Figs. 180 and 181.—Bascinets, Meliadus MS. (Add. 12,228.)
So far as uniformity is concerned, the four articles enumerated above are all that can be cited with any degree of accuracy. The bascinet of the period was of many and varying shapes, and at times approached the grotesque. Two are given here from Roy. MS. 16 G. 6 (Figs. [172], [173]), which are adorned with acanthus-shaped crests: the camail depending from both is of banded mail, and the vervelles by which it is affixed are shown. It is probable that this style prevailed more upon the Continent than in England. The form of helmet shown in the Ely window before mentioned is globular, the lower part covering the ears and cheeks; a comb much flattened and of no great height traverses it from the forehead to the back of the head. A common form of bascinet is shown in [Fig. 174], which covers the head and neck, and is provided with one of the cumbrous visors of the age. This revolves upon pivots fastened well back, and not only protects the face, but partly fulfils the duty of a gorget. The occularium is formed by a row of circular apertures in a reinforcing plate. This massive form of visor is well shown on the head of Thomas de Beauchamp ([Fig. 175]) on the celebrated Hastings brass, one of the few brasses of this period of armour which have been handed down to us, and which in consequence is simply invaluable. The visor is provided with a reinforcing plate and slits for the occularium, with breathing holes below, while the great projection at the lower part (when allowed to fall) not only protects the neck, but also a portion of the chest. A bascinet is preserved in the British Museum which dates from c. 1350, and illustrates the manner in which the gorget plate was affixed ([Fig. 176]). The bascinet of Almeric, Lord St. Amand ([Fig. No. 177]) is provided with a singular adornment, the chapelle-de-fer or steel bonnet: the brim, being movable upon pivots at the sides, could be brought down so as to protect the face. But such an arrangement left the chin and throat open to injury, and to obviate this a mentonnière of massive proportions is shown, thus anticipating the protection of the same nature as required by the salade a century later. This illustration of the chapelle-de-fer is the only one engraved upon a brass, but another example of it on a monumental effigy may be seen in Westminster Abbey upon an equestrian figure on the tomb of Aymer de Valence, c. 1296. A late example of the war hat dating from 1515 and of German make is No. 135 in the Wallace Collection, while a pictorial representation of it may be seen in Julius, E. IV., the life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, written at the close of the fifteenth century. Bascinets not very unlike those in vogue in the reigns of Henry V. and Henry VI., and later on in the Tudor period, were in use, as may be seen from the illustrations taken from Add. MS. 12,228, Figs. [178], [179], and the romance of King Meliadus, Figs. [180], [181].
Figs. 182-184.—Figures from the monument of Lady Percy in Beverley Minster, d. 1330.
In the spandrels of the canopy of a monument to Lady Eleanor Fitzalan, wife of the first Lord Percy of Alnwick, in Beverley Minster, who died in 1330, are seven military figures exemplifying this period of armour, and in one or two cases the helmets are reinforced by a larger plate which descends to the back of the neck and to each shoulder, over which it curves outwards so as to nearly cover the camail. These pieces are riveted on to the bascinet proper, which is generally furnished with a huge visor.
A complete set of the figures in the canopy are here delineated, not in the cramped original postures, but in erect positions. They all possess points of difference, and a comparison of the various defences exemplified by each will give an excellent idea of the feeling which characterised the armour of this difficult period ([Figs. 182-188]).
