Helm

Broad-brimmed infantry helmet shaped like an inverted pot

The kettle hat (French chapel-de-fer, German Eisenhut) is the open helmet most widely worn by the foot soldier in 12th- to 15th-century Europe, and its name came from the rounded hemispherical skull and the broad brim spread out around it, which together looked like an upturned kettle. Its simple and clever form let the brim catch the arrows and stones that fell from above and the boiling water, the quicklime, and the oil poured down from the wall in a siege, so it suited as nothing else the foot soldier who fought close under the wall. The work of making it was simple enough that any village smith could beat one out, so its price was very low, and it spread widely among the common foot and the citizen militia who could not afford the splendid helmet of the knight. Yet its use was by no means low, for the chronicle of Joinville records that Louis IX of France stood at the Battle of Mansurah in 1250 wearing a chapel-de-fer, and so this hat was worn by men of almost every rank, from the foot soldier to the king.

Iconic full-face helmet of ancient Greece

The Corinthian helmet is the most iconic bronze helmet of ancient Greece. Beaten from a single sheet of bronze with no seam, it enclosed the whole head, and cheek guards covering the cheeks and a nasal covering the nose wrapped the face almost completely, leaving only narrow eye slits and a gap at the mouth. It was essential equipment of the hoplite, the Greek heavy infantryman, guarding the head and face from the front in the close-packed phalanx where men fought shoulder to shoulder with overlapping shields. It appeared around the 8th century BC at Corinth and was widely used down to the 5th century BC, and when not in battle it was commonly worn pushed up onto the top of the head. Inside, a lining of felt or leather softened the shock, and a crest of horsehair was often mounted on top. Covering nearly the whole face, its protection was excellent, but at the cost of greatly limited vision and hearing.

Barrel-shaped helmet enclosing the entire head

The great helm is a fully enclosed European knight’s helmet of the late 12th to 14th century — a cylindrical or bucket-shaped steel canister that encloses the entire head, face, and upper neck. Early versions had a flat top; later ones were rounded or coned into a “sugarloaf” shape to deflect blows. A narrow eye slit (occularium) and a scatter of small breathing holes were the only openings, giving the best protection of its day at the cost of severely limited sight and ventilation. It was not worn against the head directly but pulled over a padded coif, a mail coif, and sometimes a small skullcap (cervelliere), which spread the shock of a blow. Iconic of the crusader and the 13th-century heavy horseman, it was the heavy, solid “battle canister” donned just before the mounted charge.

Traditional helmet of the Japanese samurai

The kabuto is the traditional helmet worn by the Japanese samurai with his armor. Several iron plates are riveted together to form the rounded bowl (hachi), behind which hang several lames of a neck guard (the shikoro) covering the neck and shoulders, while the turn-backs (fukigaeshi) folded up at the front of the shikoro guard the sides of the face and bore the family crest. At the front of the helmet a crest called the maedate was mounted, to show who the wearer was on the battlefield and to display his dignity. By the Sengoku period commanders vied to make individual 'transformed helmets' (kawari-kabuto), their shapes built up in lacquered paper, wood, and leather; the crescent moon of Date Masamune and the fern-leaf crest of Tokugawa Ieyasu are especially famous. The weight came to about 2 to 5 kg depending on the ornament, and inside it was lined with padding and secured by a chin cord (the shinobi-no-o).

Framework helmet of crossed metal bands

The spangenhelm is a helmet of segmented construction, made by setting metal bands (the spangen) crossing in an arch to form a framework and filling the gaps between them with metal plates. Usually a brow band and several arching bands meeting at the apex were riveted together to make the skeleton, and the panels between were filled with iron or bronze plates to form a roughly conical shape. A helmet beaten in one piece from a single sheet of iron took great skill, but the spangenhelm, its parts made separately and assembled, could be made far more easily and quickly. For this it was supplied in quantity and became the most common helmet of early-medieval warriors, Germanic, Frankish, Byzantine, and Viking alike. The form with a nasal covering the nose was the most common, and some had cheek plates or a mail curtain covering the back added. Because the parts were made separately, several metals could be mixed, and countless variants exist by region and age.

Close-fitting Italian helmet of the 15th century

The armet is the close-fitting battle helmet that grew up in 15th-century Italy. Its mark is a streamlined, rounded skull that follows the curve of the head, with a pair of cheek pieces that hinge open inward from each side and shut at the chin to form a single closed shell. Unlike the earlier bascinet, which carried a mail aventail at the neck, the armet's two cheek pieces meet beneath the chin and lock at one point, covering head and neck-sides with one face of plate without a single mail ring. On its front a visor is set on hinges, lifted upward, so that in combat it could be closed with only a narrow sight slit left and in camp it could be raised to set sight and breath free at once. By the late 15th century the armet was the standard headpiece of the Italian white harness, and the form polished by the masters of northern Italy, above all the Missaglia workshop of Milan, is the very face of the Renaissance knight as we picture him today.

Crested open helmet of the Spanish conquistadors

The morion (Spanish morrion) is the open helmet that grew up in 16th- and 17th-century Europe, and its mark is the high comb that rises down the middle of the skull and the broad brim that comes to a point at front and back. The face is wholly open, so that sight, breath, and hearing are far better than under a closed helmet, and the helmet suited the long marches and field labor of the 16th-century army. The high middle comb is not mere decoration but a piece of structural reinforcement that turned aside the downward blow of a sword or a flail, and the broad brim covered the shoulder and neck against arrows and stones dropping from above. Its simple form let it be beaten out in large numbers, and so it became the standard headgear of the Spanish tercio, and through the colonial garrisons of the New World and the guards of court in Europe it passed on, until even today the Pontifical Swiss Guard at the Vatican wears the polished morion as part of its ceremonial.

Pointed medieval helmet with detachable visor

The bascinet is the standard helmet of the European knight in the 14th and 15th centuries. Its skull rises to a point, designed so that a blow coming down from above slides off the sloping surface. Around the lower edge a curtain of mail (the aventail) was hung by small staples (vervelles) to cover the neck, shoulders, and nape. At the front a visor that could be opened or removed was mounted, so that it was kept open for vision and breathing at most times and lowered to guard the face in the thick of battle. Thus, while it carried on the protection of the great helm, it greatly improved sight and breathing, and in the mid-14th century it swiftly replaced the great helm to become the most common helmet of the late Middle Ages. Many variants existed by the form of the visor, the most famous being the pointed, snout-like 'hounskull' or pig-faced visor.