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 CHAPTER VIII

THE BASCINET HEAD-PIECE: A RECORD OF IT FROM THE EARLY YEARS OF THE CENTURY TO THE CLOSE OF THE  CENTURY

Up to the present, beyond alluding generally to the bascinet, the only head-pieces we have described in detail are the hemispherical steel cap, worn either over or under the mail coif, and the very primitive helm which superseded the cylindrical helmet of the latter part of the XIIIth century, which helmet in its turn had taken the place of the conical helmet of the XIIth century. We have now, however, in the case of the bascinet, to deal with a head-piece coming into greater prominence than any heretofore mentioned, and which holds almost uninterrupted sway for the next 150 years. This helmet is first mentioned as early as 1214, when Guillaume Guiart speaks of "Li yaumes et baseinez reluire," and may be said to have had its birthplace in Italy, whence it was introduced into France, subsequently to reach England. Its very name, derived from the ancient French word baycin—a basin—makes it applicable to any form of hemispherical head-piece; but we will follow the invariable custom of applying it to this kind of head-piece after it had ceased to be merely the shell underlying the mail coif, that is to say, when it became a distinctive helmet worn either over the mail coif or with the camail actually attached to it.

In the transitional years of the XIIIth and XIVth centuries, the bascinet was in the form of a low cap, bluntly pointed, and not assuming the gracefully keel-like form characteristic of the same head-piece a hundred years later. There was formerly in the collection made by Herr Hefner-Alteneck an early bascinet (Fig. 256) which that learned antiquary considered to belong to the end of the XIIIth century; we, however, hold that it would be more accurately placed at the end of the first quarter of the XIVth century. It is, notwithstanding, an excellent example of one of the earliest forms of this type of helmet. It will be noticed that around its lower edge is a series of small holes. These were not for the purpose of attaching the camail, as stated by Dr. Alteneck, but were merely for retaining in position