Plate LXX.

Plate LXXI.

The Helmets of the thirteenth century, though offering many points of difference on comparing particular examples, may yet be readily thrown into distinguishable classes. The first division that Suggests itself is that of the Helm (the great, close casque of the knight) and the Helmet, a defence, as the word indicates, of diminished completeness. The Helm must again be divided into two leading kinds: that in which the plates forming it are all rivetted together, so as to make one piece; and that in which the front is provided with a moveable ventail. The successive changes of fashion supply a further division of the helms; giving us the flat-topped, the round-topped, and the "sugar-loaf" form. The Helmets may be classed as the hemispherical, the cylindrical, the conical, the wide-rimmed (Petasus form), and the nasal. Besides which are some varieties of peculiar construction, which may be better noticed after the more general forms have been considered.

The word Helm among the Northern nations merely meant a covering of any kind: the Wærhelm of the Anglo-Saxons was the little cap worn by the soldier, of which we have seen many examples in our previous inquiries. But from the end of the twelfth century, when the great casque enclosing the whole head, like that seen on the second seal of King Richard, came into use, the term helm or heaume was restricted to this new kind of headpiece.

The flat-topped Helm forming a single structure, appears usually in one of the following fashions. I. A cylinder having bands in front forming a cross, and sometimes similar bands crossing on the crown, which is slightly convex or conical; two horizontal clefts for vision, but without holes for breathing. Examples occur in our woodcut, No. [71], fig. 1, from the statue of Hugh Fitz Eudo, in Kirkstead Chapel, Lincolnshire; in the chess-knight (woodcut [57]); in the Whitworth effigy (Stothard, Pl. xxiv.); in the carvings of the Presbytery arcade of Worcester Cathedral (woodcut [71], fig. 2); all these early in the century: and in the groups of the Painted Chamber. II. A cylinder with the cross-bands as before; but, in addition to the ocularium, having apertures for breathing. This kind is seen in our woodcut [71], fig. 3, from Hefner's Trachten; in the Walkerne effigy (Hollis, Pt. i.); in the sculptures of the front of Wells Cathedral, circa 1225; in the miniatures of the Lives of the Offas (Cott. MS., Nero, D.i.); and in the seal of Hugo de Vere, earl of Oxford (woodcut [71], fig. 4). III. A cylinder with ocularium and breathing-holes, but not having the cross-bands: woodcut [71], fig. 5, from the very curious drawing on folio 27 of Harl. MS. 3,244, date about 1250. IV. In this variety, the front part is rounded below, has ocularium, but not any breathing-holes: woodcut [71], fig. 6, from the seal of Alexander II. of Scotland, 1214-1249 (Cott. Charter, XIX. 2); and compare the seal of Louis the Dauphin, circa 1216. V. This kind resembles the last, except that it is provided with apertures for breathing. A good example is furnished by the seal of Robert Fitz Walter, of the second half of the century: woodcut [71], fig. 7.

We must remark also the difference existing among these helms on the point of ornament. Some are altogether plain; as in our woodcuts [57] and [71], and the Whitworth effigy (Stothard, Pl. xxiv.): others have a profusion of ornament, as in the knightly figure from Roy. MS. 2, A. xxii. (woodcut, No. [62]). The term cylindrical, which has been applied to them, must not always be understood literally. In woodcut No. [57] we have a true cylinder; but in other cases, the helm swells at the sides, taking the "barrel" form, as in the second seal of Henry III. (woodcut [81]); or, when viewed in profile, it presents a concave line behind, as in the seal of De Quinci (woodcut, No. [87]), or, more strikingly, in the example at Worcester (woodcut [71], fig. 2).

The helm was worn over the coif of chain-mail. An ivory carving engraved in the sixteenth volume of the Archælogia affords an excellent illustration of this usage; the knight being there represented in the act of raising his helm from his head armed in the coiffe de mailles.