So far as uniformity is concerned, the four articles enumerated above
are all that can be cited with any degree of accuracy. The bascinet
of the period was of many and varying shapes, and at times approached
the grotesque. Two are given here from Roy. MS. 16 G. 6 (Figs. 172,
173), which are adorned with acanthus-shaped crests: the camail
depending from both is of banded mail, and the vervelles by which it
is affixed are shown. It is probable that this style prevailed more
upon the Continent than in England. The form of helmet shown in the
Ely window before mentioned is globular, the lower part covering
the ears and cheeks; a comb much flattened and of no great height
traverses it from the forehead to the back of the head. A common form
of bascinet is shown in Fig. 174, which covers the head and neck, and
is provided with one of the cumbrous visors of the age. This revolves
upon pivots fastened well back, and not only protects the face, but
partly fulfils the duty of a gorget. The occularium is formed by a row
of circular apertures in a reinforcing plate. This massive form of
visor is well shown on the head of Thomas de Beauchamp (Fig. 175) on
the celebrated Hastings brass, one of the few brasses of this period of
armour which have been handed down to us, and which in consequence is
simply invaluable. The visor is provided with a reinforcing plate and
slits for the occularium, with breathing holes below, while the great
projection at the lower part (when allowed to fall) not only protects
the neck, but also a portion of the chest. A bascinet is preserved in
the British Museum which dates from _c._ 1350, and illustrates the
manner in which the gorget plate was affixed (Fig. 176). The bascinet
of Almeric, Lord St. Amand (Fig. No. 177) is provided with a singular
adornment, the chapelle-de-fer or steel bonnet: the brim, being movable
upon pivots at the sides, could be brought down so as to protect the
face. But such an arrangement left the chin and throat open to injury,
and to obviate this a mentonnière of massive proportions is shown,
thus anticipating the protection of the same nature as required by
the salade a century later. This illustration of the chapelle-de-fer
is the only one engraved upon a brass, but another example of it on a
monumental effigy may be seen in Westminster Abbey upon an equestrian
figure on the tomb of Aymer de Valence, _c._ 1296. A late example of
the war hat dating from 1515 and of German make is No. 135 in the
Wallace Collection, while a pictorial representation of it may be seen
in Julius, E. IV., the life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick,
written at the close of the fifteenth century. Bascinets not very
unlike those in vogue in the reigns of Henry V. and Henry VI., and
later on in the Tudor period, were in use, as may be seen from the
illustrations taken from Add. MS. 12,228, Figs. 178, 179, and the
romance of King Meliadus, Figs. 180, 181.
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