Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 2).djvu/131

 There is an armourer's mark of some importance on the back of the skull of the Wallace Spanish armet; but it has been so rubbed down in the past by overcleaning of the helmet as to be almost obliterated.

Spanish, about 1500. It has at some time been subject to alterations

Ex Murrietta Collection

In what we are about to describe as the English variety of the armet, we note an Italian influence in construction, but an Italian influence subservient to a curious insular simplicity. The splendidly protective Italian armet of about 1460-70 was indubitably the forbear of the English armet of the first quarter of the XVIth century. But it must be borne in mind that a long period had now elapsed before the group of closed helmets we illustrate (Fig. 445) were in general use in England. The result was that the beauty of contour which marked the Italian model had disappeared, to be replaced by an originality in the shaping of the skull-piece and of the visor not wholly displeasing to armour enthusiasts, who find in them the same attraction that they discover in the ordinary furniture and decoration of the English home of the period, which was then being subjected to a but dimly appreciated Renaissance influence. Let us now look at the English armet and note how the form and construction vary from those of the Italian model. The most important differences are in the formation of the protective plates for the cheek and chin, and in the manner in which the helmet is opened, so as to place it upon the head. Seldom, in the present writer's opinion, do we find on English made armets the large whole cheek-pieces opening outwards on a separate hinge below the visor pivots; but the chin and cheek defences are of one whole piece like those seen on nearly all XVIth century close helmets. Such chin-pieces were hinged on the visor pivot itself, with the result that the helmet, when being adjusted on the head, had to be opened at the sides. It can readily be understood that, with this arrangement for opening, the use of the short chain camail so characteristic of the Italian armet became