Capotain

{{Short description|Tall, conical hat of the 16th–17th centuries}}

{{About|the hat associated with Puritan costume|the hat used by pilgrims on the Way of St. James|Pilgrim's hat}}

{{Distinguish|Captain}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Image:Nicholas Hilliard 012.jpg, 1602]]

A capotain, capatain, copotain, copintank or steeple hat is a tall-crowned, narrow-brimmed, slightly conical "sugarloaf" hat, usually black, worn by men and women from the 1590s into the mid-seventeenth century in England and northwestern Europe. Earlier capotains had rounded crowns; later, the crown was flat at the top.

The capotain is especially associated with Puritan costume in England in the years leading up to the English Civil War and during the years of the Commonwealth. It is also commonly called a flat-topped hat and a Pilgrim hat, the latter for its association with the Pilgrims who settled Plymouth Colony in the 1620s. Contrary to popular myth, capotains never included buckles on the front of them;[http://gallery.villagehatshop.com/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=chapter10&id=123_G 17th century hats] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061016194826/http://gallery.villagehatshop.com/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=chapter10&id=123_G |date=October 16, 2006 }} this image was created in the 19th century.{{cite web |last1=Brooks |first1=Rebecca Beatrice |title=What Did the Pilgrims Wear? |url=https://historyofmassachusetts.org/what-did-pilgrims-wear/ |website=History of Massachusetts Blog |publisher=Rebecca Beatrice Brooks |access-date=10 November 2019 |date=22 July 2018}}

It has been theorised that the capotain inspired the top hat.

Image:Unknown Lady Robert Peake c1592.jpg|England, 1592
(Portrait of an Unknown Lady, attributed to Robert Peake the Elder)

Image:Gunpowder Plot conspirators.jpg|England, 1600s
(Detail from a contemporary engraving of the Gunpowder Plotters)

Image:Willem_Pietersz._Buytewech_003.jpg|Holland, 1615 (Elegant Couples Courting by Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech)

Image:Adriaen Brouwer - Head of a man with a pointed hat.jpg|Flanders, 1630s
(Man with a Hat painting by Adriaen Brouwer)

Image:Ester Tradescant and son detail.jpg|England, 1640s
(Ester Tradescant and Son, attributed to Thomas de Critz)

File:ThePuritan Cropped comparison.jpg|A spurious buckled capotain, as carved by Augustus St. Gaudens on The Puritan and The Pilgrim, 1887