MORION, CABASSET, AND CASQUE.
The morion first appeared in England in the reign of Henry VI., and was introduced into Europe by the Spaniards, who got the design from the Moors, as the word implies. It is an oval helmet, and has a high comb-like crest and almost semicircular brim, peaked at both ends. The cabasset is a helmet similar in character to the morion, and generally peaked. Both varieties were worn for foot fighting, and are often lighter than earlier helmets, and usually richly engraved. The Baron de Cosson[26] says that “the cabasset first appears in an ‘ordonnance’ of Francis I., who orders that men-at-arms wear the armet, light horse the sallad, and ‘les arquebusiers seulement le cabasset pour viser mieux et avoir la tête plus délivre.’ The cabasset did not impede the aim, and was therefore the proper headpiece of the musketeer.” Casques are open helmets like the others, and of classical design. There are illustrations of a cabasset in [Fig. 11], and of bassinets, morions, etc., in [Fig. 49].