When and why was the convention introduced for men to take their hats offff to ladies and before going into churches?
A It’s often claimed that the custom of removing or tipping the hat originated in medieval times, when knights would raise visors or remove helmets as a gesture of peaceful intent. As with most matters of etiquette, we know of no real evidence for this, though it’s the most popular theory. If you have any proof, please write in and let us know!
That custom was extended, the theory goes, as soldiers and male civilians began to raise or remove headwear as a gesture of respect to superiors or equals. The military salute may have originated as a less troublesome alternative to constant doffing of the hat. (Doff is a now slightly archaic diminution of ‘do off ’, the opposite of donning, as in ‘do on’.)
This theory is all very well, but Biblical authority on the matter stretches back much further. Saint Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians enjoined men to worship with bare heads, while women were instructed to cover their heads. So men had been removing headwear in church from the earliest times.
Doffing or tipping one’s hat at some point became a mark of respect for ladies, though usually dependent on status. The degree to which fashion-leading French monarch Louis XIV raised or removed his hat to women reflected their rank; he was admired for chivalrously touching his hat to acknowledge even humble women.
In 19th- and early 20th-century Europe and America, when almost all adults wore hats and caps outdoors, the etiquette reached its apogee – and often provided a convenient way of acknowledging an acquaintance without having to stop and chat.
Men were also expected to remove hats while national anthems were played, when a funeral cortege passed, and indoors – a custom purportedly also with medieval origins, since removing your helmet in someone’s house meant you weren’t about to loot or burn it. In short, it was a mark of respect.
Women were not expected to take off their hats either in salute or indoors – which was particularly convenient in eras when they were held in place by an elaborate arrangement of hatpins.