Iconic Helms of England and Western Europe
God has given you one face, and you make yourself another. - William Shakespeare (Get it??)
"Why devote an entire page to helms?" you might ask. What makes helms so deserving of their own space over other parts, live gauntlets or greaves? Well, the helm is not unlike the face. It's the most unforgettable feature, like a face to a body. When you meet a person, you remember their face, its unique to them. It's immediately recognizable. Like a face, a helm can tell a lot. It can tell age and era, style, the nation its from, combat abilities, and sometimes the tastes of the user. Helms are also very distinguishable, with so many types and variations, they're truly unique and diverse!
The Great Helm
The Great Helm
The great helm is undoubtedly one of the most famous and recognizable helms ever made. The helm and its likeness are still used in character design and other various depictions throughout fiction and recreational activities and events to this very day. It's a truly classic piece of armor, perhaps most famous for its use in the crusades, an important touch in designing a crusader! Originating in Germany in the early 12th century and remaining heavily in use until the late 14th, the great helm was adapted by countless countries such as England, France, and Italy, when it was even given a visor. Its conical surface allowed for it to easily deflect blows, a variant of the great helm known as the sugar loaf helm improved on this concept by replacing the flat-top with a round, conical shape. Though very effective in protection, many great helms suffered in peripheral vision and lacking in ventilation, prompting some men-at-arms to remove them at times due to the helm overheating.
The Bascinet
The bascinet started popping up across western Europe during the late 14th century, right as the great helm was on its way out. This bizarre, visored variant is commonly referred to as the pig-face bascinet. Though the curved shape of the muzzle made it hard for an opponent to land a solid blow on the helm, the visor greatly suffered in terms of field of view. The slights for the eyes sat quite a distance away from the face and were rather small, so seeing clearly, especially amidst combat, was rather difficult. Thankfully for the user, the visor could swing open or be removed entirely, even in the heat of battle. Despite the lack of facial protection, it was advantageous for the man-at-arms to remove the visor when in close quarter combat, as it hindered breathing and visibility. Thanks to the attached chain mail, the neck and parts of the face were well protected even without the visor.
The Barbut
The Barbut (also refered to as the Barbute or Barbuta) was an extremely common helm during the 13th century, so common that people would start to refer to the person wearing the helm into battle as a barbut! It makes sense for the helm to have been so common, as the form allows for effective protection despite its simplicity, and to add to this, a lot of barbuts had removable visors that would cover the face. The barbut design can even be found beyond western Europe thanks to its effectiveness. Countless adaptations to the helm have been made over the centuries, and it eventually evolved into the sallet. Thanks to striking similarites, it can often be hard to differentiate between a barbut and sallet depending on the helm and its design.
The Sallet
Evolving from the barbut, the sallet quickly became one of the most popular helms for any soldier around, not unlike its predecessor! As stated on the parts of armor page, the helm itself (or in most variants of it) only covered the face down to the lower lip, leaving the chin exposed. To complete the helm, the user would have to wear what's known as a bevor, a piece of armor that covers the chin and some of the lower face and head. This didn't apply to all sallets, however. Due to the similarities with the barbut, many sallets looked just like a barbut, and acted like one as well. So they were barbuts... Except they weren't. But they were! Thoughout history, it was often hard to differentiate between sallets and barbuts. For instance, the picture of the barbut in the section above us? Well, some historians might argue that it could be a sallet, but this sallet on our left is not a barbut.
The Close Helm
Not to be confused with an armet, the close helm, like the sallet, was a favorite among men-at-arms during the 15th century. Where the armet was connected at the chin and paired with a visor, the close helm was composed of three pieces. The bevor, the helm itself, and the iconic visor. Like the great helm with the crusaders, the close helm is what may pop into your head while thinking of a knight. The close helm was incredibly effective, and the efficient visor made it not only an ideal helm for combat, but a great pick for ceremonial armor among the wealthy. This classic helm came in loads of different shapes an sizes including a bizarre, horned, ceremonial helm given to King Henry VIII. The close helm, as a favorite and one of the last famous parts of armor before armor was abandoned, is well deserving of its place in history and iconography in the media and fiction today.
The Jousting / Frog-Mouth Helm
Jousting was a classic medieval past time partaken in as far back as the 11th century. At this point, despite the joust being peaceful in nature, the same armor used for warfare was used in the joust, as it was just as dangerous. By the 14th century, people found that it was time to design armor specifically made for protection in the joust, not in war, and in the name of peace. The jousting helm was so effective in that protection that it weighed in at over double the weight of a battle helm, so that a frontal hit from an opponents lance would not only break in contact with the steadfast helm, but keep the users head relentlessly safe and unscathed! The lip and angled sides of the helm also let the helm deflect blows as well as downright stop them. It is sometimes referred to as the frog-mouth helm, for its obvious likeness to a frog.