Bascinet helmets

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There was a time when this style of helmet, with the pig's face visor, was one of the most popular designs of helmet. I investigate one and try to find out why this was so...and fail.
I have never liked them, but clearly a lot of people in the past did, so presumably there's something I don't know.
Thanks to Dr David Tetard for the loan of his bascinet. This particular one was bought here: www.getdressedforbattle.co.uk/...
Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.
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Bascinet helmets
/ user "Lindybeige"

[@CLaw-tb5gg]

I think if you'd seen people being hacked to bits by blokes in that mask all your life, yeah, you'd probably find it pretty scary.

[@JE-ky2ow]

It reminds me of a plague mask, which were damn terrifying.

[@Amigo21189]

Also, I'm not fond of the impression that the person approaching me with my death in mind is _smiling_.

[@chuckufarlie8215]

@that guy, over yonder Absolutely, grim, sad, disappointed, but nonchalant and unwavering. Like death and time, yours will come. Plus, if you've ever noticed the devil's, demons, and dragons from the medieval art (and later art about medieval subjects) seem to always be given in the eyes (and sometimes in the faces in general) the characteristics that modern caricature artists would use to express cuteness, amiability, or other traits that garner sympathy(sweetie pie eyes, baby faces)...I don't know why this is but my personal assumption is that their attitude was much different than ours in a world that had not seen what we have in our history (such as the world wars) and this was an expression of how your enemy/an animal whatever you're killing will pull at your heart strings for mercy, and that this is basically part of the disgusting madhouse reality of killing that you must endure and is also an aspect of the evil in the thing you are killing. "When the time comes you will feel sympathy for it" (or whatever it was that Gandolf said about killing Gollum) but I think they saw this in a much different and more intolerant way than JRR did, he was, I think, discussing the addict or the propagandized or perhaps BOTH (as the same thing) but I think the people in the middle ages saw this as a highly wicked deceit. Also it maybe part of the beautiful narcissist "baby face Nelson" kind of steriotypes our society (especially among the poor and the ugly) still seems to cling onto. That's just my "philological" viewpoint, as flawed as it may be; I'm sure there was a another reason, and pretty people are inherently evil and ugly people work harder, what do I know? ;) (Sorry about my crazy internet punctuation and grammar)

[@dlxmarks]

I would have been too distracted by the full suit of armor and whatever bloody big weapon he was carrying to focus on the helmet.

[@garygrandy9443]

Yep, you were in a world of shit when guys with those helmets were charging towards you.

[@ScipiPurr]

Yes, go bare-headed. You'll invoke Hollywood magic which will protect you from all arrows and blows, except those from other bare-headed opponents.

[@oz_jones]

Also Warhammer 40k.

[@dlxmarks]

And always leave your coif dangling off the back of your neck like a hoodie.

[@Ektalon]

I believe that’s called “plot armour”.

[@TheGenericVideoGamer]

That's a dangerous spell.

[@AT-qw9cq]

Exactly! It will protect against everything, but you are vulnerable to other Main Characters.

[@Xanatos712]

Wear a bicycle helmet. But remember to cover it in aluminium foil so it matches the armour!

[@lindybeige]

Solved!

[@JH-xf3zr]

Lindybeige love your vids

[@andrewharper1609]

Unfortunately bicycle helmets are designed to break open upon significant impact and you're even supposed to replace them if you scratch them. Nice try but no cigar.

[@JohnyG29]

@@andrewharper1609 Maybe it was a joke...

[@GRaToMiC]

0:24 this is my favorite type of medieval helm and yes, it looks terrifying. It looks like the wearer is very confident and knows his way of swinging his broadsword. The emotionless expression of this helm makes the wearer look like he isn't afraid to die and won't hesitate to finish you off.

[@buttered__toast_2899]

GRaToMiC another hounskull lover ✊️

[@albertobellini98]

Yep, I really like the bascinet too. I also like the Armet.

[@GRaToMiC]

@Dr. Phil's creampie lounge i meant to write AK-47*

[@bukkebruse2936]

what broadsword?

[@darkmattergamesofficial]

That is the ultimate first world problem. Having a hard time deciding on which medieval helmet to buy for your set of plate armor 😂

[@bloodypine22]

What period?

[@darkmattergamesofficial]

+The imperial Inquisition the crying laugh. Lol

[@mattaffenit9898]

Darkmatter52 Why not equip oneself in the style of the Hellenic hoplitai instead? Or a Romanus Triarius?

[@oz_jones]

He already has a full set of Spartan armour.

[@StevenTheAristolianNerd]

That is a good question fellow trooper.

[@barp94]

Having fought in a bascinet, very similar to the own you've shown, I can say it is very difficult to see with a visor. However, once you are actually fighting, you lose track of the lack of vision, at least I do, and just concentrate on the slits. No idea about anyone else, but it works for me.

[@drakependragon9331]

2 years later he was indeed able to afford Gothic armor... Truly an inspiration

[@yes1sir1no1sir]

I'm sure in context a man fully clad in armour would be quite frightening, and if you where ever unfortunate enough to come against someone "1v1" i doubt you'd have much time to critique how scary his mask is; You'd want him dead before he makes you dead. And, No offence Lloyd, you're not a very intimidating man, And the whole bascinet and cardigan look is unlikely to strike fear into anyone, let alone a battle hardened soldier!

[@lindybeige]

The camera does not show that I am wearing quite fearsome battle shorts.

[@lughfiregod16]

Honestly I have to agree with you to an extent. If I had to fight someone in full plate while I was in mail or less, I would likely retreat with out a buddy there to help out.

[@csbob2010]

Jane Murphy Not to mention if he is rocking full plate on the battlefield he is probably rich, meaning trained from birth by a master at arms. You will lose.

[@lughfiregod16]

***** If your both equally skilled, the guy in armour is going to win at least 9 times out of 10. You can only attack in certain specific ways, and even then it is limited. In my opinion the only reliable-ish ways to fight without also having plate is a few ways. 1. Depending on the plate, long bows, or heavy crossbows can penetrate deep enough to injure or kill. 2. Attacking the places between were the plates adjoin with a thrusting weapon i.e. armpit, groin, back of the knee, sometimes the neck. Of course most guys in plate also have mail in those gaps. 3. On horse back, a lance or blunt weapons can still cause a lot of damage even through plate. 4. Blunt trauma, though the plates and padding underneath do provide protection from it, just not as much as protection from thrusting or stabbing. 5. Outnumber them, preferably with good teamwork. 6. Some fighters would open their visor in a melee, this makes for the best potential target your going to get, but of course he knows that too. 7. Be a hardcore motherfucker, while the guy in plate is average or less. Also, you pointed out the halberd for reach. Don't forget that in full plate you don't need a shield. This often led to using two handed weapons, like a longsword, war hammer, or halberd.

[@PJDAltamirus0425]

Jane Murphy Personally, If was only armoured in mail againist a man in full plate in a duel, I would want a huge, really sturdy shield and a warhammer or mace in my left hand, the guy in armour would probably be using a two handed weapon, so in a duel againist a knight, if I were wielding a polearm myself, I would be exposing myself to be quickly killed.

[@magistrumartium]

0:24 "Does this look terrifying to you? Is this the face of Doom?" No, you made me laugh out loud!

[@OriruBastard]

I like the look of the bascinet, especially when it's full set of armor.

[@Andrepopkiller95]

The "pig face" or "Becco di Corvo" in Italian, was a good visor because it grants you a great air chamber compared with other visors allowing you to sacrifice some visibility in exchange of more breathing in combat, the eyes are also like that for helping in close combat to deflect a hit that can kill you: your opponent putting his swork inside your oculars entering your eye! ^^" @Lindybeige +Lindybeige

[@migkillerphantom]

Wasn't the snout more for deflecting lances than arrows? The English way of fighting dismounted with loads of archers in support was an oddity. Germans, Frenchmen, Poles, Italians, Hungarians, etc. would very often fight mounted. If you know you're fighting dismounted you'd probably ditch the visor beforehand.

[@JohnyG29]

No

[@dELTA13579111315]

Yes

[@Lolpy.]

I wouldn’t ditch the visor since I like facial protection. If it were me, I’d keep the visor on lest I get stabbed in the face.

[@khandkersabahatrizvee8417]

maybe medival ppl were frightened by mice they did have the plauge.

[@TheOldBlackShuckyDog]

Rizvee Ratul they didn’t know that

[@greasehardbody4018]

Holy shit

[@rurushu8094]

Jack McConnell even if they didn’t know mice brought the plague, they still knew that mice are dirty foul creatures

[@JaySmokes97]

Mice were like a piece of poop your not afraid just disgusted

[@gabrielm.942]

Jack McConnell no but they were still associated with it

[@Octavius0]

Dig out a Roman Imperial Gallic, one of the coolest helmets ever. You would be retro chic. Hipster Knight!

[@mattaffenit9898]

Caesar Himself I personally prefer the Coolus or Montefortino galea. Fite me brah...

[@Lo-tf6qt]

(Laughs in Deus Vult) my great helm completely blocks my vision! What more could a man on a crusade want?

[@shan9usfc]

Well you don't need a helmet. When you have power armor, bolter and chainsword.

[@erroltan1743]

ha come brother we shall hunt down the heretics!!

[@JesusChrist-qi4ti]

who needs any of those when you can summon *DOOMRIDER YEEAAAAH*

[@Rudofaux]

+Jesus Christ™ *BLAM* HERESY!

[@BVargas78]

Bascinet reminds me of the mark 6 helms :)

[@Rudofaux]

BVargas78 Gotta love those Beakies. Althou I do have a fondness for the MK5s myself.

[@piemonkey321]

"But if ever I get rich enough to afford a full set of gothic field plate" and only 2 years later, it's happening!

[@Brave_Sir_Robin]

Um yes, happening...

[@VanZooben]

First and foremost I would like to say thank you for all these videos you've made; I love them. Second, I was just curious to what you think of Gjermundbu style helmets?

[@lindybeige]

hunter VanZeben Those with larger eye-holes are fine by me, but I like a mouth guard as well.

[@howdoilogin]

Lindybeige You were technically correct when you called it an arrow slit.

[@asserius9058]

I believe they actually did find a version where the spectacles extended downward over the face.

[@SargonofAkkad]

They always reminded me of the Wombles.

[@AnUtterSimpleton]

Fancy meeting you here.

[@MilkBreakMinecraft]

Woah Sargon watches Lindybeige confirmed!

[@funkoverload9488]

Hey Sargon, love the content.

[@maxmustermann1455]

somehow all youtubers I watch regularly, also watch each other it seems. Despite not really being related content-wise.

[@alexisstupid5626]

I did not expect to see you here

[@PapaBurgandy111]

I'm trying to remember the name of a film I had on VHS as a child and absolutely loved. From what I can remember it was almost entirely fighting, with lots of men riding round in Bascinet helms and besieging castles and falling off battlements with that generic 'argh' and grasping whichever limb has been hit by an arrow/sword/axe/herring. There was one great scene when some attacking infantry filled in the moat of a castle with bundles of wood. Anyway it's an incredibly long shot, but who knows, it could be someone's favourite film.

[@colinmacaoidh9583]

I've become quite fond of burgonets, myself. Nice thing about a lamed falling butte is when it's dropped, it sits on your gorget, nice and out of they way, letting you talk, breathe and see at leisure, but at the sign of trouble you can sweep the butte up into place with a single motion and suddenly be all Mr. Grumpy McArmorface at your enemies. The brim is nice for the shade it provides, as well. There are some REAL nice examples in the Gratz armory collection.

[@MrTryAnotherOne]

That is a Mark VI "Corvus Armour" helmet for the Raven armour.

[@heinzke8512]

MrTryAnotherOne enough 40k memes for one comments section

[@lt.branwulfram4794]

I’m wearing one right now, repping the Raven Guard.

[@markd8593]

this protection is not from the arrows, but from the lance. so that the visibility of the bottom and sides is not as important as the enemy knight rushing at you with a lance. for example in the tournament

[@roundishwhale]

It makes me quite happy to hear you talking about geting an full set or armor as something so far away now that it is currently in the making ^^

[@DaneStolthed]

I have a bascinet myself with a "grill style" visor which I prefer because of it's streamline design it offers less "catch points" than many (if not all) of it's contemporaries and glances the majority of indirect blows. You can wear a Kettle Helm Lloyd!

[@LordTurtleneck]

Why would you possibly not like sallets?

[@Clovericious]

+Myes I asked myself the same thing!

[@demency2741]

+Myes I was literally wondering the same thing! What's wrong with Sallets, eh?

[@Arnaere]

+Myes meh I don't get them.

[@deektedrgg]

Armet Master Race! You can all suck on my codpiece! Peasants!

[@softenbysam]

I don't quite like them either

[@user-wv8kr3yn6l]

How to simulate fighting in a bascinet helmet: Try fighting with your eyes closed.

[@onmybike8204]

impossibru

[@Lo-tf6qt]

actually I have worn a Bascinet before and I have had an easy time fighting in one since the eye holes are not as small as you'd think

[@winstonchurchill624]

Ratticus Finch lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[@rurushu8094]

Ratticus Finch as an Asian with larger than average eyes (for my race) I can confirm fighting my smaller-eyed brethren is very easy

[@Manglet762]

@Chin Chin You are Asian, and you have that name....you are a true man of culture.

[@marcelomariano1999]

Always precise, Lindy ! Keep the excelent work.

[@Pandasproject]

Please do continue this there are to many weapon videos about I love your content it's everything I'm interested in cheers!

[@apugalypse_now]

Inches? A British bloke measuring distance in _inches_?!

[@wigster600]

What do you expect him to measure in?

[@SabreXT]

We used to use metric, but people kept getting confused when we were talking about gas metres.

[@theoriginaldylangreene]

The British did invent the Imperial unit!

[@apugalypse_now]

Dylan Greene They also invented the word "soccer," and God knows how contrarian they are there.

[@theoriginaldylangreene]

Ezra Silvershekelstein Soccer is an abbreviation of association football, making football still the original term.

[@bentoth9555]

"Some points about bascinets." Well the point is right there on the front, right?

[@shakti666]

Making it look friendly and harmless is half the terror my friend

[@thwonker]

i cant get enough of this channel. He's so fact focused but its a really interesting way

[@spooky4124]

why does it have this little smile part?

[@Khomann]

+Gabriel Belmonte My guess would be that it channeled moisture out of the helmet before it drained into the rest of your armor. This was actually a problem we don't think of often today, but having a metal pot over your head while sweating and breathing would form water droplets all around the interior of the helmet. Hope this helps!

[@spooky4124]

***** Intresting, I agree with it

[@angusguitarhero]

+Gabriel Belmonte It is there, to see through because your vision is very restricted downwards. there's another video about the bascinet from knyght errant. there you got more information about it

[@massimookissed1023]

Why does it have a smile? For irony.

[@spooky4124]

Massimo O'Kissed "oh boy, I really wanna battle today :)" XD

[@nhatvoluong5687]

Can you do a series about helmets? Im looking them up in your playlist but doesnt see one.

[@lindybeige]

I don't think I have enough material for a helmets-only series, but there will be more.

[@AEB1066]

The reality is that people were constantly opening or removing the visor. At range arrows were arching down so the upward opening visor still shielded the face. Often however the visor was opened or removed to see what was going on, shout orders, show your men that you were still alive, to get air or to drink. Sprinkled throughout battle accounts are mentions of nobles coping arrow wounds to the face when they had their visors open. While moving in armour wasn't that constricting actually fighting was exhausting. Men could not fight for hours at a time so instead you had a series of on-off clashes where men would fight then pull back for a breather. In part that is why formations were dense as it allowed your men to cycle from the front line. The visor was also designed around cavalry charges with lances. Knights were occassionally blinded or killed when splinters from broken lances or spears came through the eye slots so the eye slots were kept as small and as far away from the face as possible.

[@krisnorge5830]

I think the pig-face or hound-skull visors for bascinet helmets were designed more for practical purposes than for looks. They were designed by the French who fought the English a lot so aften ended up walking into the arrow storm so were designed to deflect arrows. Once inside the melee however, the knights would open their visors. The extra visibility and breathability was worth the small lack of facial protection. And realy, fighting in one isn't all that hard. Visibility may be limited but the little you can see, if you have enough fighting experience, allows you to see with your mind what the rest of your opponent is doing. I've found myself with my shield blocking blows that were outside of field of vision simply because I could see the angle of my opponent's shoulder which allowed me to know where exactly his blow is coming from. The ultimate helmets designed more for looks than practical purposes is the usually decorated steel face-mask visors wore by Timurid Tarkhans, the elite personal guards of Tamerlane and his successors

[@FunkMasterBlasts]

A beige pith helmet is your only choice Lloyd. But I have always liked sugarloaf helms.

[@rudyschmidt6799]

I see a metallic crow when I look at it.

[@CK-zx1ny]

The snout actually is very useful because during fight you do intend to breathe. And the Bascinets' snout comes out as very handy because there is a place for air to circulate, so the breathing's comparatively easy. You should consider to use exactly this type of helmet for your full body armour as a helmet, not a beautifully designed hat, hehey.

[@Kopheay]

i like the armour videos, you should do more of them. What else you should do is a video on the military flail, I've had a lot of trouble finding reliable information about their usage.

[@IcEye89]

Not liking the most common types of 15th century knightly helmets might be a good reason not to get full 15th century plate. Get a Brigandine, a nice burgundian Kettle-Hat and bevor and eh presto.

[@dukeofburgundy4229]

Hmm.. a kettle hat and a bevor...interesting combination.

[@lindybeige]

Kettle hat and bevor was a way I was considering going.

[@puppyenemy]

Like in this picture? www.whiterosearmoury.com/webimages/helmets/23_fkh_1.jpg

[@dukeofburgundy4229]

Savage Beatings That looked pretty nice actually.

[@JimbobHarrigan1984]

Lindybeige I've worn a kettle helm on more than one occasion, they are very comfortable with a good amount of padding and you can hear and see clearly

[@Genubath1]

Major characters in film use plot armor as their head protection.

[@bansheemopar]

I am quite a fan of the sallet, and i think it is the most common helmet for a gothic-plate armor. The idea of dividing the helmet into an upper portion with a visor and the lower "Halsberge", a proper plate protection for the throat is very appealing. Because when you lift the visor to be able to see properly, a quite good bit of your face and throat is still well protected.

[@wwm84]

So yeah, watching this video and having watched your trip to the armor shop to see progress on your new suit, I'm curious to see what helm you eventually go with. Style-wise I'm a fan of houndskull/pig-faced bascinets, but armets probably provide the best protection while not being too unweildy. Sallets get style points, but I'm curious as to how effective they were against upward thrusts or protecting the back of the neck, especially if the bevor only covered the front half of the neck.

[@G00t]

can you do a short video about great helms? like the types we often see in crusades-related movies (sugarloaf helmets I think they're called)

[@lindybeige]

One in the pipeline.

[@G00t]

Lindybeige :D

[@TheApocalypticKnight]

He means he's smoking weird things in his pipe and starts seeing those.

[@toryunaminosaki1022]

Apocalyptic Knights that sounds about right ;p

[@animematt99]

Lindybeige I look forward to it!

[@raglanheuser1162]

its like a medieval t-34

[@firefyfe6211]

A great bascinet must therefore be an IS-2.

[@capnfox3280]

I could be wrong but perhaps the people wearing these on the front line weren't expected to be dueling or getting technical but simple be swinging a large weapon like a halberd up and down. So vision wasn't as critical.

[@rainick]

Lol the arrow slit. I love that mess up.

[@ThegnThrand]

Great video :D

[@TheSHPARTACUS]

Can you do a video on bucket helmets?

[@lindybeige]

Yes. Footage already shot.

[@knechtor5648]

Greathelm*

[@screwtape2713]

Well, if you consider that the bascinet's predecessors were the Great Helm (or barrel helm) and the Sugarloaf Helm - with full-face coverage that was rather flat and permanently fixed in place (and which Lindybeige thoroughly dissed in his "Points about Crusader Helms" video...), I can quite see why the bascinet was so popular: 1. With the visor down, the steeply sloped surfaces give better protection against incoming strikes from arrows, spears and lances than the previous helms even though the bascinet averages about 1/2 pound lighter in weight (the better shaping meant the metal could be thinner and it dispensed with the heavy reinforcing bars). 2. The extended snout allowed for much better ventilation than in the earlier helms (much like the venting arrangement in a modern full-face motorcycle helmet in fact), so the wearer is less subject to heat exhaustion and oxygen deprivation. 3. The movable visor allows the wearer to have his head fully protected at all times while travelling instead of relying on spotting an ambush soon enough to be able to grab and don a slung helmet - he wears his bascinet with the visor swung up or sideways and in a sudden ambush only has to slap the visor closed as he spurs into the charge. 4. Again, it is versatile. A wearer can choose to forego the faceplate altogether in favour of permanent maximum visibility in some circumstances if fighting as a foot archer or something similar, or can wear the helmet with the visor on but left open until the second it's needed. Incidentally, while the visor CAN be removed entirely as Lindy demonstrated, on most models it can also be unpinned on one side only and then swung open sideways like a gate - or, of course, raised and lowered as Lindy was also doing in his video. I believe the common usage was NOT to remove and discard the visor when moving into close combat as Lindy suggested, but simply to raise it (or maybe open it sideways). In fact, I understand some bascinets had catches to help lock the visor in an open position. I think this would make more sense than discarding the visor, as simply raising it would be much faster and less "fiddly" than pulling out pins on both sides (and wouldn't risk permanent loss of the visor). Furthermore, with the visor raised instead of discarded, the wearer has completely unobstructed breath, vision and voice while the visor forms a "brim" at least as wide as that on a kettle helmet and thus still provides excellent facial protection against downward falling arrows or even downward blows . In addition, the raised visor provides a secondary armour protection for the top of the head against downward strokes from maces, poleaxes and swords. Alternatively, with the visor swung open, it provides an extra armour reinforcement to that side of the head. Personally, I can entirely understand why men at arms considered the bascinet to be hot stuff for a couple of centuries.

[@greenday9090]

"Does this look terrifying to you? Is this the face of DOOM?" That one killed my sides.

[@NuclearParadox]

S'wrong with Sallets? Talkin' trash about a man's helmet of choice is grounds for war.

[@kiekert2007]

maybe "tacticool" was as much alive then as it is now..

[@raedenjay]

Helmets fascinate me greatly, I'd love for you to review different helmets; pros + cons! Thanks for the video!

[@rock3793]

it looks friendly and harmless so that your enemy will get close instead of running after him in your heavy armor /s

[@MagnaOmerta]

"Does this look like the face of doom"? XD

[@zupergozer]

Why don't you like Barbutes?

[@lindybeige]

I would not be buying the armour because I need to fight for real in a medieval melee. I'd be buying it for looks, and barbutes are ugly, despite being based on good-looking Greek helmets.

[@Taurevanime]

Lindybeige I believe this is basically the issue. You don't have to fight in them and have your life rely on the effectiveness of your armour. So it is quite hard to appreciate their design. It also doesn't help that in mock battles, attacks to the face are generally discouraged. Thankfully we live in an age where we can care more about the look than the practicality.

[@zupergozer]

Lindybeige Ah you could make a Barbute look as fashionable as a fashion show in Milan, add a pony tail to the top, decorations to the plate etc.

[@siouxsettewerks]

Lindybeige I really thought you were going to say that's because most of the time that's what skeletons wear, along with shreds of rusty chainmail, in many old role playing game illustrations!

[@Birdblizzard]

zupergozer Even barbutes aren't ugly enough to deserve being compared to modern fashion.

[@Finkeren]

If you don't like the looks of any of the late medieval/early renaissance helmets, you should propably go with the one that's most comfortable and/or practical in a combat situation. My suggestion would be a sallet with bevor - has better ventilation, a broad eyeslit that's close to the eyes, is lighter and very easy to turn your head around in, has pretty good downward vision through the opening between the visor and the bevor and offers excellent protection. A barbute would also work, though it offers a bit less protection and often has a tendency to restrict head movement (particularly tilting your head)An armet or alternatively close helm is fairly light and allow some head movement, but it is claustrophobic like no other helmet and has the same problem as the visored bascinet that the eyeslits are too far from the eyes.Finally there's the option, which is fairly popular amongst reenactors, to use a large bevor with a regular kettle hat - even along with full armour. It's light, comfortable, hardly impairs hearing or vision at all and offers great protection against most attacks except direct thrusts and cuts at the face (which you have a decent chance of avoiding as you can clearly see them coming.

[@xcyphus]

I have the exact same problem Lindy... I think I might go for a Kapalinhelm though. Good visibility and protection.

[@ElindorBG]

"A massage from the Rat ..."

[@Aurichalcam]

Марио Петров “No need to panic, Ratty. No need to panic. STAY CALM! STAY CALM!!!”

[@thatguybrody4819]

my _glorious_ forces of depuce, will brush you aside! like i would, brush a fly from my arm!

[@TheTrohl]

How can you not like sallets?!!?! Unsubscribed!!!!!

[@GermanSwordMaster]

All the helmets he mentioned (and disliked ^^) are awesome !

[@TheTrohl]

That's why you generally wear a collar with it. But, yeah, the narrow eyeslit is a true bitch.

[@irgentsoeintyp1072]

You could use a coif and youre lower face is well protected.

[@benjaminbreeg6214]

TheTrohl Well, you would probably want to shove that visor right off your face when you start actually fighting. Since you would have a bevor to go along with the sallet your face would be more protected that a visorless bascinet.

[@TheTrohl]

Benjamin Breeg That's right. I've fought wearing a sallet before, and I couldn't open the visor because it got stuck. I didn't see anything and got my ass beaten horribly. But they're just soooo goddamn sexy.

[@XBLArmory]

Would you do a Critique of the other helmets listed at the end? I've always wanted to know more about salets and I'd have to say just from what I can glean from images it seems to be one of the more viable helmets at the time but also potentially for any modern full helmet programs. The components of the salet seem to lend themselves toward maximum operability, the eye slits are closer to the face and in full variations the visor can be raised and pinned for better vision in close combat or quick observation if needed the the biggest problem would be the chin and neck bit don't recall the name causing over heating I assume but I'd like to hear more from someone that has at least held one. Also Star Wars.

[@---jc7pi]

Took you 4 years but now you have your helmet.

[@germanvisitor2]

How easily does the visor go off under battle conditions? PS: I bet British heads are tough enough to take a few heavy blows.

[@lindybeige]

I wouldn't want to have to do it in a hurry in gauntlets, but the tops of the pins are quite big. Annoying would be to pull one pin out, and then be attacked before you could pull out the other, and then you'd have the damn thing flapping all over the shop.

[@chriseash6497]

Lindybeige Without one of those helmets I can only theory-craft this, but, why not just sweep your arm under the "snout" to move the face-peace to the top and possibly over and behind your head? Your video didn't really show me well enough the mechanics of how you lifted the visor up.

[@lughfiregod16]

Chris Eash Some helmets can be pushed behind your head, or have mechanisms to 'lock' the visor into a higher position. I'm not helmet savvy enough to give you names of the styles though.

[@germanvisitor2]

Lindybeige You said bascinets were made to get you through a volley of arrows. So I figured the point when you take your visor off is when you are quite close to the enemy. You would probably have to do it with one hand if you are holding a shield. That sounds extremely dangerous to me. Perhaps not as dangerous as an arrow to the eye, though.

[@lughfiregod16]

germanvisitor2 As far as I know, most soldiers in full plate would be using a strap shield, not a center grip. This would leave their hand pretty much open. They still are probably holding a lance, war hammer or something of the like though.

[@poilboiler]

But what if you painted it to actually look like mickey mouse?

[@lindybeige]

Death by laughter is rare.

[@Tatwinus]

Lindybeige Rare, but not unheard of

[@300warrior300]

Being attacked by a bloodstained micky mouse with a pole axe is fairly nightmarish.

[@elgostine]

Patrick Pienne yeah thats nightmare fuel....

[@PsihoKekec]

Reminds me of mickey mouse style gas masks that georgian riot police uses, really all they missing are the ears on the helmets.

[@jean-francoisemarco1658]

i love the way sallets look. my fav medieval helmet.

[@l0udcheese]

hey that's the Bascinet i have, LOVE that helmet, very well made, good quality steel and has saved my life more than a few times

[@Superabound2]

How much of your face is showing is directly proportional to how important you are to the plot. Unless of course youre Darth Vader

[@ArtificialRipper]

Well you have to consider the Frenchman's enemy...The English Longbowman.

[@KroM234]

ArtificialRipper French ennemy is not the longbowman, it's the weather and the terrain. Most battles that allowed heavy cavarly action or frontal melee engagement during the period ended by an English deroute. Even Falstolf eventually ran like Hell away and was demitted from his knight order.

[@ArtificialRipper]

Manu K. You can argue that sure. But to say that the English were not also France's biggest rival/enemy is just glancing over one of the most important wars in Medieval history.

[@KroM234]

ArtificialRipper Hey of course England was the fiercest ennemy of France back then. I only talked about military engagements involving the traditionnal English army structure (about half of archers) against the traditionnal French one (mostly cavalry). I'm just arguing that the most feared France's ennemy back then wasn't the English archers themselves, but rather the commanders' decisions and simply the fate. Agincourt turned out a victory only because of the weather really, exploited by king Henry, but still the weather. Crecy is about intern rivalries inside the French host, leaders betrayed each others and aborted manoeuvers. And again, the archers themselves only killed the horses. If you check out real historical work about Crecy, you'll find out that what happened tacticaly wasn't exactly what is sold in most of the books, especially the school ones. The second French charge actually slaughtered a fair part of the first English archers line. Meanwhile, the fire from the second line eventually finished to kill their last horses and the French knights ended on foot, but so to speak untouched. They were isolated but fought on foot against the upcoming English armsmen but, being hindered and tired by the plate armours (the weaver was hot, plain summer), most of them ended by just falling in fatigue, then the Englishmen only carried a butcherwork, not with the patriotic longbow, but with knives, dagues and misericordes, nobles or not. So not exactly a victory to set upon the "English longbow". It's far more complicated then that.

[@MrWheelman82]

+ArtificialRipper ehh... that's very specific. yeah the english used alot of longbowmen but they also used (melee) infantry and cavalry. because an army of just longbowmen isn't gonna hold out very long. and keep in mind the 100 years war wasn't just between England and France

[@ArtificialRipper]

MrWheelman82 If you were to go by your logic then I would say The English were not the only enemy of France.

[@iBlagg8]

If the threat of your skull being crushed, pierced or even just badly bruised increases dramatically; I think you'll quickly grow to love any type of armoured helmet.

[@Zzaztur]

My impression from resources I don't have at hand (lol) was that the hound skull/pig face visor was employed during the charge against opposing lances. And the reason for the lack of air holes on the right was to offer the opponent lance less opportunity to find a purchase on the visor. This was true for other helms I have seen, that were no strictly for parade or foot combat as in a tourney.

[@oORoOFLOo]

katana is the best helmet

[@1macca550]

Ha... Arrow slit.

[@Grouuumpf]

I have fought a few times with a bascinet on (even tho mine as a different visor that is better for vision), and yes, vision and hearing are terribly impaired with these, but for duelling in full plate, you don't need hearing much, and your vision is good enough to deal with one dude. The biggest issue I had was that it is really hard to breathe with the visor down (knowing I was wearing a XIVth c style "Visby" armor, the cheapest yet heaviest type of armor availlable with one hell of a thick gambeson)

[@IAssassinII]

Lindy, do you think you could upload a video detailing what we would need and how to construct (I don't mean construct, maybe assemble is the word I'm looking for) our own full set of armor and weaponry?

[@Ungantor]

Dunno how likely you are to respond to a comment on a video a year old, but; You've mentioned on a few of these vids that you can't hear well inside of such helmets, but that has me thinking, what if that is intentional? I mean, during the chaos and noise of battle (either charging on horseback en masse, or stuck in heavily populated melee), is it possible that dampening the outside noise was literally a design feature?

[@fireemblemistrash75]

Some helms had holes or little flab's for the ears, so either it was on purpose or perhaps it was for that reason.

[@1cme1]

this video ruined bascinets for me. can't stop seeing the mouse.

[@johannr2658]

I never saw the lil‘ smile and now I can‘t unsee it.

[@steadmanuhlich6734]

Good informative video, as usual. Keep up the good work!

[@SAsgarters]

I wonder whether anyone bothered to analyze the effectiveness of this design while it was popular, or whether it stayed popular because people simply perceived it, perhaps erroneously, as being very effective.

[@lindybeige]

The power of fashion is great, but if it were merely fashion, I would expect that this design would have fallen out of favour pretty quickly. Lots of bad ideas survive the test of centuries, however, such as much of ancient medicine.

[@HSnake5]

Lindybeige Why yes, I even make the case that even today, people like to wear headweares that they find fancy, whether or not they have real purpose or practicality. I know that footsoldiers probably worried alot about practicality, but I also take into account the superstition of the men in the field too. I wouldn't be surprised if some chose to wear specific armor pieces because they thought it looked cool.

[@SAsgarters]

Lindybeige Well, I didn't mean fashion alone. I have seen plenty of people have complete faith in that their gear is the best there is, regardless of whether they've actually compared it to anything. I've seen the opposite, as well. In the military there were people who would rant about how horrible and useless some piece of equipment was, while people from some other unit with different gear would practically drool over the same object while ranting about horrible and useless _theirs_ was.

[@Kram1032]

Lindybeige when it's pretty much a coinflip whether medicine works or not and you lack the proper tools to figure out the actual cause for an illness (like a microscope or something), it's really hard to dismiss all practices that work about half the time. Psychologically, doing nothing is giving up. If you do something but that is completely ineffective, at least you did something. However, you can't say that about armor. Had it been ineffective in some way, people would have figured out rather quickly. Injuries from swords or arrows ought to be rather obvious for the naked eye for the most part.

[@Snagabott]

Lindybeige You did point out yourself in your video about the katana that spears and arrows were the real killers on the field (well, actually, routing was the *real* killer, but preventing deaths from other sources would also prevent a rout i guess...). Accepting a (temporary, until you had time to ditch the visor) disadvantage in hand-to-hand fighting for a clear advantage against bows and slings might have been quite logical.

[@kaynethetwatbat7058]

How can a man NOT like a sallet?! Only frenchman dislike sallets! (Just kidding dear french friends ;) )

[@Divertedflight]

The sallet pretty much replaced the basinet as the standard helmet around the mid-1400s. I think it might have had the advantage of both functioning better than the basinet (could the snout act as handle for your opponent in a grapple?) and being more adaptable as ready-to-wear over the armet. With the sallet to get the eye slit at the right level one just had adjusted the padding inside the top of the helmet. I doubt one could use that trick with the armet, because, though it's made of many parts, it holds together as one piece. It really needs to be full bespoke.

[@arnijulian6241]

the bascinet might have been common as the space at the front and the sort of spacious dome would make it one size fit all sort of. from my perspective it looks like you don,t need a great deal of close tolerance measurement but I could be wrong. also the mice/mikki visor seems like a good idea to me as it seems practical and why would you want to look intimidating. look comical and placid as it may make you appear less threatening then you actually are. basinet theory they are practical, one size fits and phycological pacifier.

[@Ourboros82]

In fact a pig face bascinet has a surprisingly good field of vision in combat. I have been using them in buhurts and in battle of the nations and they work just fine. the thing is that you have to move your head differently and actively. also you can take a standing position similar to a boxer and then you can see from the eye slits quite well, and still have enough vision to react from blows from below.

[@JaffarAchmed108]

Depends on what period you want to go for. A kettle hat (maybe one with a nasal for early 15th century) combined with a bevor go rather well. They allow for good ventilation, very good vision and a fair amount of protection in melee combat. For reenactment purposes and tap fights they work like a charm. No buhurts, HMB or profights though. For those a closed helm is a must if you value your basic cognitive functions.

[@martinwillumsen2574]

regarding the field of vision while wearing a bascinet, I've found that it depends alot of the exact model you're wearing. I tried on a pigsnout with considerably more breaths (I belive is the right word for the breathholes(?)), it also had "breaths" just beneath the eyeslids, which all in all granted a surprising good view.I should propably add, that I haven't fought wearing one either, but I felt that I would be comfortalbe fighting with that exact helmet I tried on.

[@RolfHartmann]

The examples with the breaths missing on the left were probably for jousting since a stroke of a sword or mace will have no chance of getting through, but splinters from a lance shattering could be deadly.

[@LG-iy5mw]

This is actually one of my favorite kinds of medieval helmets, and one of the safest, in my opinion (especially when it comes to face blows).

[@animesamurai3081]

I love medieval, so thanks for the content!!!

[@tkdfighter8]

Can you do something about the kettle hat? It doesnt interfere your visoin as much, but what is about the protection? I want to hear your opinion!

[@Fabiomarrabio]

A pan on the head is obviously the best choice. It's still the best backup weapon as well.

[@LukasVos]

I have exact the same version of the bascinet and fought multiple times with reenactors of vikings (ok, I know, extreme cross-over... but, hey, it was a lot of fun) and the vision is not as bad as you probably think. The vikings wore nasal helmets and were suprised, how effective I was able to fight. First they made fun about my helmet and the vision I had, but my worst score was a tie (we fought with codex belli). It takes some time and you need to train, but you'll get a very good feeling/intuition. In the end of the training day one viking tried my bascinet and was extremly suprised, how I could fight so well... so... try, it's not as bad as you think ;)

[@StrategyJoe]

4:07 Seems like you were right on getting a real set of plates! What helmets model did you chose finally?

[@KorKhan89]

How do you feel about great helms? I've heard that they had quite a long period of overlap with bascinets, although they'd have mostly become obsolete by the time full plate armour became common (with the exception of jousting). Then again, great helms have many of the same disadvantages as bascinets, without the possibility of removing the visor. They look pretty cool, though.

[@GorinRedspear]

i myself have fought for about 6 years now in a barbute. great sight and breathing (being the one in command having a good overview of my company is a must), but i understand if you don't like it. if a barbute, sallet and armet are out, what about a secret?

[@leod-sigefast]

Cool helmet. I want one. I remember seeing them drawn in the Discovery history packs in the 80s (battle of Agincourt, I think). How do you get hold of a Bascinet?

[@Wilmar112]

correct me if i'm wrong please ! if these knights would siege a town or whatever, they keep the pig-faces on, when they have the walls and need to go in close combat they remove them. even in battles they start out with the pig faces on to avoid arrows and rocks in their faces and when they get close remove the pig-faces for better view. this is just my thoughts about it!

[@CityofLight11]

I used to own a great bascinet, which in my opinion looks much nicer than the other kinds of visor. For your future helm, why not one of the late kettle hats that had a brim angled down over the face and thus needed eye holes in them? I always found those quite amusing...

[@xXBisquitsXx]

Maybe the beak like design was scary because it looks like what the doctors curing the Black Death would have wore and if you saw that in your village then you had reason to be scared. It could have been a image that most people link to mass death. But then again as pointed out it is very well shaped to deflect arrows too so maybe it's just a because of that.