The Armour Archive

I recently sent Galfrid a miniature from the Walters Art Museum to be added to manuscriptminiatures.com. While I was attracted to the scale body armor, I began to wonder about the item under his left arm, which appears to be a helm with quilted cover.
Walters W.148 fo.46r, 1301-1350, Germany
http://www.thedigitalwalters.org/Data/W ... 95_sap.jpg This covering seems similar to those shown on the Luneburg Table:
viewtopic.php?t=43686

Haldan wrote:Here's all the information I have on the table from the book "Heraldry, Sources, Symbols and Meanings" by Ottfreid Neubecker with contributtions by J. P. Brooke-little designed by Robert Tobler
1979 McGraw-Hill Book Co, reprinted in 1988 by Macdonald & Co.
ISBN 0-7481-0198-5

"Along the edges of the Gothic folding table of Luneburg are the arms of the chief rulers of the time: the German emperor with the crest of Ludwig of Bavaria: the king of France with the crest of Phillip Augustus: the king of Bohemia: the king os Denmark; the legendary Prester John or king Sulan: the king of Sweden: not yet identified, but probabley a scandinavian royal administrator or chancellor: the king of Norway. This folding table was found in 1928 hidden under a pile of planks in a room used for storeing old documents in the town hall of Luneburg. It is the only one of its kind in Germany. The arms along the edge help to date it around 1330. The five medallions on the table surface represent scences from the bible."

Anyone have other examples?

There is a surviving helmet cover from...Egypt? Maybe in the Met?

In David Nicolle's Teutonic Knights 1190-1561 he has Graham Turner draw an early 13th century helm with a red cover on it on plate B, fig. 11. The plate description merely states "In Germany this style was often worn with a large, slightly quilted, brightly-coloured and sometimes embroidered hat over the top," on page 59.

Honestly, besides a few fanciful images from manuscripts like the Codex Manesse that are typically depicting full crests along with any coverings on helms, the image you've just provided is the only visual reference I can think of to accompany his theory. And, both the codex and your miniature post-date the helmet he had Turner draw by a century. He does begin that description with "In 14th-century Germany there was a noticeable development of the great helm," though... Perhaps the plate illustration and description don't match up as they should?

I actually considered trying to get in touch with him about this topic, since German arms and armor from the 13th-14th century are really my main interest these days. But that doesn't seem worth the trouble as a stand-alone inquiry.

-Gerhard