Fig. 134.—From the seal of Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans (d. 1272).
Fig. 135.—From the seal of Robert de Ferrars, Earl of Derby (d. before 1279).
Fig. 136.—Knight, showing mail over pot-de-fer, 1290.
About the year 1280 the conical-topped heaume came into use, whose general form is delineated in [Fig. 137], and has already been noticed in the Trumpington brass. It was of great weight, and either hung at the saddle bow, or was carried by the squire, when not in use; it rested upon the shoulders, and thus relieved the head of the greater part of its weight. Two heaumes are here shown (Figs. [138], [139]) from Add. MS. 10,294 in the British Museum. One is of the plain and ordinary pattern, but the second shows a movable visor which can either be raised or removed entirely. It also illustrates a reinforcing plate protecting the sides of the head. Inside it was thickly padded, and representations of this feature may often be discerned upon monumental effigies, where the heaume is used to support the head of the recumbent knightly figure. To keep it in position laces were attached to the lower edge at the back; these are clearly seen in [Fig. 121], p. [106].