I was looking through some of my books recently and kept running across great bascinets. Great bascinets kind of fill the gap between the 14th century bascinet and more recognizable helmet forms of the 15th century (the sallet, armet, etc.). I don't see them as part of a clear evolution necessarily, though; the Darwinian model doesn't always hold true. :)

I thought you guys might like to see some of these as they don't seem to get much press.

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Venetian - ca. 1400- Museo Civico, Brescia

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Venetian - ca. 1400 - Ducal Palace, Venice

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French - ca. 1400 - Musee de l'Armee, Paris

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French - ca. 1400 - Musee de l'Armee, Paris

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Italian - before 1415 - private collection

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Italian - ca. 1430 - Met Museum, NY

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Painting by Witz, c. 1440

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Missaglia of Milan - ca 1450 - Churburg Castle

Two more:

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Helm of Frederick I, Italian - ca 1450 - Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

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by Conrad Treytz, Innsbruck - ca 1450-60 - Historisches Museum, Bern

Anyone have any more of these type they'd like to share?

I'm also interested in more pics of the Italian one in a private collection.

Here's one in the British Museum - found at Kordofan in Sudan, which may indicate a French origin. In the early 1450s, Jacques Coeur, silversmith to Charles VII of France (reigned 1422-61) and an important merchant, was tried for selling armour to the Khalif of Egypt (among other charges). It is possible that this bascinet may have been among the armour exported from France and thus found its way to the shores of the Nile. (G.F. Laking, A record of European arms and, 7 vols. (London, G. Bell & Sons, 1920))

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I am not that familiar with "plate armour" and the terminology. Are "frog mouth" helms and similar grouped as "great bascinets"? I would have guessed many of the illustrations to be specialized for tjoust.

Jared

Great basinets were not specifically designed for the joust. However "frog mouthed" helms were a design that appears to be specifically designed for a specific style of joust in the German states.

Bryan

Here are two more pics. The first is another view of the Musee de l'Armee. The second, also dated to c. 1400, is from the Dijon Museum.

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Musee de l'Armee

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c. 1400 - Dijon Museum (gorget plate looks restored)

Hi Chad,

Thanks for the thread. I'd like to add some comments regarding the great bascinets discovered in the Chalcis hoard. The first image you posted is actually what I believe to be a reproduction housed in the Museum in Brescia that is based on an original discovered in Chalcis in 1840. If it is an original, it is nonetheless attributed to Chalcis as well. What I think is the original it is based upon was (and may still be) housed in Athens at the Ethnological Museum. The similar great bascinet you show from the Met some photos down was also discovered at the same time in Chalcis. Here are photos of the original helmet in Athens and a catalog photograph from a publication about the helmets from an article about the hoard printed in 1911... I do not believe it shows all of the helmets of this style - both of those we have better photographs of here in this thread would be hard to match to those shown in this catalog image.

I did what research I could regarding this style of helmet from Chalcis some time ago and was unable to come up with a lot of information, despite my interest in them. For the unique features they possess, they have seen far too little publication.

Cheers!

-Gregory

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These two have actually quite a lot in common with armet - athough they have only one hinged throat protection, and are not so "head shaped" - narrow at the throat. But by 1415 the armet was fully formed.

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Venetian - ca. 1400- Museo Civico, Brescia

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Italian - ca. 1430 - Met Museum, NY

Early armet, formerly at Churburg, CH57, 1410 - 1415:
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There is another one, probably made by Pedro del Campo, in 1425 for the Viana's prince (the title of the son of the king of Navarra). At least there is a great bascinet from the Cathedral, and a bill stating that one was made...

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Traces of tinning survive, giving a "silvered" surface. It has been in several exhibitions, and in first person is quite huge :eek: