CUFFIA (Late Latin: *cofeta*). — Generally a piece of cloth intended to protect or bind the hair of men or women, especially of religious women.
Already known from classical times (v. the head of Aphrodite on the coins of Cynthus; 4th century B.C). The *cuffia* was widely used in ancient Rome in the form of a net (*reticulum*); often in gold. In the Middle Ages it was known for secular use in various forms and materials, such as a simple veil with nets or even in the form of a hat, as seen in some paintings of the 13th and 14th centuries (e.g., in the miniatures of falconry by Frederick II in the Vatican Apostolic Library).
Sometimes the term *cuffia* is also understood as «mitre», as observed in a bull of Leo IX to Liuthbald of Mainz (PL 143, p. 695).
Old forms are still preserved in various countries today, such as in Provence, Alsace, Holland, or Brittany.