Clothing laws for Jews

The Fourth Lateran Council, in 1215, was gathered by Pope Innocent III. Some laws or canons resulting from the council were aimed at the Jews. Canon 68 forced Jews to wear a Jewish badge and hat.

"Finally you ask whether it is good that Jews throughout your province are compelled to wear a sign distinguishing them from Christians. The reply to this is plain: that, according to a statute of the general Council, Jews of each sex in all Christian provinces, and all the time, should be distinguished from other people by some clothing. ...", Thomas Aquinas’s letter to Margaret of Flanders.

Pope Paul IV’s 1555 bull, cum nimis absurdum, placed more restrictions on the Jewish people. Its name comes from the bull's first words in Latin. (English: “Since it is absurd and utterly inconvenient that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God to eternal slavery…”). The bull renewed all canonical restrictions against the Jews and enforced the wearing of the Jewish hat.