For some reason, lately, I’ve been really into Medieval knights. I am not sure exactly what brought this on - I was never really interested in that stuff before, and I never studied the history of it in any kind of detail either. One possibility is that the thread about the weight of Medieval armor got me interested in it. But lately I’ve just been browsing around looking at different kinds of armor. So many of it is just incredibly badass looking, and there are a baffling variety of different helmets. It’s just now that I’m learning the names for all of them.
I never found the Great Helm to be all that cool, probably because it’s a little over-exposed (the Monty Python knight, for instance) and seems to have become the default image of a knight’s helmet that people think of.
In the intimidation department, I think it’s pretty hard to beat the Pig-face Bascinet or “Hounskull” type helmet. That giant conical beak-like protrusion from the face is just…fucking scary, man. I mean, if you can be stabbed to death by a knight’s face, that just about puts him at the top of the hierarchy of badass.
What are some other types of Medieval armor and helmets? And which do you think are the coolest looking? I know we have some SCA-type people here; I’m sure they know a lot more about this stuff than I do.
Without a doubt, the Polish Winged Hussarswere the most badass-looking troops ever - although they weren’t exactly medieval.
Barring them, I’ve always had a thing for brigandine armor. Unlike all those flashy breastplates the knights liked to parade around in, brigandine is all business, the kind of armor an actual soldier would wear.
I find the gothic helmet quite scary for some reason.
ETA : Also, to me Barbutesmean business. Tough, no nonsense, axe-in-ya-face business.
But as far as badass helmets go, no one can touch the Japanese. Witness. The unmoving, angry face has something of a “walking dead hungry for your flesh” vibe going on, don’t you think ?
I don’t have a pic, but I had a book from when I was a kid that showed some kind of jousting armor. The helmet had no eyeholes or a visor except a small grill in front of one of the eyes. If you ignore its sporting purpose, it’s like he is saying he doesn’t need to see where he is going, but someone is going to be run through.
Those Polish Winged Hussars are pretty damned badass. Never heard of them before this.
It’s not what you’re looking for, but I was at the opening for the University of Michigan’s modern art museum and they have some medieval Japanese armor. I stood in front of it and looked at it thinking “Hundreds of years ago, some dude was walking around in this or kicking ass in this and whether or not he looked like Gomer Pyle without the armor, he looked hard as fuck with the armor on.”
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