| Fig. 20. Fourteenth-century helm, Zeughaus, Berlin. | Fig. 21. Bib. Nat., Paris, Tite-Live, 1350. |
Fig. 22.
The Orle, from
the monument of
Sir H. Stafford,
Bromsgrove,
Kent, 1450.
The most popular of the light helmets at this period was the Bascinet. It appears on nearly every monumental brass that depicts a military figure, and is an essential part of that style of equipment known as the ‘camail’. The later form of bascinet has a movable visor which is known among armour collectors as the ‘pig-faced’ bascinet ([Plate V]). Sometimes the hinge is at the top, and sometimes, as in No. 2 of this plate, the visor is pivoted at the sides. Froissart calls the visor ‘carnet’ and ‘visière’. In the Bohun Inventory, before referred to, are given: ‘ii bacynettes, lun covert de quir lautre bourni.’ This shows that while some helmets were of polished metal, others were covered with leather, and indeed silk and velvet as fancy dictated. Frequent references to these ‘covers’ for helmets occur in Inventories and Wills. The helmet and other portions of the suit of plate armour were sometimes tinned to prevent rust, as is shown in one of the Dover Castle Inventories of 1361:—‘xiii basynetz tinez.’ Sometimes, in the case of Royalty or princes of rank, the bascinet was encircled with a fillet or crown of gold and gems. Among the payments of Etienne de Fontaine, in 1352, are mentioned 110 crowns for ‘quarente grosses perles pour garnir le courroye du basinet de Monsieur le Dauphin’. The Orle, or wreath worn turban-wise round the bascinet, is sometimes shown, as on [Fig. 22], of a decorative nature. It is supposed by some writers to have been devised to take the pressure of the great helm from the head, for the helm was often worn, as in the preceding century, over a lighter headpiece. From the usual position of the orle, however, and from the fact that it is invariably shown highly decorated and jewelled, this explanation can hardly hold good, for a padding worn as shown in the illustration would not be of much service in keeping off the pressure of the helm, and of course the jewelled decoration would be destroyed at once. Another theory is that the orle was made by wrapping the Lambrequin or Mantling—which hung from the back of the helmet and which is still used in heraldic drawings—much in the same manner as the modern puggaree is worn in India. In this illustration appears also the gorget of plate that was worn over the throat and chin with the bascinet.
Plate IV
Jousting armour of Charles V. Madrid.
Photograph by Hauser & Menet