Zac, what is the sword? I like it.

What kind of bascinet is that in zac's picture and where can I view the original, if anyone knows.

I thought I saw something similar to that bascinet but when you open up the visor it has strips of metal coming up in front of the wearer's face that remind me of the top of a castle wall. I thought it was more of a 15th c. Helm then a 14th but then again I'm not as knowledgeable as you guys (does anyone know what I'm talking about?) I'll do some more digging :)

Its very similar to what I'm thinking of I forget who but some armourer did a repo of it and gave it that visor in zac's photo I think that's what stemmed my confusion. I think the guy who did the repo showed it on here or on that other forum that mostly geared toward sca I'm not sure, guess its something to do when I get home ha ha. I'll see if I can find it.

Very interesting. Do you know of any other early armets specifically that date to the early 1400's?

Hisham Gaballa posted some good pics.

The S-18 suit is a composite with parts that range from (I think) 1390 to about 1430. I can't honestly remember if it is a working-life composite or not though.

As for early armets: there are, I believe, about a half-dozen or so extant pre-1430 Armets. There is a really nice thread on another forum about them:

http://www.armsandarmourforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=687

Also in that thread are a number of effigies that show early armets.


some quick notes:

this helmet:
http://www.mallet-argent.com/images/early_armet_med.jpg

has some odd things about it, and you can read about it on the thread I mentioned previously. Specifically, it seems to have been reconstructed at some point and some of its dimensions don't make much sense. It is unclear if visor attachments were removed in this process. It is known though, that there are a few examples of helmets like this in the fighting treatises of Fiore Dei Liberi (circa 1410 - and this is basically where the 1410 date on that helmet comes from), and that other early 15th northern Italian artwork shows helmets like this and the other early armets. They seem to have been relatively limited in popularity at first, not coming into their own until the mid-15th C.

Thanks for the links and the information. I forgot about the armet in the Royal Armouries, even though I have a picture of it somewhere! Presumably most armets around in the late 1420ies were limited to Italy though. I was under the impression that outside Italy, the bascinet and great bascinet continued to be used well into the late 1430ies.

So S-18 is actually a composite, what a let down. :( Saying that I do vaguely remember a Venetian (?) statue of saint from circa 1420 showing similar armour.

Edit:
Found a picture of the RA armet:
http://collections.royalarmouries.org/index.p...&pg=23

Unfortunately the visor is missing.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sorry to bump this thread again, but I've got one last request.

I've pretty much decided to move my kit back to the later 14th century or the very beginning of the 15th century (I'm quite keen on wearing a Jupon, you see). Now I have but to find a helm, bascinet or otherwise that I like the look of. If anyone would like to post some late 14th c./ early 15th c. helms I would be greatly appreciative. I've attempted to research and find them online, but have thus far found nothing but a few styles. I'm interested in all of them, so feel free to post them even if they are rare.

For the record Mr. Farrell's helm is my favorite thus far, though incorporating into a kit with a jupon may be iffy.

Edit: To clarify, I'm mostly interested in varying visor styles. Helms of a more domed style are also preferred to the conical counterparts, but don't hesitate to post them as well. I may yet be persuaded.

Hmm...I'm guessing Great Bascinets were generally worn only with alwite harnesses. The Great Helm had long passed from use by then if I'm correct, so I'm pretty much stuck with a houndskull and only two varying visors.

I see...Know of any books or websites that might display such variations?

Also, I may be crazy, but I think I'd heard of visored Great Helms coming into use around this time period. Know anything about those?