Rare Tournament Helmet, South Germany ca. 1580

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Rare Tournament Helmet, South Germany ca. 1580

About the Item

One piece skull with a high comb; bevor, upper bevor and visor; original fixing screws with hexagonal nuts and rivets for the securing of a lining, abrased on the edge of the skull; sprung and peg at the right side of the neck to close bevor and scull, the same at the chin to attach the upper bevor, being kept from accidentally opening by a pivoting hook; upper bevor with numerous ventilation holes on both sides, an enforcing and decorative plate riveted in the centre; visor with lateral sight, skull and bevor with a boxed and file roped turn, designed to fit over the rim of a gorget in order to protect against lance splinters; several old repairs of the time of usage on skull, visor and upper bevor by riveted plates and copper casts applied to small damages; plumeholder and sprung probably later; on the right side there was once presumably a lifting peg. Weight: 3750 gramm. Provenance Lange, Berlin, auction on October 17th, 1940: „Die Waffensammlung Blell, Zeulenroda", lot No. 96a. It is some kind of a miracle that this helmet has survived the Second World War and the time of the Russian occupation. In 2012 we were able to identify and secure this piece in a Berlin private collection. Background The knightly classes of medieval times had to constantly practice and further develop their martial and riding skills to be prepared for any case of emergency. At the tournament the diverse techniques could be put to test under realistic conditions as in early times both armour and weapons were exactly the same as in the field of battle. It is evident that these tournaments were dangerous and many knights were seriously injured or even died. Hence the authorities tried to reduce the number of accidents by strict regulations. In the course of time there occurred far reaching changes in the way of tournamenting. It can be observed that the different types of combat and the weapons involved became more and more diverse. Some were more comparable to sports than to training martial skills. Accordingly armour and weapons were developed and optimized for these specific types of tournament and protected the opponents better against injuries. This sort of arming was fairly useless for the field of combat and can be seen as pure pieces of sports equipment. The practical function of honing martial skills at the tournament became gradually less important, when the power of knighthood started to diminish at about 1300. Soldiers equipped with the longbow, the halberd and finally the introduction of firearms reduced the dominance of heavily armoured knights fighting on horse. In the course of these developments the meaning of tournament changed. At Renaissance times the purpose shifted more and more to showing skills and courage and last but not least the pure entertainment. The tournament had always belonged to the most important society events of aristocracy and this still prevailed well until about 1600. Tournaments were often organised as centrepieces of great festivities like the monarch’s weddings or celebrations of victory. Feasts, spectacles, music and dance formed part of these prestigious debaucheries. Description The present helmet can be attributed to about 1580 due to its almost vertical upper bevor. Helmets like this were produced at Augsburg, Landshut and probably Dresden manufacturies. A feature often observed at tournament helmets is the turn at the bottom, designed to fit over the rim of a gorget. This is an effective protection of the neck against the penetration by lance splinters at the joust. It was the French King Henri II. who was deadly injured by such a splinter at a joust back in 1550. Hence several improvements were developed to provide a better protection of the participants. While this feature does argue for the use as a jousting helmet the numerous ventilation wholes on both sides of the upper bevor would normally be associated with a helmet for a tournament on foot. A pure jousting helmet does show ventilation wholes only on the right side, where the probability of being hit by the opponent’s lance is smaller. Therefore we presume that our helmet used to form part of a garniture that could be modified to various purposes by adding further plates to it. On the visor you can find two threaded holes that do allow attaching a brow reinforce, reaching down the left side in order to use this helmet for the joust. There are a small number of comparable pieces which bear the same type of holes: - Helmet by Wolfgang Großschedel, Stadt- und Kreismuseum Landshut, Inv. No. 1433; Cf. Spitzlberger, G. (1975): Landshuter Plattnerkunst, pp. 28, pl 48. - Helmet for the Freiturnier, attributed to Anton Pfeffenhauser, part of a double garniture for Archduke Matthias and Archduke Maximilian III, c. 1575, Wallace Collection London, Inv. No. A187; Cf. Mann, Sir J. (1962): Wallace Collection Catalogues: European Arms and Armour, vol. 1, p. 149 f., pl 72. Further fascinating features of the present helmet are its old repairs that originate from the time of usage and show how intensive this object came into action. Visor, upper bevor and skull bare several brakes that were repaired by riveted metal patches. Smaller damages of the surface had been revamped by casting copper into the holes. Traces like these are very rare to find.

Dimensions:
Height: 11.82 in (30 cm)
Style:
Renaissance (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Iron
Place of Origin:
Germany
Period:
18th Century and Earlier
Date of Manufacture:
Circa 1580
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Worpswede / Bremen, DE
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU9814837469