Hi all,

I'm putting together an early 15th century (c.1410-1430) German kit for use in harnischfechten, and I'm a little stuck on what kind of helm to get.

As far as I can tell, there are two main types that make sense for that time period: the clapvisor and the houndskull (I know this there were also some houndskulls that *were* clapvisors, but I couldn't think of a better way to phrase it.)

Generally speaking I don't love the aesthetics of the houndskull (and let's be real, wanting to look cool is half the reason to buy armor) and I'm a tiny bit leery of fighting in it because I've heard that the long cone can fill with CO2 as you exhale, making it hard to breath. I've also heard some concerns of neck injuries when fighting in houndskulls due to stout blows from polearms striking the cone and torquing your neck.

On the other hand, I've been warned away from the clapvisor due to safety/durability concerns arising from the visor's single attachment point.

With that in mind, are there any other helm types from that period I ought to look at?

Any other considerations I should be thinking about?

Dear Dashiell Harrison,

On Sunday 20 August 2023, you wrote:

. . . I'm a tiny bit leery of fighting in [a houndskull visor] because I've heard that the long cone can fill with CO2 as you exhale, making it hard to breath. . . .

I can't address the rest of your questions--especially the esthetic one--but this particular concern sounds very much like speculation by an uninformed person about potential problems with houndskull visors. A moment's thought will show that if this were a problem, the same problem would occur much sooner with a fastened-down klappvisor, which has so much less volume in front of the face. Fighting in an enclosed helm will always make it harder to breathe than fighting with an exposed face, but that's because you've put your head in a metal box. It seems very unlikely that one sort of box will differentially accumulate carbon dioxide faster than another. Also, I'd suggest that a houndskull visor offers more area over which to put ventilation holes, so between the greater space into which you can exhale and the potentially more ample ventilation, this concern seems rather overblown. I note, by the way, that carbon dioxide is heavier than air, and should drain away of itself from an enclosed but ventilated space. Also, and related, the need for oxygen is not what drives increased breathing rates. Instead, the function is regulated by rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the lungs, generally as a result of greater oxygen use (it's possible to asphyxiate in the presence of ample oxygen but absence of carbon dioxide, because the body doesn't feel hunger for air without the carbon dioxide and can forget to breathe). Frankly this concern sounds a lot like folklore, passed on from one person to another (or to many, as you say you've read it), based in part on a misunderstanding of respiratory mechanisms, without any tests to verify its accuracy. I strongly suspect it's inaccurate folklore, and that its dissemination should be discouraged.

I hope this proves helpful.

Best,

Mark Millman

It may be that some of the more well-known hounskulls surviving today are seemingly of French origin, but the form is always something I've associated more with the French, though I know it was pan-Euoropean, and the klappvisor with the more rounded features, with Germanic peoples.

This, too, may be a misguided opinion, but I've also always associated my German ancestors with a penchant for function over form (simple elegance that works), while I've associated French influences with "fashion", even if function may have suffered a little, and the hounskull has always said to me "form" moreso than "function" - you get the function, but the shape doesn't seem to enhance it that much over the typical klappvisor, with that beak sticking out and providing greater surface area to hit from more angles. It is also more difficult to produce, being deep and pointy, so that adds to cost and production time without necessarily adding any appreciable function, at least in my estimation. (If you want to point to highly "fashionable" fluting in the Miximillian armours of the late Medieval period, keep in mind that fluting does enhance performance - it seems to reduce flex and helps the armor to maintain it's integrity better, so you get something tangible out of the extra work that also just happens to look extremely good.;))

Thus, as one of Germanic extraction, I prefer the klappvisor from that perspective.

As for the single point of attachment, hounskulls were made this way as well and were, technically, a "klappvisor" in that configuration since that refers more to the method of attachment than the shape of the face. If it's well made, it should stay in place and you will still have three points of attachment (usually straps on the lower end of the face). As an added benefit, if you have the detachable version you can free your face between rounds without having to completely get out of your helm if you don't want to.

Dear Victor R.,

Indeed, I address your point directly later in my post. But while ventilation holes are an important variable, I still maintain that the visor's shape is basically irrelevant.

Best,

Mark Millman