you noticed that the surviving Napoleon bicorns, at least two of which have sold at auction recently, tend to be smaller than those depicted in paintings, or actually worn by generals and other high ranking officers? The 1970 film Waterloo, with Christopher Plummer and Rod Steiger is historically accurate in depicting Napoleon wearing the more compact model.

[@jimmydesouza4375]

Things being out of scale in paintings is pretty normal. Some of it is unintentional (due to scale being hard) but some of it is intentional to make it easier to paint in details.

[@Heyu7her3]

Napoleon wanted his painters to exaggerate things. This was part of his propaganda.

[@nozrep]

i actually just recently even learned the word, cockade, and what it is, as I am currently listening to a very interesting French Revolution podcast called Grey History. Have learned a ton about the French Revolution that American school definitely never covered. I think American high school in my part of Texas, we maybe did one week or a few days lessons on the French Revolution. And at first before learning or relearning, I assumed that the cockade was also some sort of hat until I googled. The monarchists and revolutionaries wore different color cockades as I am sure you are aware and the podcast host shared how monarchists could get beaten or murdered if they were caught wearing the monarchist color cockade in the wrong part of town. All before the terrors and in the early days of like, 1789, 1790.

[@MrThePsychologist]

I LOVE HATS ESPECIALY THE MILITARY ONES A REASON I JOINED THE ARMY AND BEEN A REENACTOR

[@cliffordholder9801]

I love your videos! Knights of Columbus used to have a bicorn as part of the dress uniform but I think they have now moved to a beret.

[@xavier6551]

Very interesting. Thank you. The history of this iconic hat is very good. The symbol of the french emperor. He is a legend today. Vive la France !

[@miguelrotaeche8582]

Bravo, jeune homme!

[@adriandunne4382]

The British Household Cavalry officers still wear the bicorne hat with full dress uniform on certain occasions, and it is also worn by the Master of the Horse with his special court uniform, and by the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Earl Marshall and some others with their full dress civil service or court dress.

[@thomasbeach905]

The Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria (of Lipizzaner fame) uses it too.

[@adriandunne4382]

The English and Scottish Heralds also wear bicorn hats as well as head coachmen of the Royal Mews .

[@reinaldogarcia70]

Thank you for educating us😊

[@JH-lo9ut]

I wear a bicorn every day. Don't leave home without it.

[@brentbeacham9691]

This video sends me to your tricon video. Thanks

[@ppoletto]

very nice video as always, and as a Brazilian, I was surprised to see at 0:55 Hermes da Fonseca, Brazil's President from 1910-1914 (he mas a military as well)

[@hathistorianjc]

obrigado!

[@Tconcept]

These are very good videos, thank you 👍👍👍

[@susie9893]

This was interesting and answered most of the questions I had that led me to this video. Weirdly I've always associated this hat with pirates - when worn parallel to the shoulders. Likely due to the rebellious reasons to the British empire that you listed? (FYI, when wearing that hat parallel to your shoulders you look oddly like James Spader)

[@philvanderlaan5942]

The tucked under the arm comment makes me think of the garrison cap , is that a distant relation?

[@hathistorianjc]

No, the garrison cap was created as an undress cap for when the bicorn, tricorn, or shako wasn't worn, in the late 18th century. It was usually made with an old trouser leg by the troops.

[@cmmorales777]

Other than "eccentric," is there a particular word or term for people that collect hats?

[@rogersheddy6414]

This hat looks the most natural on you.

[@ryann5247]

He has a Missouri flag. Cool

[@joemccarthywascorrect6240]

The bicorn is also part of formal/parade dress for The Knights of Columbus.

[@Srulio]

Please tell us more about the Italian Bersaglieri hat and its feathers....

[@HLLTAF]

I wonder if that fellow to the left of the screen is Napoleon... Great video!

[@Weesel71]

I've wondered if the bicorn is an echo of a Roman centurions side-side plume. Both certainly stand out from the rank and file and make locating the wearer during battle a lot easier.

[@TyrelErickson-sw8dn]

A nice blast of sunshine right on the eyes.

[@karlaverbeck9413]

The costumes add so much to your video s. Do you make them?

[@hathistorianjc]

I wish I had the talent to! No I find them in various places usually online

[@CaliShlomp]

Where do you find your hats? I have a small collection and am looking to expand.

[@hathistorianjc]

Mostly online, there are plenty of sites that sell them. If you look at the description of each video, I say where I got the hat I wear in it and usually provide a link to the place if I can.

[@Green__one]

@@hathistorianjc In this video you link to a single bicorn as being worn in the video, however you wear multiple different bicorns throughout. links to the other ones? Or are they all the same source despite their differences?

[@Green__one]

The fore and aft worn bicorn has long been one of my absolute favourite hats. I have never however been a fan of it being worn athwart.

[@seanmcdaniel5094]

As always, delightful. But how about the traditional hat of Spain's Guardia Civil? I specifically mean the scary leather one of the guerra civil and the Franco era? Very much seems related to some of the mid to late 19th century bicorns.

[@willfox1037]

No mention of the Guardia Civil patent leather bicorn?

[@inregionecaecorum]

Whilst I am a person who is not known for never wearing a hat, I reckon the Boney or Nelson hat is amongst the most impractical. I could happily wear a tricorne if I could get one, and I do indeed sometimes wear a hat with the brim turned up to one side but , I really do not think this is my style at all. FWIW at the current time I am rocking a Swedish ski cap with turn down ear warmers.

[@ruffmansavageveteran1345]

How about recent black berets in the US Army in the last recent years?

[@darylwilliams7883]

Associated with Napoleon but worn much more universally by officers of many armies.

[@greyvr4336]

This was fascinating. Have you done the garrison side cap? What about the peaked cap? That might be under shako or chapeau or kepi, I haven't watched those yet. Perhaps the Matador's hat? (Montera?)

[@frankmenchaca9993]

Xlnt video. Where does the headgear of the Spanish Guardia Civil come from? A tip of the derby for such a fascinating channel.

[@sirfox950]

Next one is the flatcap, I would even bet money

[@PureDWhiteCloud]

That was Interesting!

[@AK-xu5sj]

I can see a nod to the roman centurion helmet plume.

[@nozrep]

side note i also find it fascinating how long it took armies to figure out that helmets are super essential. like when i listened to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History series on WWI and he told of documentations noted about how the French army got caught out and slaughtered real reallllll bad early in the war partially because they were not wearing helmets even then and were wearing the brightly colored 19th century uniforms. Fascinating!

[@JH-lo9ut]

Helmets only became essential when air-burst artillery were invented. They weren't useless before that, but they probably weren't worth the effort, as they wouldn't stop a musket ball or bullet. The advance in weapons technology in between 1871 (franko-prussian war) and 1914 (world war one) is so extreme, we can hardly understand it. One field of progress that is rarely discussed is medicine. In world war one medicine had progressed to the point where a soldier could actually survive many battle injuries that previously would have led to a slow and painful death from gangrene. For example, X-ray machines made it possible to locate shrapnel and bullets lodged in the body, and the surgeons were skilled enough to extract them without killing the patient. Head injuries though, were often fatal because there is only so much you can do to a patient who has suffered injury to the brain. Wearing a helmet suddenly made a huge difference for survivability.

[@thomaseriksen6885]

Helmets have been in use for millennia. Might have fallen out of fashion for a hot minute, some places, but they have been continuously and consistently in use on a global scale

[@leucianreynolds1393]

Captain k'nuckles wears a bicorn hat

[@Lincolncatholicboi]

Where did you get your second Bicorn you wore that was plain black, that you showed how officers would wear it front to back? I'm doing a US Officer from the War of 1812 Impression and need something like that.

[@gorillazzilla]

Londo Molari, INTENSIFIES.

[@ottobonirobert]

The Guardia Civil still wear it sided to side in service dress ... see wikipedia page

[@hankskorpio5857]

No sound?

[@Sshooter444]

How about the Spanish? Do they still wear them?

[@stevenstreets695]

Bicorn, tricorn... There has to be a unicorn in here somewhere.

[@tommunyon2874]

My dad thought he was doing me a favor when he took his Stetson, for which he had paid a small fortune in Santa Fe during his single days, and refashioned it in the manner that Rusty on "Rin Tin Tin" wore his Western hat. This was with the front brim pinned up, much like a bicorn. I thought it looked lame, but what could I say after he vandalized his otherwise good Stetson by soaking and steaming it.

[@samanthafordyce5795]

I have seen photos of US Navy officers from the 1930s still wearing bicorns. I suspect it went away after WWII.

[@AIRSOFTREEACTOR]

I wish tricorns and bicornes would come back to every day use. Id much prefer them to my usual snapback baseball hats and boonie hats.

[@hathistorianjc]

Nothing stopping you from wearing one!

[@StarlightEater]

So wear one pzzy

[@francisebbecke2727]

"Next time I'll get it right." supposedly said Napoleon upon his return from Russia.

[@4Bobay]

New subscriber.

[@markbrown2592]

What about G Washington?

[@EvanEverhart911]

The more pronounced bicorn, not the uniform one, but the unornamented one, is it fur felt, or wool felt, and who is the maker? Its a very handsome hat. When I was a boy, we had a very old gilt braided one in a trunk, with an old naval uniform with some gilt braid. It was a tailed coat, with a waistcoat and breeches and old patent shoes eith big gold buckles. My Uncle absconded with it, unfortunately. His daughter later informed me that he apparently sold it to a costumer. What a shame and a loss..... Anyway, Ive always been rather keen on having such a hat. Please inform. Ive been enjoying yr videos, having recently discovered yr channel. Thank you!

[@hathistorianjc]

It was made by a guy called Mike Macy, but he seems to have stopped selling them as I can't find him online... I'll look again just to be sure. But you can sometimes find them at reenactment sites, they should be able to make them for you. You can also try the jacket shop I linked in the description, they sometimes make hats. And damn shame about your old hat...

[@EvanEverhart911]

@@hathistorianjc thank you! And yes, absolute shame. I found out kater from my Cousin, that my Uncle had sold it to a movie costumer....

[@daviddunn1377]

What's curious to me is that these hats seem impractical. I would expect all hats to derive from practical use and then become modified as fashion or styles change.

[@user-hu3iy9gz5j]

My favorite french Emperor.. T. Bicorn

[@louisburke8927]

So it's all style? There's no point the arrangement?

[@strangeperson700]

Handsome boy!

[@robnewman6101]

Wellington.

[@JamesKonzek-xr5zy]

I want it! I'm gonna get one. I'm gonna where it all the time. 😃

[@Leonard-lr6lb]

Lord Nelson wore this hat too.

[@billbright1755]

A unicorn hat might suffice in a pinch.

[@josephjohnson3073]

Also worn as a part of the, until very recently, uniform of the Catholic fraternal order, the Knights of Columbus (Fourth Degree) and the Masonic Knights Templar.

[@spacemanspiff3052]

I believe the Catholic Knights of Columbus still wear a Bicorn facing front to back at formal events.

[@mr.imperial8721]

I have a personal question Are you French or English? At first I thought you were English but I hear what sounds like a French accent which I think is interesting

[@hathistorianjc]

I am half French, half American (French father, American mother)

[@markus-pg6me]

Alles sehr schön aber ihre Bildbearbeitung ist übertrieben

[@danielprates2208]

What the hell a HAT HISTORIAN?! KZbin has all sorts of content, one cant complain.

[@panelvixen]

They´re coming to take me away, Haha, they´re coming to take me away, Ho ho, hee hee, ha ha, To the funny farm Where life is beautiful all the time And I´ll be happy to see Those nice young men In their clean white coats And they´re coming to take me AWAY, HA HAAAA -Napoleon the XIV

[@donaldlopuzzo5064]

Where did you get your Napoleon bicorn?

[@hathistorianjc]

I shared a link in the description