The great helm or heaume, also called pot helm, bucket helm and barrel helm, is a helmet of the High Middle Ages which arose in the late twelfth century in the context of the Crusades and remained in use until the fourteenth century. The barreled style was used by knights in most West European armies between about 1220 to 1350 AD and evolved into the frog-mouth helm [1] to be primarily used during jousting contests.
In its simplest form, the great helm was a flat-topped cylinder of steel that completely covered the head and had only very small openings for ventilation and vision. Later designs gained more of a curved design, particularly on the top, to deflect or lessen the impact of blows. [2] The helmet was also extended downward until it reached shoulders. [2]
The great helm ultimately evolved from the nasal helmet, which had been produced in a flat-topped variant with a square profile by about 1180. [3] From this type of helmet an intermediate type, called an 'enclosed helmet' or 'primitive great helm', developed near the end of the 12th century. In this helmet the expansion of the nasal produced a full face-plate, pierced for sight and breathing. This helmet was largely superseded by the true great helm by c. 1240. [4]
A later variant with a more conical top is known as a 'sugarloaf helm'. In Spanish they are called yelmo de Zaragoza, referring to Zaragoza where they were introduced for the first time in the Iberian peninsula. [5]
Although the great helm offered vastly superior protection than previous helmets, such as the nasal helm and spangenhelm, it limited the wearer's peripheral vision, and in addition to being heavy, the mass-produced form (flat-topped without ventilation holes) provided little ventilation and could quickly overheat in hot weather. Knights usually wore the great helm over a mail coif (hood) sometimes in conjunction with a close-fitting iron skull cap known as a cervelliere. The later development of the cervelliere, the bascinet, was also worn beneath the great helm; men-at-arms would often remove the great helm after the first clash of lances, for greater vision and freedom of movement in melee combat. The bascinet had a mail curtain attached, a camail or aventail, which superseded the coif. Mail throat and neck defences such as these were made obsolete when plate gorgets were introduced, around 1400.
The bascinet evolved from its early skull cap form to supersede the great helm for combat. The great helm fell into disuse during the 15th century; however it was used commonly in tournaments where a version of the great helm, the frog-mouthed tilting helm, evolved. [6]
Somewhere around 1600 Great helms became a popular part of Funeral Achievements. [2]
The Great Helm was often blackened, lacquered or painted, and frequently bore decorations such as:
The great helm is today especially popular amongst live-action role players and used in Medieval reenactment of the 13th and 14th centuries. It is inexpensive, easy to manufacture with even rudimentary equipment (metal scissors, drill, rudimentary anvil, rivets and hammer), and provides good protection for the head against both sharp and blunt weapons. Its biggest drawback is the square edges, that crumple very easily under blunt force trauma, and poor ventilation and air circulation. This can make it very hot in warm weather, although not much heavier, hotter or more cumbersome than a number of other medieval helmet styles. However period-accurate methods of padding and suspending the helmet can drastically improve the wearer's experiences.[ citation needed ]
Modern reenactment versions of great helms weigh 1.5 to 3 kg. They are sometimes but not always made from thicker steel than medieval originals yet are not usually overly heavy, cumbersome, or uncomfortable. Although visor slits are usually only some 20–30 mm wide, they do not greatly restrict the field of vision as they are very close to the wearer's eyes to reduce parallax. [7]
A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes worn. Soldiers wear combat helmets, often made from Kevlar or other lightweight synthetic fibers.
A visor was an armored covering for the face often used in conjunction with Late Medieval war helmets such as the bascinet or sallet. The visor usually consisted of a hinged piece of steel that contained openings for breathing and vision. Appropriately, breaths refers to the holes in the metal of the visor. Visors protected the face during battle and could be remarkably durable. One surviving artifact was found to be "equivalent in hardness to cold worked high speed steel."
The sallet was a combat helmet that replaced the bascinet in Italy, western and northern Europe and Hungary during the mid-15th century. In Italy, France and England the armet helmet was also popular, but in Germany the sallet became almost universal.
The bascinet – also bassinet, basinet, or bazineto – was a Medieval European open-faced combat helmet. It evolved from a type of iron or steel skullcap, but had a more pointed apex to the skull, and it extended downwards at the rear and sides to afford protection for the neck. A mail curtain was usually attached to the lower edge of the helmet to protect the throat, neck and shoulders. A visor was often employed from c. 1330 to protect the exposed face. Early in the fifteenth century, the camail began to be replaced by a plate metal gorget, giving rise to the so-called "great bascinet".
A cervelliere is a hemispherical, close-fitting skull cap of steel or iron. It was worn as a helmet during the medieval period and a version know as a secret was worn under felt hats during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the early modern period.
Kabuto is a type of helmet first used by ancient Japanese warriors which, in later periods, became an important part of the traditional Japanese armour worn by the samurai class and their retainers in feudal Japan.
An aventail or camail is a flexible curtain of mail attached to the skull of a helmet that extends to cover the throat, neck and shoulders. Part or all of the face, with spaces to allow vision, could also be covered.
A gorget, from the French gorge meaning throat, was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather collar to protect the throat, a set of pieces of plate armour, or a single piece of plate armour hanging from the neck and covering the throat and chest. Later, particularly from the 18th century, the gorget became primarily ornamental, serving as a symbolic accessory on military uniforms, a use which has survived in some armies.
The armet is a type of combat helmet which was developed in the 15th century. It was extensively used in Italy, France, England, the Low Countries and Spain. It was distinguished by being the first helmet of its era to completely enclose the head while being compact and light enough to move with the wearer. Its use was essentially restricted to the fully armoured man-at-arms.
The burgonet helmet was a Renaissance-era and early modern combat helmet. It was the successor of the sallet.
A barbute is a visorless war helmet of 15th-century Italian design, often with a distinctive "T" shaped or "Y" shaped opening for the eyes and mouth.
The nasal helmet was a type of combat helmet characterised by the possession of a projecting bar covering the nose and thus protecting the centre of the face; it was of Western European origins and was used from the late 9th century to at least c. 1250.
Kasten-brust armour — is a German form of plate armour from the first half of 15th century.
The close helmet or close helm is a type of combat helmet that was worn by knights and other men-at-arms in the Late Medieval and Renaissance eras. It was also used by some heavily armoured, pistol-armed cuirassiers into the mid-17th century. It is a fully enclosing helmet with a pivoting visor and integral bevor.
The enclosed helmet, also termed a primitive great helm or early great helm, was a type of Western European helmet of the late 12th and early 13th century. It was the forerunner of the great helm.
Greenwich armour is the plate armour in a distinctively English style produced by the Royal Almain Armoury founded by Henry VIII in 1511 in Greenwich near London, which continued until the English Civil War. The armoury was formed by imported master armourers hired by Henry VIII, initially including some from Italy and Flanders, as well as the Germans who dominated during most of the 16th century. The most notable head armourer of the Greenwich workshop was Jacob Halder, who was master workman of the armoury from 1576 to 1607. This was the peak period of the armoury's production and it coincided with the elaborately gilded and sometimes coloured decorated styles of late Tudor England.
In heraldic achievements, the helmet or helm is situated above the shield and bears the torse and crest. The style of helmet displayed varies according to rank and social status, and these styles developed over time, in step with the development of actual military helmets. In some traditions, especially German and Nordic heraldry, two or three helmets may be used in a single achievement of arms, each representing a fief to which the bearer has a right. For this reason, the helmets and crests in German and Nordic arms are considered essential to the coat of arms and are never separated from it.
The Brocas helm is a jousting helm on display at the Rotunda as part of the Tower of London armoury collection. It was commissioned by an English knight from an Italian armourer.
The orle was a decorative chaplet or wreath worn on helmets in Western Europe during the first half of the 15th century. There is a level of overlap of function and appearance with the torse, though the latter term implies a twisted pad made up of, usually, two contrasting colours of cloth.
Funerary Helmets,Mortuary Helms, or Mort Helms were the major element of a suit of armour that was most often placed above or near the carved memorial effigy of the knights or members of the nobility concerned in a tradition that ran from at least the 14th through to the 17th century, particularly when the person concerned had gained a reputation in life as a warrior. These helmets were often brightly painted or otherwise ornamented with floral designs, etc. Largely located within rural churches and other religious buildings, the practice was especially common in the south-west English counties and Cornwall with only a few examples known from Scotland.
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