Tonsure for Kids - a medieval haircut

Tonsure

Tonsure

Tonsure means to cut off someone's hair. Monks in the Middle Ages generally showed that they were monks by cutting their hair short (when most men wore theirs long) and especially by shaving a bald spot in the middle of the back of their heads.
Because you could not be king (or emperor) if you were a monk, sometimes kings forced their rivals to have their hair tonsured, so that nobody would try to make them king.
Among the Franks, just having short hair by itself seems to have been enough to keep you from becoming king. And among the Visigoths, both men and women had their hair cut off as punishment for a wide variety of crimes, as well as to keep them from becoming king.

Monks
Visigoths
Franks
Main Christianity page
Main Middle Ages page
Main religion page



History and Science for Middle School Kids

ancient greece - ancient rome
mesopotamia - ancient china
middle ages - ancient india
islamic empire - ancient egypt
africa - north america

Science for Kids!

Log in/Subscribe Now/Log out

Lesson plans for Teachers

Bookmark this site!

Experience true business class 
web hosting only at Dewahost!
Dewahost offers premium web hosting service at a great price. Kidipede is proudly hosted by Dewahost!