[Glennan Carnie]

Armour isn't my thing, generally, so I'm hoping those more knowledgeable can assist me.

I'm looking for information on extant, early-to-mid 16th Century (that is, pre-1550's) war hats or early morions. Specifically, I'd like to know if there are any English, munition-grade examples.

There seem to be lots of high-end Italian, Spanish and German examples from around the period but I can't find any English ones.

Any information is gratefully received.

[Daniel Staberg]

The engravings from Cowdray House of Henry VIII's army in 1544 does show a lot of what looks like alte form of kettle hats. Both Angus Macbride and Ian Heath used the engravings when reconstructing the dress and equipment of English soldiers.
The best online images of the engravings can be found here: http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~fontanad/maryrose/
From the look of them these helmets are a form of cabacete/cabasset IMHO, if you compare existing examples and the engravings there is more than a passing resemblance to my eye

[Glennan Carnie]

Daniel,

I've spent an unhealthy amount of my life staring intently at the Cowdrey House engravings!

I agree with you: the helmets shown in the engravings do look like cabasets. There is also a close resemblance to the 16th Century German 'war hat' in the Wallace Collection in London:

http://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMus...T&sp=1

The problem with the Cowdrey House engravings is they are small, simple line drawings. I think it would be difficult to reconstruct armour from such small images (and I speak from some experience - my Tudor soldier's kit is based on these engravings; along with extant pieces from the Mary Rose)

I'm just wondering if there are any extant examples of English cabasets / war hats from the 16th Century?

[Daniel Staberg]

Glennan,
I've been under the impression that Henry VIII like many other rulers imported much/most of the munitions armour issued to the common soldiers rather expanding the domestic production of armour. (But please corret me if I'm wrong) Could a possible solution be searching for 'munitions' quality war hats /cabacetes for likely overseas suppliers?
(The actual English helmets making up such a limited proportion that none have survived)

Fully agree with you on the difficulty of using that kind of drawings to recreate armour, clothing and other equipment. I've spent far too many frustrating hours tyring to reconstruct French Infantry gear c. 1515-1520 using similar (usually worse) artwork.