Velvet and ermine

the materials of power

The basis of the archducal hat is a red velvet cap with an ermine brim. This is no coincidence; it’s just like the headgear worn by medieval electors of the Holy Roman Empire, a development of the ducal hat reinforcing the electors’ rank and status.

Elector is the term for those entitled to extended privileges and the sole right to elect kings of the Holy Roman Empire as laid out in Emperor Charles IV’s Golden Bull of 1356. More than an item of headwear the Elector’s hat serves as a heraldic emblem, originally as a flat, crimson cap with ermine trimming, later with a pearl-studded hoop added. At its centre - the imperial orb.

The coronet is an invention by Rudolf IV., the Founder.