In order to recover the helm if struck off in the mêlée it was attached to some part of the knight's equipment by a chain. The brass of Sir Roger de Trumpington (cut, No. [73]) supplies us with an illustration. And this usage is noticed in the Romance of Le tournois de Chauvenei, written about 1285:—

"Chescun son hiaume en sa chaaine,
Qui de bons cous attent l'estraine."
Vers 3,583.

No. 73.

Crests are frequently found surmounting the helm at the close of this century; but they are not of that distinctive kind, consisting of lions, griffins, eagles, wings, axes, and-so-forth, which appear in such diversity during the next age. They are merely of the fan form. The seal of De Quinci, indeed, seems an evidence to the contrary, and has been often described as an instance of a helm of the early part of the thirteenth century bearing a wyvern for a crest (woodcut, No. [87]). But the wyvern in the upper part of this seal seems to be placed there merely to fill up the space between the letters, and belongs to the legend, not to the effigy; just as we see a flower occupying the space beneath the lion's feet, and in the obverse of the seal, the wyvern filling up the void beneath the horse and under the housing. Heraldic bearings do in fact appear on the casques of several figures previously to 1300. But they form part of the headpiece itself: they do not surmount it. The helm of Richard the First has a lion, but it is a figure embossed or painted on a part of the casque. The well-known effigy of a Plantagenet (Stothard, Pl. ii.) is an analogous instance. The monument of Le Botiler at St. Bride's, Glamorganshire, (woodcut, No. [74],) affords another example: and in the curious helm of Louis of Savoy (woodcut [71], fig. 11) we have the heraldic eagle forming the visor of the casque, while the crest is composed of the usual fan ornament. This fan we have already seen on the helm of Richard I., but it does not come into general use till towards the close of the thirteenth century. See examples on our woodcuts, Nos. [71] and [72]. Other instances may be found in Laing's "Scottish Seals," p. 54; in the Lives of the Offas, Cott. MS., Nero, D. i.; and in great number among the miniatures of Roy. MS. 20, D. i., where they are attached to the heads of the horses as well as to the helms. At the Windsor tournament in 1278, also, crests were provided both for man and horse:—

"It̄ p̰ qualibet galea j. cresta }
It̄ p̰ quolibet equo j. cresta } Sm͂. lxxvi. Cres̄t."

And for the making of these crests, calf-skins and parchment were employed:—

"lxxvi. pell' vitul' p̰ cres̄t faciend' p'̄c pell' iij. d."

"Īt p̰ qualibet cresta j. pell' parcamen̄ rud'. Sm͂. lxxvi. pell' rud' p̰cameni[352]."

Occasionally feathers supply the place of the fan ornament. A plume of seven peacock's feathers surmounts a crowned helm on folio 205 of Roy. MS. 20, D. i.; and similar examples occur at ff. 60vo. and 239vo. of the same manuscript. Compare also Add. MS. 15,268: both these books being of the close of the century.