SA0241 Medieval North Italian Sallet Helmet

Medieval North Italian Sallet Helmet
The sallet became popular in France, England and the Netherlands through
contact with Italy and eventually was adopted in Germany. Regional styles
developed, which were catered for by the great armour manufacturing centres of
northern Italy (especially Milan) and southern Germany (Augsburg and
Nuremberg). However, though a sallet, or complete armour, might be German in
style it could have been of Italian manufacture, or vice versa. The German sallet
may have been the product of the melding of influences from the Italian sallet and
the deep-skulled “German war-hat,” a type of brimmed chapel de fer
helmet.[3]Later Italian sallets (by c. 1460) lost their integral face protection and
became open-faced helmets with gracefully curved surfaces. In this simple state
they were favoured by more lightly armed troops, especially archers and
crossbowmen, whose uninterrupted vision was at a premium. For more heavily
armoured troops a greater level of protection could be afforded by the attachment
of a plate re-inforce for the brow of the helmet and a deep visor, usually of the
‘bellows’ form which incorporated many ventilation slits. Such helmets would have
been worn with a stiffened mail collar, termed a “standard,” which protected the
throat and neck. Some Italian-style sallets were provided with a covering of rich
cloth, usually velvet, which was edged in silver-gilt or gilded brass; ornamental
decoration in the same metals could be added to the surface of the helmet,
allowing areas of cloth to show through.