The Armour Archive

This is spilling over from some posts in the "2011, Kits...Let's see them!" thread in the Medieval Combat and Weapons forum. With encouragement from others here I have decided that one of these painted 16th c. Munition Grade Sallets is the helm I want for my kit, so I started this thread to post a few questions rather than cluttering up the 2011 kits thread.

I have also tossed together the following page on my website which has a what I currently have to work from, and hope to add to it with more pictures...

http://mailmaker.tripod.com/armor/munition/index.html

I remember Nissan Maxima had a thread a couple of years ago with a bit of information on these helmets, I tried looking for it, searching back through his posts, etc, but could not find it. Anyone have a link to that thread?

There was another thread a while ago where people were discussing the small pairs of holes along the edges of some late period helmets, but I havent been able to find it again... anyone have a link to that thread too?

I ask because the sallet of this sort that is in the Higgins armoury Museum has pairs of holes like that, and I thought the general idea from the other thread was that they were for securing a fabric cover, but I wonder if such decoratively painted helms would have had such covers when in use, or just for transportation/storage to protect the paint; or if they were for another purpose, such as sewing in additional layers of lining material.

The Wallace Collection Website says "This helmet is also noteable since it retains its original padded textile lining and the leather loops for the chin-strap", does anyone have any details on those bits?

...and now a couple questions about the armor to go with this sort of helmet.
what I currently have is this:

So, anyone have thoughts on how the painting of the helm would correlate to painting/motifs used in decorating the rest of the armour?

I thought I had more questions than those few, but can't remember them at the moment, and should get back to working on something work-like while at work.

A few thoughts:

As for the Wallace sallet I'd contact Dr. Capwell at the Wallace about getting more detailed photos. He posts here from time to time so a PM wouldn't go amiss.

I'm fairly convinced that the pairs of holes we see on helms, like the one in the Higgins, are for attaching a lining rather than a cover...at least in most cases.

Sweet Cuirass! You gotta get a sweet hat to match!

I agree with Peikko. I believe the paired holes are for a liner, not cover. Also, I believe the thread you were speaking of, that talked about the holes was for a Black Sallet, not one of the Hybrid Sallets you are referring too:




For your rig, my bias swings to a Burg or proto-Burgonet. Even a Cevellere with a hat.
But a hybrid Sallet would certainly work. Below is my collection of different Hybrid Sallets. Hope it Helps:









PLEASE NOTE: I did not take these photos. I only collected them for my own personal research.

MORE:

MORE AGAIN

AND AGAIN

Thanks for posting all of those, its a lot more than I was hoping for and a lot more variety too.

I have plans to start making one soon after Pennsic, though I'm not yet sure which one.
I hope to make a couple, and a burg to try too. For rapier I use a ceveller with a hat over it and would like to try that for heavy too, but I'm not sure I could get one to be low profile enough and still fit my head with the right amount of padding.

Awesome, I look forward to seeing how this progresses as it is one of my favorite helms. As for the low profile helm issue might I direct your attention to this thread: http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=127664?

Best of luck with your projects.

posting to mark this thread.