Fig. 356.—The Wallace heaume, c. 1515.
Fig. 357.—Globular tilting heaume. (Tower of London.)
For tilting purposes the great heaume was still in use, and several examples preserved in our museums date from this period. Not the least interesting is the well-known Wallace heaume, of English construction, and dating from c. 1515 ([Fig. 356]). This rare example is formed of two plates only, the top and back part being one piece, and the front part or bavière being the other. The two plates are securely riveted together at the sides and a piece is flanged over upon the crown, where four rivets hold it in place. The height of the heaume is 14 inches. It is much pitted, and in places broken. Of the heaumes preserved in the Tower a great probability exists that they were made for pageant purposes or simply for funeral achievements. One of early fifteenth century date weighs 15 lbs.; another of the usual shape, but furnished with a comb, is said to have belonged to John of Gaunt. Probably the most interesting in that collection is a globular tilting heaume fitted with a bavière which is affixed by screws, and also gripped by the visor pivots; it extends downwards to the breastplate, to which it was fixed by an almayne screw ([Fig. 357]). In it a square opening occurs opposite the right cheek, protected by a small door, opening and closing upon a spring. The visor is strongly reinforced, and works upon a central comb on the crown: the occularium is formed by the lower part of the visor and the upper edge of the bavière, and is remarkably narrow. It weighs 13 lbs. In the Rotunda at Woolwich is preserved the well-known Brocas heaume ([Plate XXXIX.], p. [364]), dating from the time of Henry VII. and formerly in the Brocas Collection. It weighs 22½ lbs. In Haseley Church, Oxon; Petworth Church, Sussex; Ashford Church, Kent; and in Westminster Abbey, are other heaumes of considerable interest, and a few are in private collections. A heaume which dated from c. 1510 was at one time in Rayne Church, Essex, and belonged to Sir Giles Capel, the head portion of which was almost globose, while a second example, in which, however, the visor is slightly ridged, or of the bellows variety, is in Wimborne Minster. These heaumes invariably weigh more than 20 lbs.; but the Westminster example is an exception, as it only scales 17 lbs.