Helmets for the Common Soldier (+ 4 Demo Videos)

A look at some speculative helmets used by the non-knightly, common soldier.
Links to the Helmet Demos:
Main Video - • Helmets for the Common...
Simple Bascinet - • Simple Bascinet (1 of ...
Shingled Helmet - • Shingle Helmet (2 of 4...
Turtle Helmet - • Turtle Shell Helmet (3...
Faceplate Helmet - • Faceplate Helmet (4 of...
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Web - knyghterrant.com

[@TomBombadilTheEldest]

Ironic isn't it? That what should, by all rights, be the more common styles of helmet we find are only seen in manuscripts. Their commonality is why they weren't preserved and so now they're the most rare.

[@hschan5976]

Same thing with cars. There are lots of 70s Firebirds and Javelins circulating on the car market today, but the poor man's cars from that era like the Gremlin, Falcon, Yaris etc are much rarer on the market today. Not to mention the real commoners cars from that era like the Plymouth Fury and Dodge Monaco sedans which were used all over the place in taxi fleets and police cruisers. Most of these were abused to the limit and then quickly retired to the junkyard.

[@hschan5976]

Oops did i say Yaris, I meant Corolla but whatever

[@thiagodunadan]

I'm actually more interested in common soldiers' kits than high-end knights' kits.

[@CarnalKid]

Me too. It is harder to find information on "normal" gear, so I appreciate it more.

[@MitchytooSlick]

William Sambo they were peasants...not common soldiers

[@swedishdiktator]

Same here.

[@TheThingInMySink]

I think it's not just a much more interesting topic but the gear also looks cooler in my opinion, idk why, something about the ruggedness and the fact that it's more comparable to ''modern'' infantrymen's gear.

[@JETWTF]

Me too, it's always all about the knights armor... what about the poor sods who have to patrol the castle walls regardless of the weather while the knights are in the great hall feasting. This series is more what helmet(armor too) would peasant conscripts have... whatever they can get their hands on or make themselves if they couldn't get their hands on any. The common soldier would have the same kit as his fellow soldier bought from the armory... If they couldn't afford the kit when they started it came out of their meager wages... Lets see some of that kit.

[@99IronDuke]

Interesting to see something about the kit of the common soldier for a change.

[@CyrusOfNaias]

Dude you need to promote yourself and Patreon more... this is fascinating stuff and more people need to see your videos. History must be preserved and the people who take the time to offer content like this, *for free* , deserve support from the arts and educational communities.

[@KnyghtErrant]

Thank you very much. I always feel weird about self-promotion. It's something I should get over I suppose :) Please do share the channel with people you think might be interested though!

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

Wow - great job, dude. You gave a graduate school level interpretation of those images. My medieval historian colleagues would be proud! Well done. Thank you for doing this.

[@KnyghtErrant]

Thank you!

[@intergalacticimperialist9670]

You know you're poor when your helmet is made of rope lol

[@TheThingInMySink]

Not as poor as you are when they just give you a sharpened stick and point to the general direction of the enemy.

[@intergalacticimperialist9670]

MyNameIsMud I've seen a few sticks in my time, damn fine weapon. Unless they're in armor....

[@TheThingInMySink]

Well honestly a quarterstaff in trained hands is nothing to fuck with, I wouldn't go against one without a pistol unless I was wearing full maximilian plate, and even then I'd probably get knocked out.

[@duchessskye4072]

You're overreacting. A wooden stick can't go a thing against plate. No matter how hard you hit it simply has not got the mass to transfer enough blunt force

[@Eeranisus]

@@duchessskye4072 Tried it, unless your helmet is riveted on your breastplate it'll knock you off

[@atropiaveteran]

You hit on one of the most important factors when considering what was left behind by history, the reason WHY it was left behind. Let's be real, as a people the truly every day stuff we use until it falls apart. This includes clothes, daily cooking goods etc. If something survives for perpetuity then there is a story as to why. This misconception is why we think things like that everyone was so much shorter back then etc. Obviously this comment is a broad generalization, but I wanted to quickly illustrate the point. Thanks for your great videos, keep them coming!!

[@emirhamam527]

I don't know why, but I always find that info about the common soldier, the non-knight, the levy or whatever, is an amazing aspect of ancient and medieval warfare. It's an entirely different aspect of past time violence. Great video Errant, I believe lots of people would love to see more of the subject!

[@بێزۆرگتێربۊرگێر]

I love this I hope we get to see more commoners' stuff in the future :)

[@Draythur]

absolutely one of your most illuminating videos, since we practically cannot visualize a medieval battlefield properly in any particular timeframe without considering this side of the story. Thank you and well done!

[@VebbGames]

Sweet you should do ( a / some ) videos on what a commoner soldier / militiaman's kit would look like.

[@MattsGreatHall]

The trouble is where to source quality pieces to make a good kit. Some of the best armorers, like Robert MacPherson and William Hurt (who used to run an excellent website called Age of Armour) are no longer smithing. Anything that's not custom made generally has oversized eye slits, unusual and incorrectly shaped pieces, or other issues with historical accuracy. It's very frustrating. I don't know if you make it a policy not to recommend certain smiths, but it would be really beneficial if you mentioned a few in a video. As always, your videos are both entertaining and filled with great info. Thanks, Ian.

[@KnyghtErrant]

Thank you! I do always try to mention the smiths that are responsible for the pieces I showcase, unfortunately in this particular case these pieces are so old, no one in my living history club seemed to remember their origin :) I've shied away from just listing companies or smiths I recommend because I'm always fearful of leaving out talented individuals that I may not even be aware of. Oh, I don't know if you've seen Mac's most recent work, but he's kind of come out of semi-retirement to finish a commission he had started before his injury if you'd like to take a look (forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=169445)

[@MattsGreatHall]

Interesting to know that he's back to work. Great thread and site as well. Thanks!

[@Seth9809]

This is groundbreaking stuff, like the others I think more of this stuff is needed. Followed by lots of mods for the various games from Total War to Skyrim.

[@mattbrown5511]

Very refreshing to the common man's equipment being exhibited and demonstrated.

[@DeFactoLeader]

What I find interesting about the paintings that are depicting the peasant's rebellion is that the faces typically go against the neo-Platonic view of never having Medieval iconography show much emotion, and has both the nobles and the lower classes displaying quite obvious emotion respective of whether they're giving or receiving attack. I wonder if this is because the artist wanted to make the peasants seem extra brutal and unjustified in their attack on the nobility? Incidentally, it's interesting to me that more peasants appear to be wearing bascinets than kettle helms. Maybe by the later part of the 1300's bascinets were really just becoming that common.

[@plaidpvcpipe3792]

I think that the artist could've just been a good artist who knew to show emotion.

[@nutyyyy]

Or it could have been the other way around.

[@Drekavacmilitaria]

Man we gotta get this guy to 100k

[@buineto]

Context yaaay! Matt Easton approves this video.

[@AlkaponX57]

dude that rope helmet guy, i have a really hard time believing that that isn't just just and arming cap i mean he has plates on the rest of his kit you'd think a proper helmet would be step one.

[@BlaBla-pf8mf]

Maybe the rope is extra padding on top of a steel helmet.

[@VDV90SHakal]

Interestingly enough to my understanding, papier-mâché helmets were a thing. (apparently starting in China?) I've heard they were in popular use in Russia in the 16th century.. who knows where/when else they would've turned up. Maybe even glued fabric? With the ubiquitous use of digital cameras in combat zones, we see that people will make just about anything when it comes to improvised weapons/protection

[@allangibson2408]

Paper armor was a thing in China. Myth busters tried it out and it was reasonably resistant to arrows.

[@quegames4786]

Been waiting for a video like this, thanks

[@WizardOfAtlantis]

Excellent videos, man. I hope all is well with you and you start making videos again.

[@paulkline1574]

I find your videos incredibly intelligent and thought provoking. In the future, can you make sure to add captions for those of us who are hearing impaired?

[@plaidpvcpipe3792]

6:49 There is one of the Maccabees fighting the Roman Empire, but they all wear maille hauberks and kettle hats etc...

[@XtremePh33rz]

Were feudal levies issued weapons and armor, or were they required to provide their own equipment and would it be of quality? 1360s time frame.

[@hjorturerlend]

Levies would generally provide their own equpment, though I think I have heard of lords/kings stockpiling crossbows, bolts/arrows and possibly polearms and shields. A gambeson can be made by your wife, helmets are relatively cheap as are second hand swords - now all you need is a spear and shield, and you are ready for battle :) In the 14th and 15th centurie,s there was a move towards smaller semi-professional armies of paid volunteer soldiers..

[@anErnazure]

for quite a while in England there were laws about what military equipment people of different standings were required to have. So someone with this much land/money had to have these a helmet, maille shirt, ect. Don't know about else where.

[@Calaeth]

Taken from Osprey`s "English Longbowman 1330-1515", who themselves take the information from several household account books: "Arms, armour, equipment and livery were supplied to the household man and the retainer by his employer. This supplemented, or replaced, whatever he might personally possess."..."Household men, of course, would have been in permanent possession of their equipment and livery." "The levy were supplied with arms, armour, equipment and livery at their county's or city's expense. The equipment provided for archers consisted of bows, one sheaf of arrows per man and 'competent arms' which usually meant swords and knives."

[@XtremePh33rz]

Bernhard Hager So a lord's household guard and other retainers were issued weapons, even though they had their own? And levies were issue arms through an Earl?

[@Calaeth]

Seemingly so. Household guardsmen were professional soldiers, so most likely have been on campaign before - loot included. So they would most likely have a personal sword, favourite dagger, or more than one longbow. They would usually have more and better equipment than levies and so would stand out on the battlefield as well; the levies were just ordinary folks and poor sods, and they were usually lucky when they were equipped with body armour and/or a helmet. That's what you see in this video, not high quality, but cheap and practical armour for the common rabble.

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

Many thanks for the video. I hope this subject (arms and armour of the common folk) gets more coverage (examples permitting).

[@fraterlulz8961]

One of my kindred, Florent de Varennes died on crusade with Louis IX....they both died of illness.

[@Dhomazhir]

Ever wonder if manuscript makers had the accuracy of movies and TV when it came to their depiction of arms & armor?

[@KnyghtErrant]

I wouldn't give modern TV and Movie producers that much credit... ;)

[@ZarlanTheGreen]

It'd have been nice, if they had more photos, rather than just stylized illustrations. ...and speaking of which, it would have been nice, if the fighting manuals had had accompanying DVDs, showing the techniques. I can't imagine why they didn't bother to do that ;)

[@PerfectTangent]

Do you think that the "hooped" helmet design may have been a depiction of a simple coif? Or maybe a type of chain coif constructed differently than was standard? That is, instead of a circular coif radiating out from a central point it may have been a strip of chain that was wrapped and then attached to itself (via riveting or butting) to create the coif?

[@KnyghtErrant]

They typically don't depart from the way they've drawn mail in one part of an image to another. Even if it was a different type of mail, I would expect to see some indication of rings like they've done on the other mail items in the image.

[@PerfectTangent]

I thought that as well. I'm just trying to wrack my brain as to what they could have been trying to depict.

[@Grymbaldknight]

Tbh, a rope helmet (or helmet made of a similarly thick material) would make for fairly good protection. It wouldn't last indefinitely like steel armour might, and wouldn't afford equal protection, but have you ever tried to cut through rope? It's not easy. It would also cushion blows quite substantially, i daresay.

[@hedgetwentyfour2708]

I was thinking that the "scale" helmet, might actually a helmet that a blacksmith bashed together in a big hurry, perhaps they aren't individual scales, but rather an indication of poorly made equipment. This could be to reflect reality, it could be mocking, it could be false, it's completely anecdotal of me, but I'm thinking it's possible

[@kristofantal8801]

It's important to have some level of skepticism when looking at old sources, and obsessiveness is important, but don't overdo it ... Flexibility is at least as important as skepticism! Humans have always been humans. .. For example the scale helmet must have existed. We have evidence from many other sources. Here is eg. one from the 1520s which was painted by Hans Krell (German Renaissance painter). The picture shows the Battle of Orša, which took place in 1514 between the Polish-Lithuanian Union and the forces of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. It is clear that in the Polish-Lithuanian center several soldiers wear this type of helmet. The battle ended with a Polish-Lithuanian victory.

[@Eidridin]

Hey Ian, can you make more videos like these? This is absolutely fantastic for a 3D modeller like me! It's nice to see somebody else's speculation on manuscript and frescoes armour.

[@morpheusahrms]

VERY nice work, thank you for this, extremely interesting.

[@TheDragorin]

thought i had; almost all these helmets dont have face protection. face protection means sacrificing vision. possibly in a large well trained army, the training and trust you have in your fellow soldier was enough to make up for the lack of vision, but in poor militias where they are not well trained, perhaps the visibility from not having face protection was worth it since you are more alone in a fight.

[@Cory_Dora]

Thanks for doing this one! This is a much more relatable reality of war for most of us. (Just like I prefer to see the homes of peasants than castles, or slave quarters than plantations, or trenches than generals)

[@pointynoodle]

Thanks for this! The flashier stuff often gets too much attention.

[@bizzdot123]

really cool configuration of videos

[@Nighti88]

Nice. That is a very interesting topic. The lower classes are much more interesting than the shiny knight. I hope there is more. How are you related to the production of the helmets? What do you know about the decisions that have been made and why they have been made? The Rope Helmet at 3:07 might be just for padding. The rest of the armor is metal and the head should have the best protection. so i would guess, he just put it off.

[@KnyghtErrant]

The helmets are borrowed from my living history group (same owner as the Great Helm and Great Bascinet and Armet I showed previously). They predate my membership to the group by quite a while, so I can't speak to the design decisions in the modern reproductions.

[@anErnazure]

This is getting away from armor a bit, but I'm curious about the social strata of the time. Some how the three estates always seemed a bit simplistic to me. I know you did a video on what it is to be among the medieval elite, but would you consider doing one dealing with the next couple layers below that? This of course may be bit to expansive of a topic.

[@klyanadkmorr]

Armor for Redshirts

[@SingDing10]

Armor for Plebeians

[@benm5913]

I too would like to see more videos about armors of commoners.

[@yigarok]

It’s interesting that on the jewpon probably spelled it wrong they cut a hole for the sword because they didn’t want to change the Silhouette but still wanted to have access to the sword

[@m.s.79]

There is one extant jupon of that style, the Jupon of Charles VI, and it does feature one of those "sword hole" if i remember correctly.

[@celtictemplar]

What about common soldier armor, like the chest, legs and other?

[@williambilson1555]

The artist may have drawn unusual armor designs in order to emphasize the rag-tag appearance of the peasants, even possibly to the point of drawing things that no one actually wore.

[@KnyghtErrant]

It's definitely possible the objects never existed, but similar helmets (especially caps of scale and other weird takes on helmets) show up in lots of sources over different time periods and cultures.

[@kristofantal8801]

It's important to have some level of skepticism when looking at old sources, and obsessiveness is important, but don't overdo it ... Flexibility is at least as important as skepticism! Humans have always been humans. .. For example the scale helmet must have existed. We have evidence from many other sources. Here is eg. one from the 1520s which was painted by Hans Krell (German Renaissance painter). The picture shows the Battle of Orša, which took place in 1514 between the Polish-Lithuanian Union and the forces of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. It is clear that in the Polish-Lithuanian center several soldiers wear this type of helmet. The battle ended with a Polish-Lithuanian victory.

[@nutyyyy]

Sure. But at the same time you have to wonder where the inspiration for it came from. It seems odd to completely invent helmets that are entirely feasible in design and fit in the context of the period. If they never existed.

[@FlubbersQuid]

I'm wondering about one specific thing here. Namely, do you have any distinct knowledge of what could be translated to "mailhats"? Practically these are round hats made of hard leather with mail attached to them. I have seen a few examples of these. From a commoners view having one piece of gear like this could be practical and easy to acquire or even make yourself if you just bought the materials.

[@bensmith1681]

Excellent Video

[@lakewooded]

Which of the four would be your choice? I assume that an ordinary soldier could occasionally have the opportunity to pick up something better after a battle.

[@neutralfellow9736]

Ordinary soldiers could get even the best of gears in various ways, even by payment. For instance, Usama ibn Munqidh describes an ordinary crusader sergeant being completely encased in armor and wearing double linked(very expensive) mail.

[@sammyjones6730]

I'm guessing the guy on the far left in red at 7:06 wore the ol' rope helmet too.

[@daviddienstbier8021]

Great video! I'd love to hear how you feel about the armor in Excalibur.

[@Sir_knight_trooper]

Could you do more video like this?

[@hanssmirnov9946]

So... many... helmets. Hadn't thought odd scale (or even shingled) helmets would be so much easier/cheaper to design by that point.

[@NH-xg1cp]

3:06 It’s effective, because if you do attack this ‘helmet’, Loyd from Lindybeige will scream at you for cutting the rope.

[@beegum1]

This is amazing!

[@beegum1]

(The guy you ignored when you made the find when he said, "hey, look at these pictures." Later comes back to you with a report!)

[@Petr75661]

Now all we need is a Tardis to go confirm your designs :-)

[@RafaelCosta-oi3be]

You to really know a lot about helmets

[@rchave]

Really nice to see, great video :) Question about the finish, I see they haven't had any fine planishing, but is that the finish direct from forging? There's a few marks but not nearly what I'd expect. I understand there's less forge work to do these days being able to buy nice clean sheet metal... but i'm a little curious that cheap bits don't always look a dirty black/blue in MS images (only sometimes!)

[@Catsincages]

Thank-you for another fascinating and well though out video Ian I find your channel such a rich source of information and inspiration for my various medieval fantasy artwork doodles. Not sure about how you use the term 'commoner' though, weren't many knights also commoners too? (Yes :P)

[@KnyghtErrant]

Hi, and thank you very much! In Late Medieval Society, knights were a very wealthy subset of the upper class, they were not commoners. Actual knights only made up a very small proportion of even the upper class men-at-arms.

[@ducomaritiem7160]

So? where are those vids about the helmets? I really like to see you talk about the composite plate kettle. I like to make one, the last helmet I did was a cooy of the Brocas joust helmet, back in 2008. I got severely sick (tick-bite) and never took up armouring after that. Now working on a Viking helmet, and seriously concerning making a series of low-end armour...

[@KnyghtErrant]

All the links are in the video description. Low end armour can be every bit as fun as the fancy stuff!

[@ducomaritiem7160]

Yep. Besides, making that 3-plate Brocas drove me nearly insane. Working on low end stuff is just fun.

[@seba6078]

just imagine modern manuscripts that depict medieval armies with rifles that'd be pretty wacky

[@legion_sqd]

thanks for the video!

[@SonsOfLorgar]

How likely do you think it was for a lord to commission a fair ammount of these simpler helmets with basic adjustable liners, cloth armour and shields for the men he expect to draft from the people working his lands in times of need? (Expecting them to bring their own spear or equivalent weapon)

[@Taeerom]

Matt Easton (Scholagladiatora) has a great video with Tobias Capwell where they talk about the gear from Agincourt. There, they touch upon a simple helmet meant for regular soldiers, maybe even paid for by the king, that were more or less mass produced. Go check it out to see what Tobias have to say about it.

[@capatinswifty]

Who made the helmets ?The armour smith did a fantastic job.

[@thinkitmayrain]

These videos were SO INTERESTING. Who put the speculative helmets together? If it's not too far outside your area of study, it would be really interesting to hear your speculations on how armor elements like these came to be -- and "third estate" weaponry, for that matter. Are they homemade? ... commision? Did peasants have cash to spend on steel tools? Were there high-end forges and cheap forges, or would these have been the projects, maybe, of the underlings of a more sought-after head smith? And did these things differ from place to place, e.g. between England and Paris? ... just a quick question about a small, manageable topic. >_>

[@KnyghtErrant]

They were built a while ago for my living history group (La Belle Compagnie) but I'm not sure who actually made them. They predate my joining the group, but I will try to find out. I definitely want to explore more 'Third Estate' topics in the future.

[@matthewmillar3804]

Hey Ian, some questions: - Did you borrow these helmets? It seems convenient that you could have bought the exact right ones for this video. Were they custom? - The last two demo vids show two lines of rivets but the illustration only shows one. Would they just not have drawn two lines of rivets, or was that an intentional diversion of the reproductions? - Could the single row of rivets be just reinforcement of a single piece helmet of poor quality? - Does your beard get tangled in mail? (Epic beard btw.)

[@KnyghtErrant]

The helmets are borrowed from my living history group (La Belle Compagnie). Their ownership of the helmets predates my membership, so I'm not entirely sure who made them or when. I'm not sure if the two rows of rivets was intentional for the construction they decided to go with or not, but yes the images only show one. It's possible that instead of a split construction, the bands in the images are just reinforcement which would only require one row of rivets (like on this helmet: www.pinterest.com/pin/449515606539628394/). Yes, my beard gets snagged by unlined mail, one of the many reasons I'm a big proponent of aventail liners.

[@matthewmillar3804]

I appreciate the reply. Thanks for the videos, you do a good job of them.

[@etmundtaramber5617]

You could rewiew some movie fights or weapon designs in movies, lots of people like watching these things

[@KnyghtErrant]

I've always felt funny about doing those types of videos. Other people already do plenty of them, but maybe I'll consider it. I do want to talk about the Witcher, but I've always worried that people will think it's a bit of a 'sell out' move to go down that road.

[@quegames4786]

Could you do more on the lower classes?

[@rchave]

Probably tricky, as he is into extensive research from primary sources, and lower classes don't have very good sources.

[@Rodyen1404]

May I know the name of the painting with the rope helmet? I find HIGHLY interesting that the painter went for the reflection of the rope helmet guy on the next guy's armour. That's so new for the era!. I really want to know more about the painting...

[@KnyghtErrant]

It's a detail from _The Arrest of Christ_ c.1450 by an unnamed artist. It features a lot of older or ill-fitting armors on the intentionally _ugly_ tormentors or Christ. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Master_of_the_Karlsruhe_Passion_-_Arrest_of_Christ.jpeg

[@marcelosilveira2276]

could the "rope helmet" actually be the head's equivalent of a gamberson, so when using heavier helmet it absorbs impact? like knights would wear gamberson under plate armor, maybe they also had some "head gamberson" under their helmets, that was draw like that "rope helmet"

[@KnyghtErrant]

There are some survivals of these rope helmets, and they are indeed made from fiber rope, not quilted textile. They certainly could have been intended for wear under a helmet, but there's unfortunately no way to know for sure. Modernly though, people tend to use very exaggerated padding under armor. Padding for armor historically was shown to be pretty thin and light unless it was specifically stand-alone textile armor as a primary defense.

[@marcelosilveira2276]

Knyght Errant makes sense

[@KnyghtErrant]

www.pinterest.com/pin/7881368075554349/

[@therealblueninja]

I'm curious as to your opinion on the rondel-like things depicted on helmets in a lot of 15th-century manuscripts. At first, I always just sort of accepted them, but there don't seem to be any surviving examples (that I've seen). The more I study the manuscript images, the more I support the idea that they are simply an exaggerated depiction of a visor hinge, rather than an actual piece of armor on the helmet. What is your opinion on that?

[@mitutoyo34]

have you ever worn full armor while riding a horse? I always wonder how it would that feel

[@KnyghtErrant]

I have been on horseback in armor, but I really only got to just sit there for a bit. I was lucky enough to have a friend of mine who jousts professionally allow me to get up on one of his horses at an event we were both at.

[@fraterlulz8961]

Rope helmets only prove how versatile rope really is...in early 20th century people used rope to fix flat tires by winding it around the hubcaps...it would possible take blunt force impact energy better than more rigid materials. So it may be somewhat effective against impact from some weapons.

[@lukesmith3546]

The turtle helmet looks exactly like the mk3/4 British ww2 helmet. Just more turtleer lol

[@lukesmith3546]

Sorry shingles helmet. I just assumed as it looks like the mk3/4 which was nicknamed "turtle helmet"

[@PunkHippie1971]

3:00 The illustration of men at arms slaying women and unarmed men. I’d be interested to know the story behind it.

[@KnyghtErrant]

Besançon BM MS.677 Fleurs des Chroniques f098r - the image depicts a peasant uprising in Beauvaisis. They're slaughtering the nobles.

[@BoopSnoot]

Suggestion: Use a volume normalizer for your videos. Last video I watched was much quieter than this one, so I had to turn my volume down.

[@KnyghtErrant]

On these older videos I was still learning, but the newer ones should all be consistent.

[@seba6078]

I really don't get how a commoner who has a little bit more money would pick something like a bascinet without visor instead of a kettle helmet

[@matthewdaniel6158]

any chance you can make a video about the actual kit

[@CarlosSilveira63]

I have an interest abouh the chapeau de fer would You make a video about would'nt ? Thanks.

[@KnyghtErrant]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ioe1eYyjeZaNipI&t

[@KGBholland]

It wasn't formative, but you could have suppressed half that information to short note to shorten it. This isn't meant to be negative just a comment for your next video.

[@KnyghtErrant]

Short videos aren't something I do too well, but I'm working on it. I believe that the background knowledge and context is just as vital to the actual topic of study. I see too many other historical KZbin channels omit the requisite background or rip things completely out of context which risks oversimplification if not outright misinformation. I really want to avoid that, so I find it difficult to cut out a lot of what I consider important to the overall understanding. I will try to improve in the future, I just want you to understand why my videos are so long.

[@RocketHarry865]

what about kits from the 15th century

[@Drakwdeanrer]

What happened to your beard? Were you eating cereal with milk the morning you filmed this video? :D

[@KnyghtErrant]

That would be gray hair... I'll have to speak to the hair and makeup department.

[@scouttroop291]

2of 4 look lot like the Asian war helms of the time soom thim could been brot back form the silk trade ?

[@KevlarrTheBarbarian]

In the peasants looting picture, the guy on the right only has one gauntlet, whats the story behind it? Did he take one off after the looting, steal one, or only had protection for one hand?

[@samh1022]

Kevlarr The Barbarian possible, could be a mistake or maybe he was left handed and only armored his sword hand.

[@weaponizedemoticon1131]

Maybe he drank too much, and dropped the other one. Or threw it at someone.

[@reedolfkekler7860]

maybe he was looting the field and found a corpse with only one arm

[@Taeerom]

If i am doing light sparing with sword and buckler, I frequently only have a climbing glove on my left hand while a proper gauntlet on my right. The only protection I really need on my left hand is against blisters, and in a life or death situation you don't care about even that.

[@cultofmalgus1310]

Isn't one of them a Sallet helm in the pic of the peasants revolt pic?

[@MarshallBanananana]

Thank you for the great video. In the last picture (11th minute) the guy standing in the doorway is dressed in a very peculiar manner. Any particular reason for that? Is it because he's just some drunk peasant?

[@KnyghtErrant]

Are you referring to the colors being split down the middle of his gown and hose? This style is usually referred to as 'mi-parti' or 'parti-colored,' and was a relatively normal fashion for the time.

[@MarshallBanananana]

Thank you very much for the answer. It's fascinating, even the footwear is different.

[@marcellabutay1090]

Do the Adrian.

[@fallencrusader2975]

Did common soilders ever scavenged the battlefield after a fight in search for better armor that might fit them? Or was it considered a disgrace and a punishable war crime?

[@thezokman]

Hey errent I have a ton of 16 gauge mild steel sheets laying about each being 5x4ft in size. would it be ok to make a basic Wisby coat of plates out of them or do you think I should plasma torch them and quench to harden?

[@KnyghtErrant]

You can't quench harden mild steel. To heat treat steel it would require a carbon content greater than about 0.3%C which is a medium carbon steel. 16 gauge is going to put your plates on the heavy side for a CoP but it's certainly do-able for a Visby style armor. There are several different CoP patterns to choose from out there based on the Visby finds.

[@thezokman]

Knyght Errant alright, I have enough mild steel sheets to make a few suits of armor so I best get to work thanks for your answer

[@BongSao1979]

whould love to see this stuff tested with real weapons in hd slo mo.

[@WarlordFlanker]

@3:05 Green helmet, is that a THATCH helmet???

[@KnyghtErrant]

www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/27140?sortBy=Relevance&ft=Cerveliere&offset=0&rpp=100&pos=1

[@The_Gallowglass]

I mean to a poor person some metal banded together to protect the head in a roughly helmet shape would be better than nothing at all. It's not that hard to take some small plates, punch holes and rivet. Much harder and more time consuming to make a quality helmet from one piece of steel or even to forge weld two pieces properly.

[@naumsei6221]

no lord on foot?

[@kristofantal8801]

But there were nobles on foot. :) Dismounted men-at-arms/knights as they called.

[@davidlowe1256]

I’m confused. Wouldn’t common soldiers be supplied equipment by the army? Why would they need to afford it?

[@KnyghtErrant]

That depends on a lot of factors. The short answer is 'sometimes.' Exactly when and where are we talking about? Are they associated with a town militia? Part of a peasant's revolt? Levied troops? What are the local ordinances? Are they in direct military service to a wealthy lord? Sometimes men may have some equipment provided for them, other times they would be expected to maintain a certain minimum level of equipment if they want to get paid at a certain rate. It changes dramatically depending on exactly when and where you're talking about.

[@davidlowe1256]

Knyght Errant I’m talking about troops in a direct military service. Like an organized military force.

[@Taeerom]

In Norway (the area I know the most about) the organised armed forces from late Viking and up until early modern period, it was required to have a certain level of equipment based on your position. Especially during Danish rule, the required armament for the population came as a way of dealing with the kings inability to properly collect taxes. It is easy to tell every farmer to keep a sword, axe, halberd and gun and to dedicate some time after church on sundays to drilling with them. Much easier than to send a taxman and hope he won't get killed. The notion of training with your local community to defend your people from the horrors of war was something the locals wanted to do. The Danish king Christian 4th even sourced the regulation sword every farmer had to buy and show to an official once a year. I know there are similar laws in other places as well. In Scotland the law defines a set of arms a farmer need to have and be proficient with (bow or crossbow and a knife, IIRC), and an alternative set if he can't shoot. Either as an axeman (probably a polearm, like a halberd or bill) or pavisier (some sort of shieldwearing dude). Yet other places and times, soldiers got their equipment from their lord. The Emperor frequently made huge orders of munition grade stuff to outfit a new army. An Englishnobleman had to supply his king with a set amount of soldiers and had to make sure that they were properly armed, whether that meant buying merceneries with already the right equipment or buying gear to equip his levy.

[@davidlowe1256]

Taeerom Cool, cool. But when the Roman Empire was in it’s height, it’s military had standardized military equipment that every legionary had. Each piece was made the same way and each soldier was required to have it. Did that happen with any other military within about a millennium after the Roman Empire, or were they just super duper ahead of their time in that regard?

[@GameNubQuin]

Was an artist depicting historical events in the modern kit generally a mistake or an artistic choice?

[@Theo1505]

I think it could be both. Most illuminations were being done by monks, many of whom weren't that literate to begin with. I know it was common in Renaissance art to depict Biblical figures wearing contemporary armor. Donatello's "Black David" is a famous example. Recent Shakespeare interpretations used modern clothes and military uniforms instead of the usual period costumes to make it more accessable to the modern audience. Most people don't even know what a chain of office was/is but when a guy shows up dressed as a 3 star general you know he's important. If they wanted the people reading or viewing the art to easily understand it they'd probably just use contemporary armor. If the patron paying for it wanted accuracy they'd try to make it more historical I guess. Not sure what historical resources they'd have access to though.

[@GameNubQuin]

El Grande Dave I imagine producing accurate depictions of the past would have been extremely difficult for artists, seeing as how much work we have to do modern day to delve to certain periods of time.

[@arabaey]

A lot has to do with visual clarity, as an artistic choice. If you want people to recognize depicted figures as "a soldier" or "a commoner" etc, it's easiest to draw on what the viewer knows from everyday life. Specific biblical characters, however, were usually given "biblical" garments, in the form of bulky robes with lots of fabric. It denotes them as specific people from a distant past, as opposed to a nameless extra. As a side note, when depicting historical events they did sometimes put in some archaic elements that a contemporary would recognize, but we nowadays might miss. I forgot where, but I remember an example of late 15th century artwork showing older bascinets to make a point that it happened in the past, even though they combined it with contemporary armor to show "this is a soldier, guys".

[@dextrodemon]

generally on purpose i would think. the point of the illustration is to illustrate, if you had all kinds of weird old armors people of your time wouldn't be able to tell who was supposed to be whom. largely you have to lower your expectation of literacy and then think about how an image can clearly convey information. rather than it just being a sort of secondary visual aide as they are to us. you can probably almost plot literacy rates against historical rather than iconic illustrations over time.

[@KnyghtErrant]

It's an artistic choice and a way to relate things to the people who would be viewing the manuscript. They're immediately recognizable as what the artist is trying to represent. Monks weren't that 'illiterate,' they were probably one of the most educated subsets of people in the MIddle Ages.

[@Tatti12321]

Looks like a safari helmet.

[@Rasgonras]

I think that "rope-helmet" looks a lot more like it was made from horn.

[@milanthemilan5015]

There is one i some german museum,desription says that it was used under mail coif.

[@Rasgonras]

Whirlwind TheSwirlWind Very much possibly so. However, the painter also might have run out of paint.

[@KnyghtErrant]

www.pinterest.com/pin/7881368075554349/

[@Rasgonras]

Knyght Errant Oh ... Thank you. I stand corrected.

[@cjf-rw8vl]

I can't use the links

[@KnyghtErrant]

The links are in the description as well, are they not working?

[@JafuetTheSame]

the clickthrough idea is not practical imho

[@KnyghtErrant]

Can you be more specific as to why? Most people seem to like to be able to select content rather than being hit with a marathon video with 4 totally different demonstrations. How do you think it could be improved? I'm genuinely curious. I want my content to be as easily digestible as possible.

[@JafuetTheSame]

sorry. i thought when the videos are so short, it would be more practical to have them with the main video to have the topic together. also doesnt seem to me that anyone would like to skip any of these helmets ,i also had to load all of them into playlist to watch them without interuption :) lazy me...my 2 cents, nothing crucial

[@KnyghtErrant]

No apology necessary. I don't see too many videos in my future where I will have a bunch of different objects like this, but if I do I will keep that in mind. My thinking was that if people wanted to go back to a specific helmet they could go right to that video rather than try to find it in one longer video, but maybe it would just be easier to put timecodes in the description to accomplish the same thing.

[@loled123]

At 1:30 you say that "media today focus on the rich and powerful". Honestly you should do a video on it, because its not obvious. One of the big things that easy to miss, is that you often interview people ON WORK SITE, in WORK CLOTHES. Socially, even TV tends to go for interview objects they are more comfortable with(language, clothing, ethic) which means they will often go to some no effort in order to interview management or the local low end boss. And thats before you go into the class bias, where journalists will prioritize other writers. And thats true of most contemporary literature as well, peers will prioritize peers, as well as social ground that is known to them.

[@Bazuzeus]

What about "poetic dimension"? It's really common for an artist to draw something that's close to the reality, but doesn't exist... C'mon : scale helmet? Could it be something less effective and heavy? A drawing of something does NOT validate his authenticity.... and not finding something doesn't invalidate (OK, we can all agree there weren't any jet fight in XIII, but when I see some to have a shit fit for a "slightly different ventail"... how ridiculous).

[@KnyghtErrant]

Scale helmets specifically appear in multiple artistic and written sources (as 'caps of scales'). I think it's important to look for objects across multiple sources to avoid the possibility of artistic one-offs, because of course an isolated drawing of something does not prove its existence, but as things appear in more and more sources across more and more cultures it starts to gain traction as something that may have existed. Written evidence is even more compelling, but in the absence of an archaeological artifact we are left only with speculation. I'm not trying to prove that any of these objects existed, I thought I made it clear that they are speculative at best (with the exception of the open faced bascinet).

[@Bazuzeus]

"I thought I made it clear that they are speculative at best" I may have been lost in translation on this one, sorry ;) I've seen some helmets with scales instead of mail, I've seen scale armors, but I'v never seen a scale helmet and I remain convinced it would have been a terrible idea.

[@KnyghtErrant]

It's the first sentence in the video description, I re-iterate at 11:50 in regards to the specific helmets I show in the video with the explanation that they are only possible interpretations of a visual source, and there's a disclaimer in front of each of the demo videos individually. I'm not sure what else I can do to make it clear they are speculative in nature. Scale helmets appear in various sources across different geographical regions and span several decades surrounding the late 14th century and early 15th century. They also appear in written sources (which makes the argument that they are just artistic anomalies a little tougher to go with). That's about as good as it gets for an object without a direct archaeological find. I'm curious why you think they are a terrible idea? For a person who could afford to cobble one together out of scrap bits of iron, the alternative of no helmet seems like it would be worse than having a makeshift helmet. Here are some artistic sources BL Royal 20 C VII 1380 - 1400 France (Far Left ) - manuscriptminiatures.com/4163/7842/ BM MS 677 f098r 1384 - 1400 France - manuscriptminiatures.com/3986/10903/ BM MS 550 1400 - 1425 France - manuscriptminiatures.com/3983/10981/ Getty MS.33 1400 - 1433 Germany - manuscriptminiatures.com/4494/15688/ BNE Vitr. 25-7 1420-1440 Austria - manuscriptminiatures.com/4207/13858/

[@Bazuzeus]

It just seems overly complicated (for me). No doubt people have tried all sorts of things, and usually when something worth it, others tent to copy... thus if those helmets existed and they were effective, it's strange to not find some from time to time. On the other hand, iron was expensive, wars didn't not last forever, so those "cheap" helmets have probably been reforged (as probably most of old and dull armors and weapons. Anyway, back on my opinion about those "scale helmets"... as far as I understand how they were made they weren't either rigid or light, and in both case that doesn't seems a great idea. As a "non rigid" protection some mail seems less restrictive, and heavy seems always a bad idea (my helmet weight about 3.3kg / 9lb and is really heavy)... but I can't be wrong on all points. Just seems a can of worms to me. Couldn't those pictures just depict lamelar camail?

[@RevRaptor898]

Do keep in mind that the larger the piece of steel or iron the more skill it takes to make. Think about how a coat of plates preceded full plate armor. It's not just about what the solder can afford its also about what the local blacksmith can make and if hes not used to making armor then a scale helmet might be the best he can make.

[@modernclips3868]

Diablo 2 had the best items in history of gaming, now gay child mineshaft took over.

[@ZacHawkins42]

Modern Clips D2 was my crack for years... could you spare a SoJ?

[@theratking2261]

commons as in the working man and women not the lazy killers and their masters

[@1cspr1]

Not sure if there is any point commenting a 4 y.o video, but something bothers me in the picture @ about 9.10 minute mark. Are those truly nobles being slaughtered? The haircuts on the downed guys looks like typical yokel haircuts from my country. They would put pots on the head and just cut below the rim. Looks like common mercenaries killing some civilians to me

[@KnyghtErrant]

The manuscript is BL Royal 20 C VII Chroniques de France ou de St Denis, folio 133. It is a medieval history book. The page itself is a depiction of the outbreak of the Jacquerie (peasant's rebellion) in the second half of the 14th century near Paris. The 'bowl haircut' / pageboy look was all the rage in the 14th century.

[@1cspr1]

@@KnyghtErrant Talk about warped fashion sense