Plate LXXIV.

Another curious appendage to the knightly helm of this time consisted of Horns; made, as we learn from Guillaume le Breton, of whalebone, and borne for the purpose of striking terror by the gigantic appearance of the wearer. The Count of Boulogne at the Battle of Bovines, in 1214, adopts this expedient:—

"Cornua conus agit, superasque eduxit in auras,
E costis assumpta nigris quas faucis in antro
Branchia balenæ Britici colit incola ponti:
Ut qui magnus erat magnæ super addita moli
Majorem faceret phantastica pompa videri."
Philipp., lib. xi. 322.

The Helms of kings have a crown encircling them, as seen in the seals of Henry III. and Edward I. of England (woodcuts, No. [79], [81] and [85]); but on the capelline of King John is no such ornament. See also our engraving, No. [72]. The crown is occasionally placed on the coif of chain-mail: as on folio 7 of the Lives of the Offas (woodcut, No. [80]), and in the pictures of the Painted Chamber.

No. 75.

Of the smaller casque—helmet, or chapel-de-fer—we have already observed that some were worn beneath the coif-de-mailles. Others were placed above it, or formed of themselves the whole arming of the head. They are cylindrical, hemispherical, conical, wide-rimmed, and of the nasal kind. The first-named appears in our woodcut, No. [53], from Harl. MS. 5,102, of the beginning of the century. It is found also on the seal of St. Louis, and in the effigy in the Temple Church, figured by Stothard, Pl. x. The rounded helmet occurs on the seal of King John (woodcut [52]); in our engraving, No. [53], from Harl. MS. 5,102, early in the century; and in Nos. [49] and [74], both monuments of the close of this period. It appears plentifully in Roy. MS. 20, D. i., and in the groups of the Painted Chamber. The conical chapel is seen in our engraving, No. [58]; it occurs also in Harl. MS. 1,527, and in the Painted Chamber and Lives of the Offas. The Wide-rimmed Helmet is found throughout this century. An early example appears in our engraving, No. [50], from Harl. MS. 4,751. The figure here given is from Add. MS. 11,639, fol. 520; of the close of the century. It represents Goliath, and the casque is thus painted: crown, iron-colour; rim and crest, gold. The book is in Hebrew, but believed to have been written in Germany. See also our woodcut, No. [49], from Add. MS. 15,268; and Hefner's Plate v.; and the pictures of the Painted Chamber. A good example in sculpture occurs in the arcade of the north aisle of the Lady Chapel at Worcester Cathedral. On Cotton Roll, xv. 7, a variety of this headpiece has an upright spike at the top. In the Archæological Journal, vol. viii. p. 319, is engraved a knightly effigy in which the wide and pointed iron-hat is worn over a close skull-cap of plate, to which, is joined a coif of chain-mail. The Nasal Helmet is found of three varieties: the cylindrical, the round-topped, and the conical. The first occurs on the monumental effigy of Raoul De Beaumont, in the abbey of Estival, founded by him in 1210. (Kerrich Collections, Add. MS. 6,728.) The hemispherical appears in the Lives of the Offas and the Painted Chamber, and on Plate xxxiii. of Hefner. The pointed crown is found among the subjects of the Painted Chamber, of which the following is an example. See also our woodcut, No. [82].