While browsing the archives of French museum collections, I found this picture of a 17th century cuirassier's armour with a helmet made in the style of a brimmed hat.

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Rear view - you can see what seems to be a neck protector.

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Anyone ever seen anything like this? Were these kind of hats worn with any kind of regularity or is this just a one-off novelty item?

Cameron Stone's Glossary contains a similar, rather dashing, iron hat on pg. 308, English, dated 1645 & credited to the Metropolitan Museum.

It looks like English Civil War era armor.

I have seen a drawing of very similar steel hat, only missing cheeks and neck protectors dated as 1640-50, english, apparently in the Tower Museum in London. This information dates from 1975 but the helmet may be still in there, I have heard that they moved some of the collections to Leeds though. I havent had an opportunity to visit Tower yet as it is bloody expensive :mad: .

Edit.

It's not in the online collections. I had checked both Leeds and Tower.

Last I was at the Tower it was not there. I do not recollect seeing it in Leeds either. The rest of the armour looks to be ECW era so I'd guess the hat to be as well. A very interesting find... gives an entire new direction to those hidden skull hats worn under hat-hats.

RPM

There are other iron hats as well. I know I've seen them in other books. I think there is at least one in Berlin. Is there one in the Cleveland book?

That harness is in the Musée de l'Armée and identified as French, ca. 1630. The helmet type was used in England as well. I would guess that it appeared in other parts of Europe during the 30 Years War. An evolutionary dead end, perhaps, but not a one-off or novelty. Perhaps the Royalist faction, with its French ties, introduced the type to England during the ECW.

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See below - an old thread.

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