Hello,

I've become interested in a certain kind of helmet used with foot-combat tournament harnesses seen in the 16th century. One example is this one at the Met museum, which is also the one I'm the most interested in:

[ Linked Image ]

I believe that this helmet has been reconstructed by Chris Dobson of MasterArmourer.com:

Visor closed
Visor open

His work has been put on display in public:

Fighting

What I want to ask about is the construction of a helmet such as this one for an eventual order I'll be placing with an armourer. Have anyone here had the opportunity to inspect or otherwise learn more about this type of helmet? For that matter, what is a helmet like this one called?

My initial guess is that the helmet itself is integrated with both a neck piece (as seen in the public display picture) and the gorget piece, both of which is then hinged to the harness in the chest and back, and with buckles over the shoulders. It also appears to be rather large around the wearer's head. Does the helmet permit enough movement inside of it to turn your head, which is useful since hinging the helmet to the harness limits the helmet's own movement?

I welcome anything and anyone that can help me shed some light on this type of helmet. :)

Regards,
Emil Andersson

It looks like Grand Bacinet.

But it isnt. The grand bascinets are as I know ordinary bascinets with a neck/throat defence added. This one is from later period and more elegant.
It looks like the skull and the back of neck defense are one piece while gorget is riveted onto the other part. The visor is quite big (so seems to be the helmet itself) as the wearer's head in the "visor open" picture is turned to his right a bit. I beleive that the vision must have been quite good even if (and it seems to be so) the whole thing was hinged to the breastplate.
I beleive that with some measurements and additional pictures from other directions a good armourer should be able to reproduce such helmet with no greater trouble.

Miha

The thing is that there is bit of confusion regarding the term "grand bascinet" - it is often applied both to the earlier helmets that are, just as you described, esentially, bascinets with additional defences added, and to this sort of helm.

If I'm not mistaken, this particular type is a further variation on the type known as the "bycoque." There's more info in these threads, but I don't know whether they have the kind of exact construction details you're looking for.

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...ht=bicoque

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...ht=bicoque

Emil,

My observation, having made similar helmets, is that the skull and nape are raised as one piece, and that the bevor pivots on rivets near the ears to permit it to open wide enough for the head to pass through. It is held closed by attachment to the cuirass. The visor has one half of a hinge riveted to the underside of each end, each of which affixes to its other half (that pivots on the side of the skull) by means of a removable hinge-pin. Two features missing on the original that can be seen on Chris Dobson's reproduction are the spring latch that keeps the visor closed during use, and the prop that holds the visor open. The pierced holes for these features are still evident on the original. Rows of rivets seen on the surface hold a permanent band inside, to which a removable quilted liner is sewn.

There should only be enough room inside for limited head movement, but the visor permits far greater peripheral vision than a field helmet would.

I hope this is the sort of information you were looking for.

-Hildebrandt