cope_, from Med. Lat. _capa_, _cappa_), a liturgical
vestment of the Western Church. The word "cope," now confined to this
sense, was in its origin identical with "cape" and "cap," and was used
until comparatively modern times also for an out-door cloak, whether
worn by clergy or laity. This, indeed, was its original meaning, the
_cappa_ having been an outer garment common to men and women whether
clerical or lay (see Du Cange, _Glossarium_, s.v.). The word _pluviale_
(rain-cloak), which the cope bears in the Roman Church, is exactly
parallel so far as change of meaning is concerned. In both words the
etymology reveals the origin of the vestment, which is no more than a
glorified survival of an article of clothing worn by all and sundry in
ordinary life, the type of which survives, e.g. in the ample hooded
cloak of Italian military officers. This origin is clearly traceable in
the shape and details of the cope. When spread out this forms an almost
complete semicircle. Along the straight edge there is usually a broad
band, and at the neck is attached the "hood" (in Latin, the _clypeus_ or
shield), i.e. a shield-shaped piece of stuff which hangs down over the
back. The vestment is secured in front by a broad tab sewn on to one
side and fastening to the other with hooks, sometimes also by a brooch
(called the morse, Lat. _morsus_). Sometimes the morse is attached as a
mere ornament to the cross-piece. The cope thus preserves the essential
shape of its secular original, and even the hood, though now a mere
ornamental appendage, is a survival of an actual hood. The evolution of
this latter into its present form was gradual; first the hood became too
small for use, then it was transformed into a small triangular piece of
stuff (13th century), which in its turn grew (14th and 15th centuries)
into the shape of a shield (see Plate II., fig. 4), and this again,
losing its pointed tip in the 17th century, expanded in the 18th into a
flap which was sometimes enlarged so as to cover the whole back down to
the waist. In its general effect, however, a cope now no longer suggests
a "waterproof." It is sometimes elaborately embroidered all over; more
usually it is of some rich material, with the borders in front and the
hood embroidered, while the morse has given occasion for some of the
most beautiful examples of the goldsmith's and jeweller's craft (see
Plate II., figs, 5, 6).

The use of the cope as a liturgical vestment can be traced