called by that name in Italy. It was completed by a "buffe," or chin-piece, similar to the bavier.
Fig. 600. |
Fig. 601. |
Fig. 602. |
Fig. 603. |
Fig. 604. |
Fig. 605. |
During this century the "morion," really an improved "chapelle-de-fer," was much in use. It had a curved top, surmounted by a comb, and a broad, turned-up brim, and was often elaborately engraved and gilt. The "cabasset" was a similar head-piece, but had a peaked top, surmounted by a small spike turned backwards, and generally a flatter, narrower brim than the morion. These three forms of helmet were all called casques.
Fig. 606.—"Grid-iron" Helmet (fifteenth century).
The barred or grilled helmet owed its introduction to tournaments with swords and clubs, which necessitated better opportunities of vision than the earlier tilting-helm afforded, sufficient though that was for encounters with the tilting-spear. The earliest form of this type of helmet will be seen in Fig. 606, which is termed a "grid-iron" helmet, developing shortly afterwards into the form of Fig. 607, which has a lattice-work visor. The former figure, the "grid-iron" helmet, is a