An illustrated look at the components and decoration of a late 14th century bascinet. Support the Channel - / knyghterrant Facebook - / knyghterrant Website - knyghterrant.com
HEMA mask manufacturer should watch this and made the "mask" part hinged, like a sallet or bascinet visor. then made the helmet out of wire mesh supported by metal bar/strips and maybe have bevor.
I enjoy the artwork, well executed and very clear. I assume you are planning on publishing a book once you work your way through all the different styles of medieval helmet?
So would I. I'm currently in the process of putting together an early to mid 15th century harness built around a brigandine, and these videos, and the advice offered, have been very, very helpful!
Please do haha. These videos are helping me get reference for my comic which takes place during the 100 years war. Drawing Knights is easy when you know how their outfit works.
Thanks for the video Ian, I really enjoyed this format! You know, this style of video could be an excellent way for you to show and talk about pieces of armor that are difficult or expensive to get a hold of. Keep up the awesome work!
Great way of communicating details of armor construction! Thanks for the work you put into this. This might be a nice format for soft kit videos, if you have infinite time to kill and/or if someone who focuses more on tailoring wants to collaborate with you. You can disassemble your armor and film the pieces, but your hood, doublet and gown, not so much.
Damn, that's a great video. I rarely comment on any videos but after watching this I couldn't contain myself. Will you also make this kind of videos about other parts of armour? That would be amazing!
Great Video and nice choice of music. I really like this Format. I am personally also interested in later helmets, like the closed Helmet, Savoy Helmet and the Burgonet and i would love to see videos from you about these ones. :)
How is the Visor kept looked in the up position, just by friction or is it not locked at all? Great video, seems like a loot of work, all this beautifull drawings
No, no spring buttons on bascinets. Even later sallets only use a spring to keep the visor down. On virtually all surviving bascinets (and many other styles of side-pivoting visor equipped helmet) the pivots are slightly misaligned from side to side. When the visor is in the 'up' position, that misalignment of the pivots puts enough force on the visor arms to basically hold it in place. That combined with the friction of the pivot (which is easily adjustable by tightening down the peen of the rivet) will keep the visor in the up position.
Saurer I've heard that the visor pivots were often intentionally at unequal heights, in order for the visor to jam against the helmet when in the "up" position.
Kartoffel König That may be true for cheap munitions helmets. In fact, those are often the ones that are most misaligned. However, what are we to make if the misalignment on otherwise exquisitely-crafted, highly decorated, all-round top notch (and ludicrously expensive) pieces of armour? To me, this suggests that the misalignment was at least partly intentional.
Very useful and educational, i bought a replica of the Churburg 1395 bascinet and i was wondering why the leather piece wasnt included, and i realized that is only for the aventail.
I like the brush stroke overlay that you have throughout the entire video did you find an image online or did you make the overlay yourself, if you made the overlay yourself I was wondering how you did it whether you took a picture of a physical thing that you did or made it Photoshop
Seems like people enjoyed this, so yes I will do more videos like this in the future. It takes a lot of work so it won't be a weekly thing or anything like that, but I will definitely do more.
Great Video, bravo!I'm curious to know how a great helm fit on the bascinet with his chinstrap. The padded aventail should interfere with the lacing, and i don't think that friction between great helm and bascinet would be enough to stand firm on the head in battle.I don't see any type of retention under the aventail during this video, are you sure that during a melee is not necessary?
There's no evidence for chin strap on bascinets. A well fitted liner and aventail keep it pretty secure. This past weekend I was at an event with lots of people fighting in bascinets, full contact with steel swords and heavy rubber headed pollaxes and never once was a helmet dislodged or misaligned. The only reference to securing a bascinet with anything more than what we see from the outside is one obscure reference in Froissart where he briefly describes a bascinet being laced on specifically int he context of a tournament but offers no further detail on its mechanism.
Many thanks for the answer! For a duel cortese i think that it's not necessary, or on the horse, but during a real melee, in brawl, the possibility that one take your bascinet and injuries your bare head i think is high. Wath do you think? Please watch this: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/17/6b/83/176b83569b48c50df908d9e0f32d09ec.jpg
Enjoyed watching as rest of your content. I understand you provide information about late part of middle ages but is it posible you can share opinion about period before full plate. I refer to early crusades(1st-3rd) how efficient mail been back then and were any alternatives.
macharim Some say it is because of the foot combat , because on a friends helmet Slashes and Stabs glanze of fairly well . (it is also harder to make ) I also like the rounded Visor more .
***** I agree with you , i needed to correct myself anyway . Thank you very much for you working process some do it like you some not . But i can't think of it just as fashion , the visor you showed me deflects hits quiet well . I saw one for Full Contakt in berlepsch germany , a shield bashed to the face but couldn't get the full force in the hit . While the round Visor had the same effect effect but is better with axe shots than the Visor you showed me , it seems like a compromise . Also i need to apologice for not pointing out what i don't agree on as i wrote "Wrong." I now set my point , thank you for a good answer .
A question about period, specifically in Germany: Roughly in which period does the Bascinet with aventail (mainly the aventail actually) disappear? Thanks!
It's hard to say when something disappears. A lot of older armors may tend to trickle down the social ladder as they fall out of favor with the upper classes. That being said, through the second quarter to middle of the 15th century, we see aventails less and less in artwork as other forms of helmet supplant the bascinet.
Question, what was the purpose, outside of decoration, did the orle serve? Was this meant to represent a favor of the wearer's lady or just another means of identifying the person wearing the armor?
Captives are worth money. When you fight a guy wearing large amount of decoration you know that his family is wealthy. Why kill a guy when you can capture him and hold him for ransom? Armor and decor is a symbol of wealth and power, and may just save the life of the wearer.
None of this answers my original question, what purpose, if any, did the orle serve? Was it purely decorative, showed the favor of a lady, or identified the wearer?
Hi Ian, the image at 3:37 is a bit confusing because it suggests that the mail is a separate piece from the leather strip of the aventail. If I may suggest, maybe here you should have shown the "naked" bascinet and a fully separated aventail instead? At least show that in the aventail the mail is not a separate piece from the leather.
At 1:20 it describes that the aventail is stitched to the leather, so I thought that would carry over. It is a separate piece from the leather though, they would be separated for maintenance, repair etc.
Great question. No one knows because none survive. It's likely attached to the leather, not the helmet directly, which would facilitate easier removal of the aventail. Dr. Capwell suggests small pin rivets as a possibility.
Simon 99 Great helms are much more simple than compared to something like a bascinet. A great helm doesn't ever really have a maille aventail, moveable visor (although there are some helms styled like a great helm but with pivoting visors, although, I'm not too sure historically based those are), or anything particularly great about them. Although, they did use suspension systems like a lot of helmets, and were still effective. But, there's also the issue of varying styles of great helms, which tend to have different, how do I say it?, purposes, I suppose. You have primitive great helms, which were just flat topped helms with visors riveted on, you have surgarloaf helms, those iconic flat topped and big 'ol great helms that look huge., and you have helms that could have feasibly existed and may have been used at some point where it's essentially just a plain helmet, wether flat or conical, and having a solid visor attached and maybe having an extra plate at the lower back of the head for more protection. I'm not expert at all, and as much as I love great helms, I don't think they need too much of an explanation and a whole other video dedicated to their function, as it should be easy gather just by simple observation. Although, that could be said about any helm, I suppose.
Simon 99 I suppose, but generally speaking: great helms were just big buckets of metal with some slits and and breaths, almost always banded together with multiple pieces of carefully shaped components. BUT, other than that, they just had an inside liner or suspension system, and, maybe in late periods for arenas, some decorative thingys on the top, but the arena decor is a given. What I'm trying to say is: the great helm doesn't have any functioning parts or mechanisms, so making a video about its anatomy would be ridiculously short unless looking at specific examples. (Which, if you wouldn't mind me asking, which ones so I can research?) They do look really cool though. They're almost like the GP-5 (Soviet gas mask) of European history to me. Almost.
Nameless Goon i don t now how explain well becouse i m italian But i have seen a great helm with a visor in a miniatures and in a toscany torture musium a strange reproduction but i personally think it is false
Simon 99 Ah, I see. I've seen some interesting great helm designs too, but I also doubt their validity. I'm fairly certain great helms were designed to be simple, so some having a pivoting visor is possible, but it just seems as though the material would be better off making something like bascinet if one wanted versatility. Anyhoo, sorry if I seemed rude. Also, greetings from America, the 5th worst country on the planet. If I had known English wasn't your first language I would've tried to simplify some of phrasing.
I was kidding too... I was implying it took them from the time they were teenagers to adults to finish putting on their armor... I guess my delivery was bad :)
Most well equipped men-at-arms of the 14th century into the beginning of the 15th century wore some variant of hte bascinet. The specific type shown here would have been worn by a well-equipped man-at-arms from about 1380 to 1420 in similar form as it gave way to the 'Great Bascinet.'
my only complaint goes to the music which is obviously just "á la" and contains some melodic steps which doesnt sound authentic...wait...its from kevin macleod...ok then
I jest... but seriously, I wish there was something I could do about the 'generic medieval music' but even though authentic medieval music is in the public domain, modern performances of it are not, otherwise I'd be backing virtually all of my videos with some amazing music. In the case of this video, bad music was better than silence :)
Knyght Errant dont need to explain. i know the problem. but isnt there any site with medieval music which is not performed but sampled (or even midi)? could sound decent. this also isnt live stuff...but i dont know
HEMA mask manufacturer should watch this and made the "mask" part hinged, like a sallet or bascinet visor. then made the helmet out of wire mesh supported by metal bar/strips and maybe have bevor.
I enjoy the artwork, well executed and very clear. I assume you are planning on publishing a book once you work your way through all the different styles of medieval helmet?
Thank you. No, I have no intention of publishing a book, but that's a cool idea.
I would buy a guide on armor made by you. Right now my entire plan for buying my own is based on your videos.
So would I. I'm currently in the process of putting together an early to mid 15th century harness built around a brigandine, and these videos, and the advice offered, have been very, very helpful!
Please do haha. These videos are helping me get reference for my comic which takes place during the 100 years war. Drawing Knights is easy when you know how their outfit works.
Great video, beautiful artwork, inspiring music! Well done Mr. Laspina!
Awesome work, you should be proud of those illustrations, they belong in a book!
Thanks for the video Ian, I really enjoyed this format! You know, this style of video could be an excellent way for you to show and talk about pieces of armor that are difficult or expensive to get a hold of. Keep up the awesome work!
Great job Ian. I hope you do more videos like this.
That's a great video! Excellent production value. Loved the music, the drawings and the overall "tone" of the video.
Hope you do more of these!
Very beautiful art and animation!
Great way of communicating details of armor construction! Thanks for the work you put into this.
This might be a nice format for soft kit videos, if you have infinite time to kill and/or if someone who focuses more on tailoring wants to collaborate with you. You can disassemble your armor and film the pieces, but your hood, doublet and gown, not so much.
Nice detailed drawing work to explain. Thank you, Ian.
Instructive and beautiful!
Damn, that's a great video. I rarely comment on any videos but after watching this I couldn't contain myself. Will you also make this kind of videos about other parts of armour? That would be amazing!
It sounds like people liked this (it was totally experimental from my end) so yes, I will make more like this :)
Excellent work.
Pure gold.
nice job on the adornments
I very much enjoy your anatomy of series. I am very visual as a learner.
wow this is quality
if you made a series on that it would be nice
This was a great video, i really hope you will be doing the same style of video for the Sallet and other helmets.
Excellent!
Great Video and nice choice of music. I really like this Format. I am personally also interested in later helmets, like the closed Helmet, Savoy Helmet and the Burgonet and i would love to see videos from you about these ones. :)
no but like how are these videos 6 years old but I am only finding them now? THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN USEFULL 2 YEARS AGO CZcams. Algorithm aint shit
This was great!
Great work!
Thank you!
great video , can you do one for the sallet
How is the Visor kept looked in the up position, just by friction or is it not locked at all?
Great video, seems like a loot of work, all this beautifull drawings
there is usually some kind of spring button that latches to the visor
No, no spring buttons on bascinets. Even later sallets only use a spring to keep the visor down. On virtually all surviving bascinets (and many other styles of side-pivoting visor equipped helmet) the pivots are slightly misaligned from side to side. When the visor is in the 'up' position, that misalignment of the pivots puts enough force on the visor arms to basically hold it in place. That combined with the friction of the pivot (which is easily adjustable by tightening down the peen of the rivet) will keep the visor in the up position.
Saurer I've heard that the visor pivots were often intentionally at unequal heights, in order for the visor to jam against the helmet when in the "up" position.
Kartoffel König That may be true for cheap munitions helmets. In fact, those are often the ones that are most misaligned. However, what are we to make if the misalignment on otherwise exquisitely-crafted, highly decorated, all-round top notch (and ludicrously expensive) pieces of armour? To me, this suggests that the misalignment was at least partly intentional.
can't imagine someone would like to fiddle with any kind of locking system in a life and death situation.
Very useful and educational, i bought a replica of the Churburg 1395 bascinet and i was wondering why the leather piece wasnt included, and i realized that is only for the aventail.
wow nice video!
Jamming to this tune
Thanks for this helpful video. I always wondered what that circlet-like "band" was.
Also, what font did you use for this video?
Can you do a video like this for the close helmet ? It will be very interesting.
Lovely drawings so much derail very enjoyable video NY favorite helmet of those times
Loved it. What about showing us a turn shoe vid/tut next! XD
very nice video
I like the brush stroke overlay that you have throughout the entire video did you find an image online or did you make the overlay yourself, if you made the overlay yourself I was wondering how you did it whether you took a picture of a physical thing that you did or made it Photoshop
I love this new format, are you planning any other videos like this?
Seems like people enjoyed this, so yes I will do more videos like this in the future. It takes a lot of work so it won't be a weekly thing or anything like that, but I will definitely do more.
This kind of information bascinates me.
Excellent video. Very informative and very clear. The illustrations are fantastic. Who made the music playing throughout?
Kevin Macleod i think
great video, as always, any chance you include a link in the doobldedoo to the composer?
very first thing on screen, lower left
Great Video, bravo!I'm curious to know how a great helm fit on the bascinet with his chinstrap. The padded aventail should interfere with the lacing, and i don't think that friction between great helm and bascinet would be enough to stand firm on the head in battle.I don't see any type of retention under the aventail during this video, are you sure that during a melee is not necessary?
There's no evidence for chin strap on bascinets. A well fitted liner and aventail keep it pretty secure. This past weekend I was at an event with lots of people fighting in bascinets, full contact with steel swords and heavy rubber headed pollaxes and never once was a helmet dislodged or misaligned. The only reference to securing a bascinet with anything more than what we see from the outside is one obscure reference in Froissart where he briefly describes a bascinet being laced on specifically int he context of a tournament but offers no further detail on its mechanism.
Many thanks for the answer! For a duel cortese i think that it's not necessary, or on the horse, but during a real melee, in brawl, the possibility that one take your bascinet and injuries your bare head i think is high. Wath do you think? Please watch this: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/17/6b/83/176b83569b48c50df908d9e0f32d09ec.jpg
Enjoyed watching as rest of your content. I understand you provide information about late part of middle ages but is it posible you can share opinion about period before full plate. I refer to early crusades(1st-3rd) how efficient mail been back then and were any alternatives.
I will cover some 'age of mail' stuff as well. I just got my hands on a very nice piece of mail that will be featured in an upcoming video.
Hey Ian do you reckon you could do a video on decorative armor?
do you mean armor made purely for decoration or the decoration found on real armors? I plan on covering the latter :)
cool video!!!can you do for the armet.
Is it known why they went from the pointed visor to the rounded? Just fashion or is there some benefit to that?
macharim Some say it is because of the foot combat , because on a friends helmet Slashes and Stabs glanze of fairly well . (it is also harder to make )
I also like the rounded Visor more .
***** I agree with you , i needed to correct myself anyway . Thank you very much for you working process some do it like you some not . But i can't think of it just as fashion , the visor you showed me deflects hits quiet well . I saw one for Full Contakt in berlepsch germany , a shield bashed to the face but couldn't get the full force in the hit . While the round Visor had the same effect effect but is better with axe shots than the Visor you showed me , it seems like a compromise .
Also i need to apologice for not pointing out what i don't agree on as i wrote "Wrong." I now set my point , thank you for a good answer .
A question about period, specifically in Germany: Roughly in which period does the Bascinet with aventail (mainly the aventail actually) disappear? Thanks!
It's hard to say when something disappears. A lot of older armors may tend to trickle down the social ladder as they fall out of favor with the upper classes. That being said, through the second quarter to middle of the 15th century, we see aventails less and less in artwork as other forms of helmet supplant the bascinet.
do a two part video on the cervelliere
Question, what was the purpose, outside of decoration, did the orle serve? Was this meant to represent a favor of the wearer's lady or just another means of identifying the person wearing the armor?
Captives are worth money. When you fight a guy wearing large amount of decoration you know that his family is wealthy. Why kill a guy when you can capture him and hold him for ransom? Armor and decor is a symbol of wealth and power, and may just save the life of the wearer.
None of this answers my original question, what purpose, if any, did the orle serve? Was it purely decorative, showed the favor of a lady, or identified the wearer?
Purely decorative. And there's even more extreme stuff. There's evidence for armour parts or full complete harnesses gilded in gold.
+TheDragonoftheWest
This. Armour was as much a fashion statement as it was a form of protection. Gotta look good while killing Saracens.
How'S that music called? Love it. Gives me Stronghold vibes.
Glitshy The info on the music is at the beginning of the video, on the bottom left.
Hi Ian, the image at 3:37 is a bit confusing because it suggests that the mail is a separate piece from the leather strip of the aventail. If I may suggest, maybe here you should have shown the "naked" bascinet and a fully separated aventail instead? At least show that in the aventail the mail is not a separate piece from the leather.
Andrew Suryali The Mail is attached to the leather of the aventail if you look on his website .
At 1:20 it describes that the aventail is stitched to the leather, so I thought that would carry over. It is a separate piece from the leather though, they would be separated for maintenance, repair etc.
How is the Verveille Cover attached to the Helmet?
Great question. No one knows because none survive. It's likely attached to the leather, not the helmet directly, which would facilitate easier removal of the aventail. Dr. Capwell suggests small pin rivets as a possibility.
Very nice video. Will you make the same for the Sallet?
Edit: Sorry, someone already asked, I see. ;)
So that headband-like thing is called a orle? I guess you learn something new everyday.
Please tell me what is that music?
i first asked the same question.. then i watched the video again and i saw the answer in the very beginning. ;D
ᚹᛚᚻᚪᛋᛏᚪᛚᛅᚪᛘ Thanks Capitan
Neuker nar Bohemia youre welcome sir. :)
Can you make great helm anatomy ?
Simon 99 Great helms are much more simple than compared to something like a bascinet. A great helm doesn't ever really have a maille aventail, moveable visor (although there are some helms styled like a great helm but with pivoting visors, although, I'm not too sure historically based those are), or anything particularly great about them. Although, they did use suspension systems like a lot of helmets, and were still effective. But, there's also the issue of varying styles of great helms, which tend to have different, how do I say it?, purposes, I suppose.
You have primitive great helms, which were just flat topped helms with visors riveted on, you have surgarloaf helms, those iconic flat topped and big 'ol great helms that look huge., and you have helms that could have feasibly existed and may have been used at some point where it's essentially just a plain helmet, wether flat or conical, and having a solid visor attached and maybe having an extra plate at the lower back of the head for more protection.
I'm not expert at all, and as much as I love great helms, I don't think they need too much of an explanation and a whole other video dedicated to their function, as it should be easy gather just by simple observation. Although, that could be said about any helm, I suppose.
Yes sure but it looks very good and there is some late great helm more complex
Simon 99 I suppose, but generally speaking: great helms were just big buckets of metal with some slits and and breaths, almost always banded together with multiple pieces of carefully shaped components. BUT, other than that, they just had an inside liner or suspension system, and, maybe in late periods for arenas, some decorative thingys on the top, but the arena decor is a given.
What I'm trying to say is: the great helm doesn't have any functioning parts or mechanisms, so making a video about its anatomy would be ridiculously short unless looking at specific examples. (Which, if you wouldn't mind me asking, which ones so I can research?)
They do look really cool though. They're almost like the GP-5 (Soviet gas mask) of European history to me. Almost.
Nameless Goon i don t now how explain well becouse i m italian But i have seen a great helm with a visor in a miniatures and in a toscany torture musium a strange reproduction but i personally think it is false
Simon 99 Ah, I see. I've seen some interesting great helm designs too, but I also doubt their validity. I'm fairly certain great helms were designed to be simple, so some having a pivoting visor is possible, but it just seems as though the material would be better off making something like bascinet if one wanted versatility.
Anyhoo, sorry if I seemed rude.
Also, greetings from America, the 5th worst country on the planet.
If I had known English wasn't your first language I would've tried to simplify some of phrasing.
omg the song is happier now.
btw did you draw this?
Yes, all the illustration is mine.
I'm thinking of getting a bascinet off of White Armor Shop.
I wonder if any of these had ear holes ever.
I wonder why not :/
Use a kettle hat, or much better, make holes to a bascinet ;)
did you know it took a knight two and a half years to put on their armor.
That's why they started training as teenagers... by the time they were adults they'd finally be done putting on their armor.
I was kidding, I know knights lol they're one of my favorite soldiers of war and I wan't full plate armor one day, German Gothic is what'd I'd get.
I was kidding too... I was implying it took them from the time they were teenagers to adults to finish putting on their armor... I guess my delivery was bad :)
Knyght Errant Ahh no it was me, I reread it and understood. My apologies good sir, This King is tired.
What type of person would have worn a Bascinet?
Most well equipped men-at-arms of the 14th century into the beginning of the 15th century wore some variant of hte bascinet. The specific type shown here would have been worn by a well-equipped man-at-arms from about 1380 to 1420 in similar form as it gave way to the 'Great Bascinet.'
Now plays Kingdom Come Deliverance
my only complaint goes to the music which is obviously just "á la" and contains some melodic steps which doesnt sound authentic...wait...its from kevin macleod...ok then
Feel free to purchase the rights for me to a performance of some Guillaume de Machaut :)
Knyght Errant thumbs up sir ;)
I jest... but seriously, I wish there was something I could do about the 'generic medieval music' but even though authentic medieval music is in the public domain, modern performances of it are not, otherwise I'd be backing virtually all of my videos with some amazing music. In the case of this video, bad music was better than silence :)
Knyght Errant dont need to explain. i know the problem. but isnt there any site with medieval music which is not performed but sampled (or even midi)? could sound decent. this also isnt live stuff...but i dont know
when you recognize the music from a skyrim mod
I guess the Enderal guys got their royalty free music from the same place I did :)