The Jewish hat also known as the Jewish cap, Judenhut (German) or Latin pilleus cornutus ("horned skullcap"), was a pointed cone-shaped yellow hat worn by Jews throughout Medieval Europe and the Middle East. Its wearing was enforced by law after the 1215 Fourth Council of the Lateran decreed that adult male Jews must wear the Jew hat whenever they were outside to distinguish them from non-Jews. This was done to alert non-Jews that they were interacting with a Jew.