Sculptures with berets from the 13th Century

The following article comes from Kokoryko, a writer on WWW.VirtualTourist.com Although I do not share his conclusion about the sculptures being the oldest beret-representations in the world (see my previous post about pre-historic representations of the beret), they are -to the best of my knowledge- the oldest evidence of the beret as we know it today. 

Thanks David, for your suggestion!

The -so far- oldest known beret representation is located in Bellocq. On the portal of the Notre Dame church of this little village, located 15 km West of Orthez, are two sculptures representing beret wearing men. The church has been built between 1280-1300.
One of the men is a pilgrim (probably on his way to Santiago da Compostella), but the weathering of the other one is too deep to be sure of what he is, but he undoubtedly wears a beret. 
These sculptures are a “proof” that the beret has its origins in Bearn. The church of Bellocq is also interesting for its other medieval sculptures on the portal and nearby is a fortress build at the same epoch as the church by Gaston de Moncade, ruler of Bearn , still under renovation.
I will visit this small village again in spring, there is a lot of history there.  

Well, one may say: hey it is a pilgrim, he comes from another country may be, and the sculptor represented a foreigner, and this beret is not Bearnese! It is a possibility, but we will see in the next tip that the medieval artists represented themselves or the people of their vicinity, even in very “exotic” situations, so, it is very probable that the beret has its origins in Bearn.