Bascinet helmets 

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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?

They always reminded me of the Wombles.

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.

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

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.

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

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!

Why would you possibly not like sallets?

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.

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

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.

why does it have this little smile part?

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

Inches? A British bloke measuring distance in _inches_?!

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Can you do a video on bucket helmets?

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.

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

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.

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

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.

I see a metallic crow when I look at it.

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 ^^

its like a medieval t-34

These kinds of helmets with tiny eye holes are intended to be used on horseback, where looking up and down doesn't matter. And not only arrows, that helmet can reduced the damage caused by a spear or to a lesser extent lance.

Why don't you like Barbutes?

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 ;)

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.

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)

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)

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

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

Not liking bascinets makes sense, they generally look rather goofy however effective they are. But not liking sallets? With a gorget and the face plate together they look absolutely marvelous!

Great video :D

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

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

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.

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

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

"A massage from the Rat ..."

Lol the arrow slit. I love that mess up.

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

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.

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

Armets and Frog's Mouth helms have always been favorites of medieval helms.

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

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.

Ha... Arrow slit.

I think the reason for having facesheald is 1. to avoid being killed or vounded by archers or pikes or stones if you aproach to close combat. Then, if enemy is near you, just trow away that facesheald and fight. Another thing is, having shiny armor... you scare your enemy. If you show him your face, he knows "aim here", or "he is human" (he knows you are human, but in armor you look much bigger, immortal)... If you see knight with shiny armor covering everything, moving fast in your direction!!!! ... I think you see the point ;)

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

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

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

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).

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?

I read that the pig-shaped front is quite a big help for your breathing and heat accumulation during a battle. I think that may be quite important and not as obvious when just trying on at home.

katana is the best helmet

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.

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

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.

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.

The first German steel helmets in WW1 also had the hearing problem but any design had to be a compromise between protection and comfort. Later models sacrificed a bit of the former for better accoustics. It's not just that one hears less but also that one's own voice resounds in the ears when the latter are enclosed.

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

Civil War Lobster-Pot my favourite! Great neck protection, ear-flaps with holes for better hearing, movable visor, prongs for face protection but retaining great vision - and a nice pointy peak for head-butts and keeping the rain/Sun out... ;)

Thanks Lloyd! Now I can't unsee the happy bascinet... ...it's actually quite cute haha

I like all the weird helmets he hates the most. But the helmet he got made for himself was pretty alright too. Actually, it's hard to say, I like all the ancient helmets equally, really. But the Gothic and Italian medieval armor is especially close to my heart. I grew up on D & D and fantasy and was WAY more into Conan and Sword and Sorcery for the most part, but my Dad would watch old King Arthur and Robin Hood movies with me (and anything else that came out with a historic medieval aesthetic) and he'd school me on all this same stuff, what the parts of armor where, how (all types of) things where used, what was incorrect (in general) in the movies versus history... so the knight armor is kinda beyond cool for me. I can't have an opinion, it's just unimpeachable, beyond reproach, a kind of fact of life. It's like having an opinion about how the moon stages should change, or how water should flow...I get it but I don't get it. People have hands, and feet, (real) knights have pigface bascinets and Sallets...I just never think about it. It just is, and I like it.

I think that primary function of the snout was actually to deflect lenses, not just arrows, great helm could deflect arrows just fine and lack of breathing holes on the right side supports that because of the way joust worked, angle of receiving a blow to the right side of the head from the opponent riding in the left lane is square on compared to the angle you could receive to the left side of the snout. Aesthetically I prefer great helms, I find those much more imposing.

i don't think the vision would necessarily be a issue, since everyone would be using padding and presumably most would have enough of it to hold the helmet firmly in place, the alignment of the vision ports would likely be held pretty firmly in place.

If you're wearing one, and on cavalry (obviously) then a food way to counter cavalry, considering their speed, would be archers. They can dream through arrows, get close, even lift the visit and swipe away with your cavalry weapons!! And steam back off into the ether!!. Then rest, regroup and being so maneuverable, sweep in through the ranged weapons again, arrows glancing off you, to wherever you need to be on the battlefield! Lindy often misses cavalry ability to maneuver do quickly and I think that is the overwhelming ability of cavalry. Especially armoured cavalry! Which is how they're used now.

Took you 4 years but now you have your helmet.

Its actually pretty terrifying if you consider HE IS IN A FULL BODY SUIT HOLDING A SWORD AND CHARGING TOWARD AT FULL SPEED WITH ALL HIS ANGER, but you know.. Just my opinion.

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.

You can always use the spanish 'Morrión' style helmet, which is kind of like a 'sombrero', which would allow for a great angle of vision while keeping your head protected.

"If I were me,..... and I probably would be." Hahahaha! Also, the great thing about having a visor is that when they're shooting arrows you're protected, and the moment you get into melee you can always flip it up, or take it off. Just use a chainmail coif (the ones that covers over the chin or even the mouth a little) and you're set.

The bascinet with visor is the most badass helmet ever created. Doom in the appearance of a friend

In a pinch, you could face-punch the enemy and, if their helmet was open-faced or damaged, probably score a kill that way. One could probably rationalise the metallic stench as "just the metal rust"

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

Kettle Hat of course. Goes well with a bevoir. And there's even pieces with eyeslits. Anyway: One of the reasons for this pig snout was breathing. It gives you much more space where water can condense, and finally it can run out of the "mouth".