Are there any works in print or in webpages that focus on the history and the development of the kettle-hat? It is of particular interest for me since I have an inordinate fondness for the study of the arms and armor of the ordinary soldiers. On one end of the spectrum I still often get puzzled about whether a helmet is to be classified as a cabasset or a kettle-hat or both while on the other I'm curious about when kettle-hats first developed into what could be called its classic form. And of course I'm intrigued by the later models that cover so much of the head and face that it has to be provided with eyeslits--especially about whether it still counts as a kettle-hat or (by some strange trick of classification) as some sort of sallet or as a third type of helmet entirely distinct from the two.

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...ght=kettle

See especially the illustration from "Dragon" near the end of the page.

I don't know of any kettle-helm specific publications, though that doesn't mean there aren't some. :)

Fairly typical kettle helms were certainly in use by 1250 as they're illustrated in the collection of illustrated Bible stories known as the Maciejowski Bible.

Most good arms and armour books cover kettle helms as part of the larger study.

Interesting thread. Too bad the diachronic span is rather narrow...

Depending on where you want to start, you might look at 9th century Carolingian helms.
http://www.geocities.com/egfrothos/Frankhelm.html

They appear in english art at least by the start of the 13th. I have not looked any earlier but there are a series of books called early gothic art, gothic art and late gothic art which divide much of the medieval periods artwork and it has some nice pictures of them from the early 13th.

RPM

It appears that kettlehats showed up in the last decades of the 12th century. They are rare, but present in the artwork of the period, as well as mentioned in written sources.

They seem to have been pretty much the standards infantry helmet in the 13th century, in various forms.

That link about the Frankish helmet is funny, although it's not really a kettle-hat thing. But I can see the relation--it might not be all that far-fetched to claim that helmets with all-round brims existed all the way from the 5th to the 17th century at least.

I think you are thinking of one of these (click on the thumbnail):




It is a helmet with a brim. But as far as I know, they were only ever used by gladiators.

The Ancient Greeks also used a helmet with a brim in the 4th century BC. It's often called a Boeotian helmet.

They go even further then that. Here's some reproductions of 5th-4th century BC examples:
http://www.noricum.de/html/hallstattzeit.html
These are based on the bell-shaped helmets (which go back much further to at least the late bronze age)

They do however not become "mainstream" until around 1200, posibly a few decades before.
It seems like the early kettlehats had rather narrow brims.

A selection of norwegian helmets form the 12th and 13th cent, including several early kettlehats.
[ Linked Image ]

[ Linked Image ]

Elling,

Do you know which lewis chessmen they refer to in the clear kettlehelm BM122? I take it means British Museum but I have just reviewed my pictures and did not spot it? I have seen the other part of the colelction in Edinbugh and never spoted anything beside the wierd BM120 style, sort of a mix of a kettle helm-skull. Thanks for the illustration. Could I ask where it came from? Loks like a interesting read.

RPM

These ones?
Edit: Or did you mean MB 122?
on the left...
Edit AGAIN: uhm, it's me that's confused...

The drawings are compiled by Endre Fodstad, of Kongshirden 1308, and are not not part of a larger work, except for a similar writeup on shields;
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/2198/englishnorwegian3cm4.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/5954/englishdanish2xz7.jpg

Since the chessmen are carved, the helmets are naturally narrow brimmed. However, there are some illustrations, and actual finds of short brimmed kettlehats from this period

Elling,


Thanks, Yeah my mistake. A friend of mine sent me the digital postcard of them from the BM and it is on there. Thanks for the close up though. It is interesting the one that is a flat top kettle though. Multiuse? Serves as a helmet and caldron....


Very nice drawings as well.

RPM

Well, the word kettlehat IS derived from the same root as kettle. In Norwegian they are called "stalhufu" or steel cap in earlier sources, and "Jernhatt", iron hat, in later.
Presumably, this is due to their resemblance to a brimmed felt hatt.