I can imagine medieval battles being pretty loud with all the bashing, metal-ringing, screaming and dying, so not being able to hear so well might be of some advantage.
Viking reenactor here, it’s quite accurate all the bashing. I’m not sure about crusader battles but I assume there’s even more metal ringing and bashing in that period since there’s more metal used.
@@clientsname2933 the blades are very blunted, usually with a round bit on the end. And we wear thick gambisons (not accurate) but usually we hit the buckle of a shield to not damage the opponents shield. and that creates a bang. Thats also why usually a persons buckle (the metal middle) is way more damaged then the wood. Usually the wood is used against spears and slices. The helmets are needed to be more then 2 mm thick, to protect blows, but helmet banging is rare. Yes, some reenactment groups allow head hitting, and that creates a bang. But in viking reenactment most groups dont allow it, but usually head hitting is accidental. But most of the time you hear bongs against wood. Its hard to explain what you hear.
Sam The Sham just to add to what you stated it’s not like knight were scrubs they trained from a very young age for battle and they would be very proficient in the use of their weapons and very comfortable in their armor even more so when talking about the order of the knights Templars.
Do you all really think that you can fight with this piece of iron on your head with almost no visibility under the heat of July on a vast stretch of desert???? Your ancestors thought the same and see what happened to them. Good luck.
@@2deep5u Desert on our side? What are we? Some kind of magicians who can bring sandstorm? We have God on our side. And what do we have to do with the battle of Poitier anyway?
@New King You were deployed to defend?? Seriously? And how exactly? By looting trade caravans? Killing civilians when you took the city? Wow! So honourable and holy of you. And which crusade you actually won? You were utterly destroyed in second crusade, annihilate in third crusade and by the time of fourth, you didn't even reached middle East properly. Sorry to say but your ancestors were so treacherous that they spread false rumours around Europe after the battle of mansoorah. Just ask yourself why the shepherd crusade started? And speaking of Richard, if God was on his side why did he return to England without even setting a foot in the city of Al Quds? Your ancestors used the notion of crusade to declare war on own fellow Christians, sacking of Constantinople and northern crusades are to name a few. And what peace you're talking about mate? Christians could never maintain peace in that land, history is witness that the city of Al Quds has remained in peace only under Muslim rule. And no you were not outnumbered or out equipped, crusade of nicopolis, crusade of Varna are good examples. In fact whenever the crusade was fought, it was actually the entire Europe versus Salahuddin alone. When it was fought in Europe, it was almost entire Europe versus the Ottomans alone. Please, do some reading when you get time from wearing your tin can. Battle of yarmouk, another example of Muslims being outnumbered and out equipped. And there are many, but I hope you're these battle names first time as your ancestors were so good in hiding embarrassment.
So are you telling me that the scene of monty python in wich arthur, the king of the britons, bashed the flat top of the helmet of the black knight and stunned him is somewhat realistic?
2:36 I like when he starts wearing this helmet and braces it with his thumb. It looks like a medieval reporter out in the field. News anchor: "We now go to our reporter out in the field, Alfonsus. Alfonsus." Alfonsus: "Thank you Pierre. As you can see the sun is beating down on us and many of the crusaders are suffering from heat stroke." Pierre: "I can tell. I'm feeling a little parched myself from watching you out there." Alfonsus: "Couldn't agree more. We will be taking Jerusalem fairly soon so hopefully when you hear from us again it will be from Mount Zion. Back to you Pierre." Pierre: "Thank you Alfonsus. I like the enthusiasm. Deus Vult and hope to hear from you soon."
I suspect he wont answer you....so....for you...as a pan german, muslim encouraging neonazi....no helmet at all.....but if you are deep down a defender of western values....a kevlar or carbon steel german WW1 coal scuttle type...with sniper plate....and grenades.
Blacksmith: "if you experience any problems with this design of the helmet, let me know." Crusader: Doesn't tell the blacksmith about his broken neck. Mystery solved.
My thoughts as an amateur historian and armouro on flat top helmsr: If you could afford a helmet, you were probably a nobleman, and a knight. If you were a nobleman and knight, you probably were on a horse. Mounted knights dont get hit with heavy melee weapons on the top of the head too often, it is more likely to be a hit from a polearm or lance. Therefore, the flat top helm that is horrible for foot combat works well enough for mounted combat
Most foot soldiers could afford or were given a helmet. It was really the one piece of essential armor. However, I take your point in that the only people you see depicted with flat-top helms like that were knights, so it was probably intended primarily for mounted combat.
It was primarily a defense against the couched lance. Once lances were expended, time to doff the bucket and use the skullcap that eventually became the bascinet for the sword melee.
It also gradually refined in its small details even before it grew into the great-helm, which was indeed bigger... and less cylindrical, becoming rather flattened laterally. Before evolving into the frog mouth.
They used clothing on top of armor to diminish the effects of that, but yes they weren't very effective, there is a reason why most of the crusades were a failure.
SnowCrash Heh, agreed. So often it's the 'small' things that people don't consider - I was reading the other day about how in Tudor times (and presumably before and after then) people at the royal court just pissed and shit behind the curtains! And forget about washing their hands afterwards. Uggh, no thanks.
2:40 Oh..Hello there,i will stay behind to gaze at the sun 🌞 The sun is a wondrous body Like a magnificent father If only i could be so grossly encandecent
Theoretically, it might be economically cheaper and easier to produce flat-top helmets than rounded or sugar loafed designs. After all, the flat-top you show here appears to be just a flat-piece of steel riveted onto a fairly simple bucket design, compared to the others which all appear to be one piece. Perhaps black smithing techniques improved to the point that manufacturing sugarloafs and complete helmets became easier and thereby cheaper, so the flat-top was retired as a result?
The problem I see in that theory is that I think footmen of the time tended to still wear sugarloaf nasal helms, while the usually much more wealthy cavalrymen, like knights, tended to wear the flat tops. And the fact that knights use to wear nasal helms too. And a knight of the 13th century is more materially wealthy then a 11th century knight on average.
So... not wearing a helmet in battle appears to be a stupid idea, because any blow to the head is sure to kill you. But... wearing a helmet in battle also seems like a stupid idea, since you can't see or hear properly, and it's hot and heavy, and it hampers your breathing quite a bit, and puts strain on your neck... Huh... I'm lost. Medieval fashion is a lot harder to wrap your head around than I figured...
It was more of a trade-off. Trade comfort for protection. Body armor today isn't exactly light. But the weight is worth it for the protection it gives.
You just need to wear the right helmet: www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjG1ciepeTdAhVLhOAKHfKzD4MQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.123rf.com%2Fphoto_77477637_realistic-3d-render-of-medieval-helmet.html&psig=AOvVaw06s4jp5jdlKBcEOYcEeWIz&ust=1538450518330980 This would protect your head without restricting your movement or visibility.
im not sure because unlike a modern army, soldiers back then would provide their own armor for themselves, but i can see that your explanation can also work but instead of mass producing for an army, they would be cheaper to be made for a poorer soldier or knight
Could the flat top have been an attempt to mass produce the helmets, and so use less materials? I don't imagine it'd save much, but hey, churn out 10 flat topped helmets, and perhaps you've saved enough metal to make an eleventh one, with all those conical tops you've not been making! Perhaps to the detriment of the troop, but as you mentioned a blow DIRECTLY to the top of the head probably wasn't particularly common.
KatakiDoragon I don't know much about blacksmith techniqes, but I could imagine this flat top is easier and faster to produce, which would aid a production in large numbers
Lindybeige The problem is, while you're aiming to hit the other fellow on the top of his helmet to make him regret the flat top, while he can stab you frontally if you have little armor, or into the exposed armpit if you're wearing armor. Because since your arm has to be diagonal, you need to be pretty close to hit the flat top and your raised arm really exposes that side for a very very painful stab. It's certainly a blow the flat topped guy would regret catching, but attacking someone in that way requires half-swording or a mace and rather close distance.
KatakiDoragon The flat top was probably easier make and was used likely for the same reason as mail was used at the time instead of plate which is the fact that it's not necessarily faster or cheaper but generally easier to make. I heard a theory that before the black death there were more blacksmiths and armorers so mass producing equipment would have been easier and more effective whereas after that there were abviously less and they would have had to put more effort into the armors quality than quantity. Of course the time periods might not exactly match tough.
Everyone who has written "deus vult" quotes good classical Latin, but not the common phrase of the crusades. The contemporary exclamation was "deus lo vult". The people spoke medieval Latin.
Except when you get knocked on your back like a fucking turtle and your enemies dog-pile you and stab you in the bollocks repeatedly until you wish you were dead, as was the strategy for heavily armored foes. At that point a relatively benign blade through the neck seems rather agreeable.
Wife: I wanna put on something sexy tonight you know to make the bedroom more fun Me: I hope it is what I think it is Wife: doesn’t put on armor Me: I want a divorce
did you think about making a modem prototype helmet, using your knowledge, and testing with cardboard helmets... then make a helmet that you feel addresses problems you have come a cross...?
You have to remember that as a knight, you're on horseback and when you're riding a horse charging the enemy, you're not looking up or down very much anyway. You look ahead of you.
horses are tall so you need to be able to look down, you also need to be able to look down while dismounting your horse or if your horse died in battle and you are left on foot well you need that vision
@@darkfishthedestroyer139 Nope, you don't look down riding, nor dismounting. One of the principles of equine sports is to look ahead where you will be riding, doing this will transmit motion to the horse who if well trained will follow your motion. Looking down is not only unnecessary, it risks the rider, but also the horse to loose balance. As to dismounting (and mounting) mostly you would not be wearing a closed helmet at that time anyhow.
@@soleo2783 Modern equestrian arts are based on late medieval ones, particularly barock dressage which is really military training. And to lance someone on the ground you still would not have to look down, looking ahead will give you a good view a few meters ahead, no need to look down at your feet. Note: I had not seen Collin's reply. Yes, medieval horses were smaller than modern ones on average. Warhorses during the time of these three helmets ranged between about 15 and 16 hands (would have to look up details in 'The Medieval Horse and its Equipment' for exact statistics), a 2022 study largely confirmed this though it was misreported in many non scientific media.
Helmets generally are quite bothersome. Try sprinting with a modern military helmet. But ofc having no helmet would kinda suck once you get an arrow stuck in your eye
Were the flat topped helms perhaps easier to make? The flat plating requiring less time and skill to produce thant the arched, point-topped helms that came before and after?
Raising a pointy topped nasal helm is far far more work than making the flat top helmet, it's one of the reasons that a lot of the early examples are actually four separate plates with two central plates running on either axis to hold them together, it's quite a lot of skilled work to make a single piece helm like that without a welding torch. that said I'm not entirely sure about the construction techniques used to make the helmets of that period (my period of choice being closer to when the normans were originally marauding around wearing their nasal helms)
***** It seems like perhaps the idea, was to make the helmet easier to produce, thereby making it quicker and cheaper to bang them out in greater numbers, to outfit large numbers of troops. Given the period of the crusades, with all those soldiers, not just the knights who needed to be supplied with arms and armour, it stands to reason the smiths would look to a means of better supplying them all and winning bigger orders for themselves.
Pretty sure the flat top was on account of making the thing from an actual cooking pot. No proof or anything, just thinking of what china did to try an boost their economy (melt everything that goes clank!)
Runs one argument, yes. Flat top takes more metal, though, and the join/corner is awkward, and besides, they had very skilled smiths. It's amazing how quickly a good smith can shape a horseshoe and get it to fit perfectly.
Lindybeige Maybe I am mistaken but I do recall reading it was not a smith problem but a steel/iron quality problem that was only overcome late in the Middle Ages.
MarvelDcImage - This is what I was thinking as well. Perhaps flat tops were simply cheaper to make. As a Crusader with limited coin to spend, would it be better to have a flat top and a shield, or a conical helm and no shield? Or as a feudal lord with a limited number of blacksmiths and/or time to prepare, perhaps it came down to a choice of armoring your 1,000 men-at-arms with slightly inferior flat tops or armoring only 500 with superior conical helmets and the rest go without helmets (I'm making up numbers, but you get the point).
Lindybeige I think there was a difference between blacksmiths and weapons smiths the way an auto mechanic is different from an airplane or space rocket mechanic and thus more expensive. But your humble town smith could cobble together and rivet a simple design I imagine.
LINDYBEIGE! (Triumphant music) - Gotta love that. I currently live in Israel and I did a bit of studies in history and archaeology here over the years. I can tell you that on hot summer days, I never, ever, fail to think about what it must have been like for crusaders wearing full armor in this country. I cannot actually fathom the heat stress they must have been under wearing all that steel. It must have literally felt like being in an oven. What stuns me even more, when I think about it, is how much _more_ of a shock it must have been to the Crusaders who came over from Europe. They had never even conceived of heat and humidity this brutal. It truly must have been a living hell for most of them in the summer (Well, for those in full armor. Most soldiers couldn't afford full armor of course).
The 'full armor' back then would be nothing but a chainmail, it's only in later medieval period that the elaborate plate armor would be invented. The only difference would be that a knight would wear a full set of mail including hoses and mittens and a coif, and an ordinary soldier would probably only have a mail coat or a single coif (if he could even afford mail in the first place, but hey, looting was pretty common, too). You are right, though, the heat there was incredible compared to what they've probably been accustomed to.
The VAST majority of crusaders were common folk, wearing quilted clothing and a metal helmet at best (see for instance the army of Peter the hermit). A lot of richer crusaders tried selling their armor (mail) halfway through because it was too heavy and hot. I imagine a lot of them didn't wear their armor all the time.
***** Well they obviously didn't walk around in armor the whole time :) It's not like it's a uniform, they usually only wore it during battle, although you could imagine how exhausting it is to actively swing your sword for a while in the heat.
My old man has been to Mecca and he tells me it was uber hot. It makes me wonder what the local Muslims would wear going to war. I do think that the weather was a severed tactical advantage to the Muslims. If you look at the armor the Muslims wore, they were just as protective as the ones Crusaders wore but they were rather open.
Actually the metal mail isolates you from the heat. I don't know about the plate armor, works probably the same way. It's like with cooking pot - which absorbs the heat from the open fire, and slowly give it to whatever is inside, if it wasn't for that, you would get thing grilled. Experiment needed for summer, take a cooking pot, piece of cloth inside it, turn it upside down, stick some big fruit into it (depending on the size of the pot, can be watermelon) and leave it like that on the open sun for couple hours. Then "control group" fruit left alone next to it. Come back few hours later, and check which fruit is warmer. Lloyd even made a video when he said it's pretty good wearing an armor during the summer, yet not that great during the winter. I personally checked that, and yes - it's a myth, it's actually way cooler in the armor. The problem is helmet, they usually don't have a hole near your mouth, so your breathing quickly makes it moisty inside, and quite uncomfortable. But then again, I'm just a person.
Since you generally dont seem to be fond of this helmet type (fully enclosed), could it be for intimidation? Creating fear in the enemy that are unable to see your face? Even in this video i have difficulties seeing your eyes and youre not even moving. I'd like to see the face of my opponent, i mean you can tell a lot about what is going on in your opponents mind aswell, by seeing his face, looking him in the eyes. Does he look exhausted, is he actually intimidated by me fighting him fiercely? I never LARPed, but i would imagine that in fighting (like in playing poker) eyes and facial expressions can tell you a lot about the enemies mindset and it can help predicting his movements (sure his movements alone help with that, too). Or did the Saracens like to shoot a ton of arrows? So the crusaders though, well, we might not be able to move in this stuff, but at least we dont receive critically arrow hits. Plus, on a horse you're movement is quite hindered already... and your horse is probably doing the hard work all alone, anyway (trampling them down). I know that was bit later, but the Teutonic knights also looked very mystical in their helmets. Some wore horns on them (according to pictures that i've seen in books and on google). That might explain the flat top design, as in, it's easier to attach a (3D) miniature of Lord's banner emblem (a bear, a swan, bull head, wings, feathers, you name it), just like the Teutonics did with their horns? I'd rather have a flat top, than having to bend or carve the miniature bottom, in order to fit it on the conic helmet design... just some thoughts, i didnt do research.
People need to remember that these great helms were worn on top of a round helmet often called a skull cap. The helmet on top didn't need to be round to deflect the blow, and you can't pierce both. The second helmet was there in case you needed to remove your great helm for better visibility or other reasons. They were worn on a cord so they could be slung over the shoulder went not worn, so you wouldn't lose it. Their main purpose was deflecting lances and other heavy blows in the initial charge, and removed if necessary afterwards.
Just a quick note for those wondering if these aren't too heavy: It really depends on how long you wear them, and in any case is a risk-reward equation. To a horseman staring a lance in the face would possibly prefer a heavier helmet. My modern example would be a Russian helmet from the early '90s, the Altyn. Designed primarily for breach-and-clear runs by the FSB, it came with a welding-glass like visor and weighed a *ton.* Operatives repeatedly stated they could only wear the damn thing for about an hour. The thing is this; there were two variants, a titanium and an aluminum alloy. Every man given the choice took the heavier helmet, reducing his ability to move and see but at the same time bettering his chances of eating a 7.62 Russian and living to tell the tale. For a lancer, the situation is similar: they don't face constant danger in a melee, they face a short sharp burst of violence and as such a heavier helmet that you can later take off is a small price to pay for increased safety.
Its like anything ....steel cap workboots seem heavy to a child or old person....wear them all day for a month and you dont notice....add a tool bag etc....some schoolkids on sportsday, carry in scale...more than a trooper....as well as a laptop.
I wore the standard issue U.S. Army M1 helmet of the early 70's. Steel, not composite. Weighed about 2 1/2 pounds and was 1/8" thick.Your neck got stronger and you got used to it. After about a month, it didn't bother me.
+nGon- There wouldn´t be enough time between reaction and outcome given how long it takes to process and move especially since that one arrow that randomly hits you will be one of hundreds incoming randomly, so impossible to make out before it´s too late. There´s the reflex of blinking though which may be fast enough, not sure if it helps in any way getting killed with closed eyes compared to open though. lol Also no one aimed at slits, archers shot in formation at an army at range not some single guy at close range. If you have a single archer shooting at you and you´re prepared for him and that single arrow to focus on to look away from, yeah sure...which has 0 to do with a realistic battlefield scenario^^
+Daniel MacLean Afaik they didn't were the full helmets in close combat. It was meant for the initial cavalry attack. You would take it off once you engage in close combat. The helmet was chained to the armor so it didn't get lost and you would wear a smaller helmet beneath it.
+MacX1985 Not exactly though. Heavy infantry also wore full helmets. I think you guys are approaching this like a fencer, the same as the guy in the video, and don't appreciate how much trouble you'd have to penetrate a full suit of steel. Slashing attacks won't do anything, trying to stab through it is impossible if the guy is standing, because he'd sooner be moved than for the weapon to pierce. In fact, sword fighting between fully armoured knights was nothing like fencing or how the holywood movies protray it. They stab at eachother as if their swords are pool cues, aiming for the unarmoured or non plated parts of the armour. Needless to say, the eyeslids were very popular targets. Yes, heavier weapons were invented to counter (think twohanded), but even with a halbard or a warhammer, it'd be hard to kill a man in full plate. (it's why a lot of those weapons were also designed to hook behind a foot, and tackle. Much easier to pierce the armour if the knight is on his back. ((a much better counter was a rapier in skilled hands actually, which is weird because of all the fencing stuff I assumed)) Knights really were the tanks of the battlefield, and leatherarmour or even mail armour didn't hold a candle to a full plate suit with so few weak points. They could afford to see less.
+MacX1985 Absolutely right about those. Should've figured you meant that seeing how the video is about them ;). I feel the need to add though, that it was also very hard to breath in those.. couple that with an unrelentless sun cooking you in your armour (not uncommon in the theater this helm was used), and the exertion of close combat.. and you'll be dead on your feet or horse within minutes.
I do believe that the reason helmets became so popular is that hearing is a reasonable trade off for keeping your head on your shoulders. Lets you do more hearing overall if you live longer.
1:17 - it’s probably a advantage to not the ground, imagine while you fighting you accidentally step on the head of you dead friend which few minutes ago he was still alive .
Part of this however is simply incorrect. The sugarloaf was just a variant of the Great Helm, it was not the dominant helm, even into the 14th century. So-called bucket helms remained in use for about two centuries, probably the most well documented example of a late Great Helm is the Black Prince's armor. Instead they developed a stacked, staggered skullcap in the 14th century, a slightly conical top that bled into an angle before reaching the main face-plate. Lloyd also forgot to mention that Great Helms, at least the two that he showed, were not primary helmets, but secondary helms. They were worn over a metal skullcap in that era, and typically worn just in the charge. After the charge they'd whisk them off, remaining connected to their bodies by metal chain. Thereby they could properly fight with a sword, and would slap the helmet back on their heads when the protection was needed, such as against arrow fire or spears.
The skullcaps (cervellieres, to use the technical term) weren't always worn. Also, many great helms had top-hinged "klappvisier" faceplates that could be lifted to allow for better vision while still keeping most of the helmet's protection for the back, sides, and top of the head.
Here's a thought on flat-top helms; there is significantly more empty air between the head and the helm. This may have provided some benefits when it came to cooling, but ultimately was not efficient enough to make it worth the drawbacks of the style. I wonder if there is another development that made them willing to make the shift, such as going from woolen to cotton arming caps.
I'd say the flat helm was a cost-saving measure. If you're on a horse, vertical blows to the head are rare because of your height. Domed helmets are very time-consuming to raise out of a flat plate.
The flat helmet is considerably easier to manifacture than the latter type. So, my speculation is: - they started with a cheap design, but gradually realized that the enemy was strong and investing in better armor was worth it. - Crusades were becoming more frequent, thus the industry to back them up grew as well and made complex designs affordable.
I keep thinking that the sugarloaf style of helmet would be better at deflecting a blow like you say, but that the deflected blow would likely send the sword down into the wearers shoulder, no?
I wear a helm with curved sides like the Sugarloaf, and I find a properly fitted helm tends to deflect those blows right past your shoulder, or the skip off the maille below it. What sucks is that every so often a blow comes in at just the right angle to hit the steel at 90' on and torque your neck. Not so fun.
The shoulder is also armored. Plus, the blow has lost some of its energy and has already been deflected so it's more likely to just glance off the shoulder as well.
I have a theory that the flat-topped helmet is optimal for mounted combat and the sugarloaf is optimal for sieges. It's unlikely that anyone would hit you on the top of your head when you're sitting on a very large horse, but it's QUITE likely that people would be dropping stones and things on your head during a castle assault. It may also come down to manufacturing costs. The sloped cap of the sugarloaf helmet has to be made skillfully in one piece and sized to the wearer's head, while the flat-topped helmet could be mass-produced and adjusted to fit the wearer's head afterward by changing the thickness of the padding underneath. This makes the helmet cheaper, and possibly even semi-disposable - you wear it in high-risk situations like a cavalry charge, then take it off when you get into a melee where you'd want more situational awareness. Probably they would be stamped with the knight's "nametape" on the inside so that he could find it again after the battle.
Well, I'm French and with you translate literally "chapelle de fer" in English, you have something like "iron church", it's a poetic description, I guess…
@@wouter.de.ruiter Maybe… I've never heard "chapelle" in French for small hat but… Why not, after all ? Old French is sometime quite different of modern French.
I would personally take what Lindy's saying about eye-slits with a grain of salt. I've seen examples of the second and third helmets with far bigger eye holes.
The flat tops look like they'd be easier to construct, Idk much about medieval blacksmithing but a rounded helmet that appears to be one whole piece of metal i feel would be difficult to hammer out, where the flat tops look like a lot more pieces all put together
Lindy pulls out the helmet with the smaller eye slits that prevent a spear or sword from being stuck right into your face "I like this one considerably less, I can't see"
+tirips etihw If I remember I belive it was a pure fashion statement. I'm a member of a pretty much international 12th Centruy Living History society called Historia Normannis.
Flat top designs were due to being only afforded by the nobility, who was fighting mounted and a blow to the top was not a concern. Low visibility/hearing as well, as they only needed to ride and the clatters of horse hooves was loud enough to reach them. The pointy-read design evolved as they started to fight dismounted more often, as they found their heavy cavalry often sabotaged by light cavalry of the enemy.
A couple of things. First off, the eyeslits on the first helmet are actually very inaccurate and were historically made much, much narrower - just about the size of those on the second helmet. Such tall eyeslits are more than enough for an arrow point to fit in. Second, you probably wouldn't find yourself wearing this type of helmet anywhere except for while on horseback in a cavalry charge. It's definitely not an infantry helmet and is very inconvenient for fighting on foot. In a way they are similar to great helms (they're in fact the predecessors of the latter).
I was also thinking that these helmets were probably only worn by the cavalry (who are in turn the richer members of the crusade) the less well to do infantry quite possibly just used Norman style nasal helms possibly with an aventail to provide some facial protection.
Important to remember these helmets weren't assembled on factory lines and probably hade a variety of eye-hole shapes and sizes, hand-made by many individual blacksmiths. Second point I agree 100%, these strike me as mostly cavalry helmets, and I wonder if many knights didn't prefer the Norman style helmets when preparing to fight on foot
***** The "dagger/arrow through the eyeslit" is most likely movie fodder and probably didn't happen that often. Your opponent isn't going to sit still and let you stab him in the eye.
A reasonable guess as to why crusaders used flat top helmets inbetween uses of rounded tops is the rounded tops in many cases had to be hammered into shape which was long hard and expensive work while simply riveting (for lack of a better word) metal to metal at an angle was very easy and cheaper to make
Great. These are terrible helmets. Why couldn’t they use the eyeslits and curved cheek protectors from the first helmet so they could see better in the later helmets? Makes no sense these bad designs would last for generations.
Having fought in both the the great helm and the sugarloaf, you get use to the visibility fairly quickly. After using them and going to a t-cut Barboot, spainghelm or a norman helm you feel like you have spidey sense.
Was it really worth it wearing this helmets? From what I can see you'd be severely handicapped in a fight wearing one of these. Seems to be that wearing an open faced helmet would be far more sensible in any fight
***** well of course you'd be less protected. But Seeing what your opponent is doing is everything in a fight. I guess they must've managed somehow, but I don't even see how you can properly respond to an opponent with such limited vision and hearing. Hell some guy could from running at you from the side and you'd have no idea. Ideally yea, you want something that can be either lifted or eaily discarded. So that you can have more protection if you're being shot at with arrows
StealthKab I don't know. How long did these formations hold? In my mind I can imagine i geting quite chaotic and strict lines would quickly fall. But maybe I'm underestimating how structured armies atthe time were
We'll it worked, I can't imagine that anyone would actually keep using the helmet if the first one killed the wearer. If only we can organize some kind of mock battle with everyone using those helmets than maybe we can get some sort of idea as to what it was actually like.
what we need is to interview a real crusader from the past so we can ask him these questions
Quick! Grab the Delorean
sofullofpiss I feel like I'm missing context, like a fuck ton of context.
sofullofpiss that answers none of my questions but ok.
sofullofpiss I dont know why but this retared fucking comment made me laugh
But most of them didn't speak what we could call english today anyways.
I can imagine medieval battles being pretty loud with all the bashing, metal-ringing, screaming and dying, so not being able to hear so well might be of some advantage.
I can imagine actual battles being pretty loud with all the explosion, gun sound, bullet detonation, screaming and dying.
It might be an advantage unless you're the one screaming
Viking reenactor here, it’s quite accurate all the bashing. I’m not sure about crusader battles but I assume there’s even more metal ringing and bashing in that period since there’s more metal used.
@@cazek445 Viking reenactor? Are the blades blunted, or is the armor just really strong? IM unsure on what would happen during a battle.
@@clientsname2933 the blades are very blunted, usually with a round bit on the end. And we wear thick gambisons (not accurate) but usually we hit the buckle of a shield to not damage the opponents shield. and that creates a bang. Thats also why usually a persons buckle (the metal middle) is way more damaged then the wood. Usually the wood is used against spears and slices.
The helmets are needed to be more then 2 mm thick, to protect blows, but helmet banging is rare. Yes, some reenactment groups allow head hitting, and that creates a bang. But in viking reenactment most groups dont allow it, but usually head hitting is accidental.
But most of the time you hear bongs against wood. Its hard to explain what you hear.
"We will invade Jerusalem at noon"
The entire army: 4:53
What
I don't get it
@@nedsteven4622 thanks
Lmfao
*insert Wookiee Noises*
Why Jerusalem?
"The best choice for fighting Saracens and beheading heretics!"
-Your friendly neighbourhood crusader
Cowards weapon
Sam The Sham just to add to what you stated it’s not like knight were scrubs they trained from a very young age for battle and they would be very proficient in the use of their weapons and very comfortable in their armor even more so when talking about the order of the knights Templars.
Do you all really think that you can fight with this piece of iron on your head with almost no visibility under the heat of July on a vast stretch of desert????
Your ancestors thought the same and see what happened to them.
Good luck.
@@2deep5u
Desert on our side? What are we? Some kind of magicians who can bring sandstorm? We have God on our side. And what do we have to do with the battle of Poitier anyway?
@New King
You were deployed to defend?? Seriously? And how exactly? By looting trade caravans? Killing civilians when you took the city? Wow! So honourable and holy of you. And which crusade you actually won? You were utterly destroyed in second crusade, annihilate in third crusade and by the time of fourth, you didn't even reached middle East properly. Sorry to say but your ancestors were so treacherous that they spread false rumours around Europe after the battle of mansoorah. Just ask yourself why the shepherd crusade started?
And speaking of Richard, if God was on his side why did he return to England without even setting a foot in the city of Al Quds? Your ancestors used the notion of crusade to declare war on own fellow Christians, sacking of Constantinople and northern crusades are to name a few.
And what peace you're talking about mate? Christians could never maintain peace in that land, history is witness that the city of Al Quds has remained in peace only under Muslim rule.
And no you were not outnumbered or out equipped, crusade of nicopolis, crusade of Varna are good examples. In fact whenever the crusade was fought, it was actually the entire Europe versus Salahuddin alone. When it was fought in Europe, it was almost entire Europe versus the Ottomans alone. Please, do some reading when you get time from wearing your tin can. Battle of yarmouk, another example of Muslims being outnumbered and out equipped. And there are many, but I hope you're these battle names first time as your ancestors were so good in hiding embarrassment.
So are you telling me that the scene of monty python in wich arthur, the king of the britons, bashed the flat top of the helmet of the black knight and stunned him is somewhat realistic?
So you are telling me Stalin uses UA-cam?
Bilimin Sırları He used time travel
Congratulations on your 60th like my communist comrade!
Ni
Carl Trotter this is the internet, Communists are sex toys here
2:36
I like when he starts wearing this helmet and braces it with his thumb. It looks like a medieval reporter out in the field.
News anchor: "We now go to our reporter out in the field, Alfonsus. Alfonsus."
Alfonsus: "Thank you Pierre. As you can see the sun is beating down on us and many of the crusaders are suffering from heat stroke."
Pierre: "I can tell. I'm feeling a little parched myself from watching you out there."
Alfonsus: "Couldn't agree more. We will be taking Jerusalem fairly soon so hopefully when you hear from us again it will be from Mount Zion. Back to you Pierre."
Pierre: "Thank you Alfonsus. I like the enthusiasm. Deus Vult and hope to hear from you soon."
This is so funny and underrated
A scholar wearing a blue sallet with "Presse" written across the forehead...lmao
This made me crack up more than anything XD
And now Abraham, with the weather. Abraham?
@@mass3760its hot back to you
Maybe the flat tops were used to cook flapjacks on campaign.
A lot of walking and traveling in those wars
cook a steak
+smokeydasharky
mmm...camel steak!
Ham and eggs for breakfast does not work in the desert, right?
That begs a question, how does the metal not get heated up in the desert sun. Kindve like a car hood.
"It doesn't ring like a bell because it's got my head stuffed in it."
I want that on a tee shirt now.
I want me in that T shirt
Tee?
Milos Ivanov
THERE A PROBLEM!?!?? ITS TEE TIME!!!
Juxtavarious T-shirt*
*"Put it on a shirt!"*
Ah, so you've got a chess piece, Swaggersouls, and the Whiterun guard. Fascinating.
@That Guy Again Wait.. I know you
You’ve disobeyed the jarl what do you say in defense
\[T]/
You have commited crimes against Skyrim and her people what say you in your defence
Minitomick I knew I did it wrong.
"Hypotesis: the flat helm design was so that they didn't mess up their trendy flat-top haircuts"
Every warrior will tell you: style>protection
Polnareff pre-tortoise approves
Rule 1: look cool
@@tdoyr2119 polnareff was a stardust crusader so…..
Dark Souls players will agree
0:57 PRAISE THE SUN
\[T]/
You pagan!
420 praise it
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
You called??
2:19
- I'll take this one, please.
- Anything else?
- Jerusalem.
Not while I’m watching 😁
The Dead Night King now I feel like a dick head , am sorry
The Dead Night King no problem bro
@@IsraelCountryCube Привет и Скажи мне Был Крестовый а поход на Персию🇮🇷⚔🇪🇦✝️⚔☪️Иран🇮🇷⚔🇪🇦✝️⚔☪️🇮🇶⚔🇨🇵🇻🇦✝️
@@ГрустныйДобряк nobody gives a shit :D
" I don't need to look up for my father in heaven looks for me DEUS VULT!!!"
I fucking hate the crusaders but they had pretty cool armour
@@dfgfdgdfgfdg2902 why the hate?
@@rustaholic2546 because they occupied the capital of romans in forth crusade campaign
@@rustaholic2546 the rape and murder wasn't great
@@josephmadre5590 i mean every armies in the past did the same atrocities. It s nothing special.
In case of a sudden Crusade, which helmet you would advice me to get?
I suspect he wont answer you....so....for you...as a pan german, muslim encouraging neonazi....no helmet at all.....but if you are deep down a defender of western values....a kevlar or carbon steel german WW1 coal scuttle type...with sniper plate....and grenades.
*Every helmet*
The second one is I C O N I C
@@yoleau131 real life isn't dark souls you know, you don't get to see yourself from behind yourself.
@@yoleau131 yeah, I agree. How did soldiers even see through the other ones.
Blacksmith: "if you experience any problems with this design of the helmet, let me know."
Crusader: Doesn't tell the blacksmith about his broken neck.
Mystery solved.
Lol
My thoughts as an amateur historian and armouro on flat top helmsr: If you could afford a helmet, you were probably a nobleman, and a knight. If you were a nobleman and knight, you probably were on a horse. Mounted knights dont get hit with heavy melee weapons on the top of the head too often, it is more likely to be a hit from a polearm or lance. Therefore, the flat top helm that is horrible for foot combat works well enough for mounted combat
Still be shoddy in sieges, for a knight. Arrows from walls would turn your head into a porcupine
Most foot soldiers could afford or were given a helmet. It was really the one piece of essential armor. However, I take your point in that the only people you see depicted with flat-top helms like that were knights, so it was probably intended primarily for mounted combat.
@@brucetucker4847 not helmet like that, this was the best of the best for the templar
It was primarily a defense against the couched lance.
Once lances were expended, time to doff the bucket and use the skullcap that eventually became the bascinet for the sword melee.
It also gradually refined in its small details even before it grew into the great-helm, which was indeed bigger... and less cylindrical, becoming rather flattened laterally. Before evolving into the frog mouth.
Let's go fight in the desert dressed in chainmail that heats in the sun and with massive toasters on our heads! Huzzah!!
They used clothing on top of armor to diminish the effects of that, but yes they weren't very effective, there is a reason why most of the crusades were a failure.
In a battle, you would die more quickly without armor, I think.
There was this cloth hat thingy that you see in some pictures, though Idk what they were called.
It was the age of real men, and frankly i am really glad i did not live then. Plus i like toilet paper and sanitation
SnowCrash Heh, agreed. So often it's the 'small' things that people don't consider - I was reading the other day about how in Tudor times (and presumably before and after then) people at the royal court just pissed and shit behind the curtains! And forget about washing their hands afterwards. Uggh, no thanks.
Helmet 1: DEUS VULT!
Helmet 2: DEUS VULT! AVE MARIA!
Helmet 3: DEUS VULT!! AVE MARIA!! *powerwolf in the name of God intensifies*
We will take Jerusalem
@@KleinerGrenadier DEUS VULT DEUS VULT DEUS VULT DEUS VULT DEUS VULT
@@Ciaran3681 yes crusader brother, we will crush the heresy
@@KleinerGrenadier fuck off 🖕
@@ozanshijin8094 ah yes a infidel I see
2:40
Oh..Hello there,i will stay behind to gaze at the sun 🌞
The sun is a wondrous body
Like a magnificent father
If only i could be so grossly encandecent
\[T]/
Toon Link praise the sun🌞🌞🌞🌞
A F praise the sun 🌞🌞🌞🌞
Praise the Sun!!
PRAISE THE SUN!!!
DEUS VULT! END THEM RIGHTLY!
+spartan1010101 you mean by throwing your pommel at them?
Pascal Berg damn straight.
The trajectory of a pommel is not damn straight, you charlatan! Pariah! Vagabond!
+Aramiro but if you throw it. hard enough it has the same effect as a bodkin arrow
Pascal Berg It's all about the arc!
Theoretically, it might be economically cheaper and easier to produce flat-top helmets than rounded or sugar loafed designs. After all, the flat-top you show here appears to be just a flat-piece of steel riveted onto a fairly simple bucket design, compared to the others which all appear to be one piece. Perhaps black smithing techniques improved to the point that manufacturing sugarloafs and complete helmets became easier and thereby cheaper, so the flat-top was retired as a result?
I was thinkign the same thing. Dint they need to mass produce these helmets and other armor in rapit speed since it was the first crusade?
That’s exactly what I thought. Lack of skilled smiths too.
@@DragoBeam Mass produce for who? These helmets would already be the msot expensive around so only a Knight could buy them. most of the time anyways
@@The_ZeroLine lack of skilled smiths? I doubt it.
The problem I see in that theory is that I think footmen of the time tended to still wear sugarloaf nasal helms, while the usually much more wealthy cavalrymen, like knights, tended to wear the flat tops. And the fact that knights use to wear nasal helms too. And a knight of the 13th century is more materially wealthy then a 11th century knight on average.
I can tell you one advantage of the flat top helmets. They look really fucking cool.
QuietBox,
That and they are just right for carrying books or a pail
of water on top of your head.
Iron Helms fucking rule!
2:37 when you want to make a video but you have to DEUS VULT at 5
Deus vult = lose wars. Learn your history
SHHEESH jihad= lose wars. Watch the news
ramO 1995 holy shit you killed him
Jihad= predator drone strike
@@smartiechuco Deus Vult
Instruction unclear.
I ended up cooking pancakes on the flat top helmet
Instructions unclear, ended up surrounded by horse archers instead
Instructions unclear, head severed and out in helmet
Instructions unclear, used flat top helmet as a chair
Did they taste good
SHHEESH instructions unclear led holy crusade against Canada
So... not wearing a helmet in battle appears to be a stupid idea, because any blow to the head is sure to kill you.
But... wearing a helmet in battle also seems like a stupid idea, since you can't see or hear properly, and it's hot and heavy, and it hampers your breathing quite a bit, and puts strain on your neck...
Huh... I'm lost. Medieval fashion is a lot harder to wrap your head around than I figured...
Then pray for the enemy not to put archers on the field.
wimp....even a squire would'nt think like that....run to the hills....or toughen up....how do modern soldiers manage...?
Wait for the 15th century
It was more of a trade-off. Trade comfort for protection. Body armor today isn't exactly light. But the weight is worth it for the protection it gives.
You just need to wear the right helmet:
www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjG1ciepeTdAhVLhOAKHfKzD4MQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.123rf.com%2Fphoto_77477637_realistic-3d-render-of-medieval-helmet.html&psig=AOvVaw06s4jp5jdlKBcEOYcEeWIz&ust=1538450518330980
This would protect your head without restricting your movement or visibility.
Maybe the flat tops were quicker to produce for the large amounts of soldiers
They were. 🤗
im not sure because unlike a modern army, soldiers back then would provide their own armor for themselves, but i can see that your explanation can also work but instead of mass producing for an army, they would be cheaper to be made for a poorer soldier or knight
They were made for less epic polnareffs
@Menacing JoJo reference, nice
@@tdoyr2119 discount polnereffs with discount rapiers
Me: **watches mordhau video once**
UA-cam: THAT'S WHAT YOU NEED
I watched a metal song once and got ads for funeral services for weeks.
Same boat as me.
*Goes Brrrrrrr*
This is indeed what you need. May you spiral down the UA-cam knight rabbit hole.
DEUS VULT
_Alrerst lebe ich mir werde_-
*Crusading intensifies
Alfred Von reiterstien Ave Maria, Ave Maria, Ave Maria
htf5555 Shalom
+Alfred Von reiterstien
NON NOBUS DOMINE
Could the flat top have been an attempt to mass produce the helmets, and so use less materials? I don't imagine it'd save much, but hey, churn out 10 flat topped helmets, and perhaps you've saved enough metal to make an eleventh one, with all those conical tops you've not been making!
Perhaps to the detriment of the troop, but as you mentioned a blow DIRECTLY to the top of the head probably wasn't particularly common.
I am tall, and I find it easy to hit people on the top of the head. Using an axe helps too, because the head can reach over to the top of the head.
Lindybeige Well I guess just give the tall people these helmets.
KatakiDoragon I don't know much about blacksmith techniqes, but I could imagine this flat top is easier and faster to produce, which would aid a production in large numbers
Lindybeige The problem is, while you're aiming to hit the other fellow on the top of his helmet to make him regret the flat top, while he can stab you frontally if you have little armor, or into the exposed armpit if you're wearing armor. Because since your arm has to be diagonal, you need to be pretty close to hit the flat top and your raised arm really exposes that side for a very very painful stab. It's certainly a blow the flat topped guy would regret catching, but attacking someone in that way requires half-swording or a mace and rather close distance.
KatakiDoragon The flat top was probably easier make and was used likely for the same reason as mail was used at the time instead of plate which is the fact that it's not necessarily faster or cheaper but generally easier to make. I heard a theory that before the black death there were more blacksmiths and armorers so mass producing equipment would have been easier and more effective whereas after that there were abviously less and they would have had to put more effort into the armors quality than quantity. Of course the time periods might not exactly match tough.
All i think of is SwaggerSouls
I_Do_Things_Sometimes 😂 ya
Me too
That's sad
@@dylanmonstrum1538 shut up boomer
@@dylanmonstrum1538 shut up boomer
Everyone who has written "deus vult" quotes good classical Latin, but not the common phrase of the crusades.
The contemporary exclamation was "deus lo vult". The people spoke medieval Latin.
But this is a common mistake in the Anglo-Saxon language area. Even in the English Wikipedia it is not quite correct.
Which is
Deus-god
Lo-it
Vult-wills
And with latin grammar converted to english: god wills it. Thanks Tanya
It has an early french influence.
In old french it’s deus Lo veult, exactly like Medieval Latin.
In school, we were taught Deus il vult with Deus lo vult also being seen. Of course, that was quite a while ago.
Sure, but DEUS VULT sounds much better
The flat toppers were probibly a bit Easyer to make
they were
i would rather pay my blacksmith a little more extra money to make it that cone shape than get my neck snapped
Now brothers.... Now we know what kind of helmets we need to retake Jerusalem!!! ✊🏼❤️
Stahlhelm M42 with Sandgelb camo?
Hell no you Christians and jews ain't takin it again
SAD BOI SUPREME you’re never getting it back.
@@bestuan We already did, where were you?
@@Monyato You can keep the Strip, you earned it..
Ever since I was a little kid, these have been my favourite helmet designs from an aesthetic perspective.
2:35
praise the sun!
[T]
+LarlemMagic
\[T]/
Illusory wall ahead
Williams 89
Try jumping.
+LarlemMagic How is your hamster Minsc?
Oh dear, how I loved to play that game...
Meanwhile in the distance:
*DEUS VULT*
If I see something I don't understand and it's in caps, I just assume it's about anime and ignore it.
@@Andrew-yl7lm while I get what you mean, it's Latin, nothing anime related
@@patricklewis9787 Aye of course, but I guarantee this phrase is from either an anime or a video game. That's why it's in caps lol
@@Andrew-yl7lm yeah gamers/weebs tend to be annoying like that lol
no wonder knights had PTSD. you would end up really Claustrophobic in that gear.
Alex Lusth I think it was more about the difficulty to breath rather than vision but idk
Just the opposite, I should think. I keep picturing a hail of arrows coming harmlessly down while I'm cozy and safe in my armor.
Im a claustrophile, so would I be a good knight?
Better than a sword in the eye
Except when you get knocked on your back like a fucking turtle and your enemies dog-pile you and stab you in the bollocks repeatedly until you wish you were dead, as was the strategy for heavily armored foes. At that point a relatively benign blade through the neck seems rather agreeable.
2:34
Son, have you been reading heresy recently?! UNACCEPTABLE!!!
*cocks remington with religious intent*
Wife: I wanna put on something sexy tonight you know to make the bedroom more fun
Me: I hope it is what I think it is
Wife: doesn’t put on armor
Me: I want a divorce
Sigh....they sure don't make Shield Maidens like they used to.
scott left agreed, my fair sir.
Chick's in Chainmail
2:20!
so incandescent.
Black Marvel praise the sun
Praise it!
\o/
*H U M A N I T Y*
*R E S T O R E D*
\[T]/
did you think about making a modem prototype helmet, using your knowledge, and testing with cardboard helmets... then make a helmet that you feel addresses problems you have come a cross...?
rommelfcc I see what you did there
You have to remember that as a knight, you're on horseback and when you're riding a horse charging the enemy, you're not looking up or down very much anyway. You look ahead of you.
horses are tall so you need to be able to look down, you also need to be able to look down while dismounting your horse or if your horse died in battle and you are left on foot well you need that vision
@@darkfishthedestroyer139 i might be wrong but i believe i heard somewhere that medieval horses were somewhat shorter than modern ones as well.
@@darkfishthedestroyer139 Nope, you don't look down riding, nor dismounting. One of the principles of equine sports is to look ahead where you will be riding, doing this will transmit motion to the horse who if well trained will follow your motion. Looking down is not only unnecessary, it risks the rider, but also the horse to loose balance. As to dismounting (and mounting) mostly you would not be wearing a closed helmet at that time anyhow.
@@caranorn In modern equine sports, you don't need to skewer a person on the ground with a lance, which is why you would look down
@@soleo2783 Modern equestrian arts are based on late medieval ones, particularly barock dressage which is really military training. And to lance someone on the ground you still would not have to look down, looking ahead will give you a good view a few meters ahead, no need to look down at your feet. Note: I had not seen Collin's reply. Yes, medieval horses were smaller than modern ones on average. Warhorses during the time of these three helmets ranged between about 15 and 16 hands (would have to look up details in 'The Medieval Horse and its Equipment' for exact statistics), a 2022 study largely confirmed this though it was misreported in many non scientific media.
Helmets generally are quite bothersome. Try sprinting with a modern military helmet. But ofc having no helmet would kinda suck once you get an arrow stuck in your eye
Modern military helmets are fine for sprinting
@@Shadow0fd3ath24 not really,depends on the helmet,also depends on how tight it is in your head
this post made by norman gang
Were the flat topped helms perhaps easier to make? The flat plating requiring less time and skill to produce thant the arched, point-topped helms that came before and after?
Raising a pointy topped nasal helm is far far more work than making the flat top helmet, it's one of the reasons that a lot of the early examples are actually four separate plates with two central plates running on either axis to hold them together, it's quite a lot of skilled work to make a single piece helm like that without a welding torch.
that said I'm not entirely sure about the construction techniques used to make the helmets of that period (my period of choice being closer to when the normans were originally marauding around wearing their nasal helms)
*****
It seems like perhaps the idea, was to make the helmet easier to produce, thereby making it quicker and cheaper to bang them out in greater numbers, to outfit large numbers of troops. Given the period of the crusades, with all those soldiers, not just the knights who needed to be supplied with arms and armour, it stands to reason the smiths would look to a means of better supplying them all and winning bigger orders for themselves.
Pretty sure the flat top was on account of making the thing from an actual cooking pot. No proof or anything, just thinking of what china did to try an boost their economy (melt everything that goes clank!)
Polnareff approves the final message. I will make a helmet tall enough for his dope haircut.
deus vult infidels
got your ass kicked xd
Cyber FOOD1 because i was alive back then you moron
They may have gotten their asses kicked in the end, but they sure kicked a lot of ass for a couple hundred years there.
They say they did.
MoeTheMonk yes they kicked a lot of civilian arse. Shame it ended when the real soldiers came in.
Conical metal is harder to smith. Flat tops were easier and thus cheaper.
Runs one argument, yes. Flat top takes more metal, though, and the join/corner is awkward, and besides, they had very skilled smiths. It's amazing how quickly a good smith can shape a horseshoe and get it to fit perfectly.
Lindybeige Maybe I am mistaken but I do recall reading it was not a smith problem but a steel/iron quality problem that was only overcome late in the Middle Ages.
MarvelDcImage - This is what I was thinking as well. Perhaps flat tops were simply cheaper to make. As a Crusader with limited coin to spend, would it be better to have a flat top and a shield, or a conical helm and no shield? Or as a feudal lord with a limited number of blacksmiths and/or time to prepare, perhaps it came down to a choice of armoring your 1,000 men-at-arms with slightly inferior flat tops or armoring only 500 with superior conical helmets and the rest go without helmets (I'm making up numbers, but you get the point).
Lindybeige I think there was a difference between blacksmiths and weapons smiths the way an auto mechanic is different from an airplane or space rocket mechanic and thus more expensive. But your humble town smith could cobble together and rivet a simple design I imagine.
RobertWF42 And let us not forget many crusaders had no armor - even many of the knights.
2:15 praise the sun 🌞
dark soul player 2333
LINDYBEIGE! (Triumphant music) - Gotta love that.
I currently live in Israel and I did a bit of studies in history and archaeology here over the years. I can tell you that on hot summer days, I never, ever, fail to think about what it must have been like for crusaders wearing full armor in this country. I cannot actually fathom the heat stress they must have been under wearing all that steel. It must have literally felt like being in an oven.
What stuns me even more, when I think about it, is how much _more_ of a shock it must have been to the Crusaders who came over from Europe. They had never even conceived of heat and humidity this brutal. It truly must have been a living hell for most of them in the summer (Well, for those in full armor. Most soldiers couldn't afford full armor of course).
The 'full armor' back then would be nothing but a chainmail, it's only in later medieval period that the elaborate plate armor would be invented. The only difference would be that a knight would wear a full set of mail including hoses and mittens and a coif, and an ordinary soldier would probably only have a mail coat or a single coif (if he could even afford mail in the first place, but hey, looting was pretty common, too). You are right, though, the heat there was incredible compared to what they've probably been accustomed to.
The VAST majority of crusaders were common folk, wearing quilted clothing and a metal helmet at best (see for instance the army of Peter the hermit).
A lot of richer crusaders tried selling their armor (mail) halfway through because it was too heavy and hot. I imagine a lot of them didn't wear their armor all the time.
*****
Well they obviously didn't walk around in armor the whole time :) It's not like it's a uniform, they usually only wore it during battle, although you could imagine how exhausting it is to actively swing your sword for a while in the heat.
My old man has been to Mecca and he tells me it was uber hot. It makes me wonder what the local Muslims would wear going to war. I do think that the weather was a severed tactical advantage to the Muslims. If you look at the armor the Muslims wore, they were just as protective as the ones Crusaders wore but they were rather open.
Actually the metal mail isolates you from the heat. I don't know about the plate armor, works probably the same way.
It's like with cooking pot - which absorbs the heat from the open fire, and slowly give it to whatever is inside, if it wasn't for that, you would get thing grilled.
Experiment needed for summer, take a cooking pot, piece of cloth inside it, turn it upside down, stick some big fruit into it (depending on the size of the pot, can be watermelon) and leave it like that on the open sun for couple hours. Then "control group" fruit left alone next to it. Come back few hours later, and check which fruit is warmer.
Lloyd even made a video when he said it's pretty good wearing an armor during the summer, yet not that great during the winter. I personally checked that, and yes - it's a myth, it's actually way cooler in the armor.
The problem is helmet, they usually don't have a hole near your mouth, so your breathing quickly makes it moisty inside, and quite uncomfortable.
But then again, I'm just a person.
The flat top doubled as a drinks tray.
When the Orochi Heavy attacks but you've already charged at him from across the map
Then he faints it and deflects your lunging attack
But you’re playing BP and you flip him to hell
Since you generally dont seem to be fond of this helmet type (fully enclosed), could it be for intimidation? Creating fear in the enemy that are unable to see your face? Even in this video i have difficulties seeing your eyes and youre not even moving. I'd like to see the face of my opponent, i mean you can tell a lot about what is going on in your opponents mind aswell, by seeing his face, looking him in the eyes. Does he look exhausted, is he actually intimidated by me fighting him fiercely? I never LARPed, but i would imagine that in fighting (like in playing poker) eyes and facial expressions can tell you a lot about the enemies mindset and it can help predicting his movements (sure his movements alone help with that, too).
Or did the Saracens like to shoot a ton of arrows? So the crusaders though, well, we might not be able to move in this stuff, but at least we dont receive critically arrow hits. Plus, on a horse you're movement is quite hindered already... and your horse is probably doing the hard work all alone, anyway (trampling them down).
I know that was bit later, but the Teutonic knights also looked very mystical in their helmets. Some wore horns on them (according to pictures that i've seen in books and on google). That might explain the flat top design, as in, it's easier to attach a (3D) miniature of Lord's banner emblem (a bear, a swan, bull head, wings, feathers, you name it), just like the Teutonics did with their horns? I'd rather have a flat top, than having to bend or carve the miniature bottom, in order to fit it on the conic helmet design... just some thoughts, i didnt do research.
2:17 my personal favorite
Guys with that helmet have 95% more chances of taking Jerusalem
DEUS VULT!
Deus lo vult?
Lyrical Lolibutt Deus vult!
God wills it!!!
+paul lima more like your face
Came here expecting to see at least one of these. Was not disappointed :)
you look badass in these helmets lindy
Nothing like a well sweater-ed intelligent man wearing a metal helmet to really get my gears grinding.
People need to remember that these great helms were worn on top of a round helmet often called a skull cap. The helmet on top didn't need to be round to deflect the blow, and you can't pierce both. The second helmet was there in case you needed to remove your great helm for better visibility or other reasons. They were worn on a cord so they could be slung over the shoulder went not worn, so you wouldn't lose it. Their main purpose was deflecting lances and other heavy blows in the initial charge, and removed if necessary afterwards.
Just a quick note for those wondering if these aren't too heavy: It really depends on how long you wear them, and in any case is a risk-reward equation. To a horseman staring a lance in the face would possibly prefer a heavier helmet. My modern example would be a Russian helmet from the early '90s, the Altyn. Designed primarily for breach-and-clear runs by the FSB, it came with a welding-glass like visor and weighed a *ton.* Operatives repeatedly stated they could only wear the damn thing for about an hour. The thing is this; there were two variants, a titanium and an aluminum alloy. Every man given the choice took the heavier helmet, reducing his ability to move and see but at the same time bettering his chances of eating a 7.62 Russian and living to tell the tale. For a lancer, the situation is similar: they don't face constant danger in a melee, they face a short sharp burst of violence and as such a heavier helmet that you can later take off is a small price to pay for increased safety.
Its like anything ....steel cap workboots seem heavy to a child or old person....wear them all day for a month and you dont notice....add a tool bag etc....some schoolkids on sportsday, carry in scale...more than a trooper....as well as a laptop.
I wore the standard issue U.S. Army M1 helmet of the early 70's. Steel, not composite. Weighed about 2 1/2 pounds and was 1/8" thick.Your neck got stronger and you got used to it. After about a month, it didn't bother me.
2:15 "Ah, hello. You don't look hollow, far from it."-Solaire of Astora, Dark Souls
"Hahaha!"
"Spot my summon signature easily by its brilliant aura. If you miss it, you must blind[ed by your helmet]!"- Solaire of Astora, Dark Souls
Was about to go into the comments and type Something about Solaire but you beat me to it. Respect.
You were going to write something like "If only I could be so grossly incandescent!" or "Praise the Sun!" ?
Thumbnail should be like:
*“Select your fighter to take back the holy land”*
To the people who disliked: "Repent Sinner!"
So they were so worried about potential eye injuries that they decided it was best to blind themselves with armour. Clever.
+nGon- There wouldn´t be enough time between reaction and outcome given how long it takes to process and move especially since that one arrow that randomly hits you will be one of hundreds incoming randomly, so impossible to make out before it´s too late. There´s the reflex of blinking though which may be fast enough, not sure if it helps in any way getting killed with closed eyes compared to open though. lol
Also no one aimed at slits, archers shot in formation at an army at range not some single guy at close range. If you have a single archer shooting at you and you´re prepared for him and that single arrow to focus on to look away from, yeah sure...which has 0 to do with a realistic battlefield scenario^^
+Daniel MacLean Afaik they didn't were the full helmets in close combat. It was meant for the initial cavalry attack. You would take it off once you engage in close combat. The helmet was chained to the armor so it didn't get lost and you would wear a smaller helmet beneath it.
+MacX1985 Not exactly though. Heavy infantry also wore full helmets. I think you guys are approaching this like a fencer, the same as the guy in the video, and don't appreciate how much trouble you'd have to penetrate a full suit of steel. Slashing attacks won't do anything, trying to stab through it is impossible if the guy is standing, because he'd sooner be moved than for the weapon to pierce. In fact, sword fighting between fully armoured knights was nothing like fencing or how the holywood movies protray it. They stab at eachother as if their swords are pool cues, aiming for the unarmoured or non plated parts of the armour. Needless to say, the eyeslids were very popular targets. Yes, heavier weapons were invented to counter (think twohanded), but even with a halbard or a warhammer, it'd be hard to kill a man in full plate. (it's why a lot of those weapons were also designed to hook behind a foot, and tackle. Much easier to pierce the armour if the knight is on his back. ((a much better counter was a rapier in skilled hands actually, which is weird because of all the fencing stuff I assumed)) Knights really were the tanks of the battlefield, and leatherarmour or even mail armour didn't hold a candle to a full plate suit with so few weak points. They could afford to see less.
Apkans To be more specific, I was talking about great helms.
+MacX1985 Absolutely right about those. Should've figured you meant that seeing how the video is about them ;). I feel the need to add though, that it was also very hard to breath in those.. couple that with an unrelentless sun cooking you in your armour (not uncommon in the theater this helm was used), and the exertion of close combat.. and you'll be dead on your feet or horse within minutes.
I do believe that the reason helmets became so popular is that hearing is a reasonable trade off for keeping your head on your shoulders. Lets you do more hearing overall if you live longer.
1:17 - it’s probably a advantage to not the ground, imagine while you fighting you accidentally step on the head of you dead friend which few minutes ago he was still alive .
Part of this however is simply incorrect. The sugarloaf was just a variant of the Great Helm, it was not the dominant helm, even into the 14th century. So-called bucket helms remained in use for about two centuries, probably the most well documented example of a late Great Helm is the Black Prince's armor. Instead they developed a stacked, staggered skullcap in the 14th century, a slightly conical top that bled into an angle before reaching the main face-plate.
Lloyd also forgot to mention that Great Helms, at least the two that he showed, were not primary helmets, but secondary helms. They were worn over a metal skullcap in that era, and typically worn just in the charge. After the charge they'd whisk them off, remaining connected to their bodies by metal chain. Thereby they could properly fight with a sword, and would slap the helmet back on their heads when the protection was needed, such as against arrow fire or spears.
The skullcaps (cervellieres, to use the technical term) weren't always worn. Also, many great helms had top-hinged "klappvisier" faceplates that could be lifted to allow for better vision while still keeping most of the helmet's protection for the back, sides, and top of the head.
0:30 bet they had full blown conversations with themselves.
can't even get Dental recite their coat of arms and practice until they get their right pitch
"I'm not scared.....I'm not afraid....god is with me....YAAA-A-A-A-A-A-A, GRRRR-R-R-R-R-R-R"!!"
Who needs to be in the mid-13th Century to battle Saracens!? DEUS VULT! AVE MARIA!
Guy with Cactus lmao youd lack the courage to do it in the 21st century
Don Antonio where is that written ?
dont be so sure....we are not encumbered by tribal loyalties....right from wrong is simple.
Don Antonio try us bitch non nobis domine
Guy with Cactus *DEVS LO VVLT
Flat is easier to make and it will take less materials.
Here's a thought on flat-top helms; there is significantly more empty air between the head and the helm. This may have provided some benefits when it came to cooling, but ultimately was not efficient enough to make it worth the drawbacks of the style. I wonder if there is another development that made them willing to make the shift, such as going from woolen to cotton arming caps.
They look so much bigger than the head. Are they supposed to fit snug or be bigger than the head?
Sometimes another, smaller helmet was worn under a great helm
Spartacus Sauce can i have the link for that info?
(Wanna have proof because that sound very unlikly)
2:15 as soon as it came into frame PRAISE THE SUN
I'd say the flat helm was a cost-saving measure. If you're on a horse, vertical blows to the head are rare because of your height. Domed helmets are very time-consuming to raise out of a flat plate.
The flat helmet is considerably easier to manifacture than the latter type.
So, my speculation is:
- they started with a cheap design, but gradually realized that the enemy was strong and investing in better armor was worth it.
- Crusades were becoming more frequent, thus the industry to back them up grew as well and made complex designs affordable.
I keep thinking that the sugarloaf style of helmet would be better at deflecting a blow like you say, but that the deflected blow would likely send the sword down into the wearers shoulder, no?
yes, but you also have armor on your shoulders, plus, it's better to end up with broken shoulder then a broken neck, right? :D
I wear a helm with curved sides like the Sugarloaf, and I find a properly fitted helm tends to deflect those blows right past your shoulder, or the skip off the maille below it. What sucks is that every so often a blow comes in at just the right angle to hit the steel at 90' on and torque your neck. Not so fun.
Broken neck or a broken collarbone, easy choice if you ask me
The shoulder is also armored. Plus, the blow has lost some of its energy and has already been deflected so it's more likely to just glance off the shoulder as well.
I have a theory that the flat-topped helmet is optimal for mounted combat and the sugarloaf is optimal for sieges. It's unlikely that anyone would hit you on the top of your head when you're sitting on a very large horse, but it's QUITE likely that people would be dropping stones and things on your head during a castle assault.
It may also come down to manufacturing costs. The sloped cap of the sugarloaf helmet has to be made skillfully in one piece and sized to the wearer's head, while the flat-topped helmet could be mass-produced and adjusted to fit the wearer's head afterward by changing the thickness of the padding underneath. This makes the helmet cheaper, and possibly even semi-disposable - you wear it in high-risk situations like a cavalry charge, then take it off when you get into a melee where you'd want more situational awareness. Probably they would be stamped with the knight's "nametape" on the inside so that he could find it again after the battle.
Well, I'm French and with you translate literally "chapelle de fer" in English, you have something like "iron church", it's a poetic description, I guess…
if you are literal, then yes, it means iron chapel. but I assume it's a play on the word chapeau, so little iron hat
@@wouter.de.ruiter Maybe… I've never heard "chapelle" in French for small hat but… Why not, after all ? Old French is sometime quite different of modern French.
Would you prefer an L with that Fer?
"Should you ever find yourself in the Middle East battling Saracens in the mid 13th century..." I should hope to be so lucky to.
This time we WILL let the Mongols help.
DEUS VULT!
So conq and warden are crusaders?
I would personally take what Lindy's saying about eye-slits with a grain of salt. I've seen examples of the second and third helmets with far bigger eye holes.
The flat tops look like they'd be easier to construct, Idk much about medieval blacksmithing but a rounded helmet that appears to be one whole piece of metal i feel would be difficult to hammer out, where the flat tops look like a lot more pieces all put together
This video is pretty Vult. Nice job, and keep fighting Saracens!
Swaggersouls knows everything about that
Lindy pulls out the helmet with the smaller eye slits that prevent a spear or sword from being stuck right into your face "I like this one considerably less, I can't see"
Am I the only one who shouts with the lego-man ? LINDYBEIGE.
Deus Vult intensifies
King author... where is sir Robin? Don’t tell me he bravely bravely run away
00:47 not the helmet to wear while bird watching.
what can you say about phrygian helmets?what's going on with the smurf like thing?
A helmet in hat form.
+tirips etihw If I remember I belive it was a pure fashion statement. I'm a member of a pretty much international 12th Centruy Living History society called Historia Normannis.
+Lindybeige can you put a link for the second part on the topic of helmets?
Flat top designs were due to being only afforded by the nobility, who was fighting mounted and a blow to the top was not a concern. Low visibility/hearing as well, as they only needed to ride and the clatters of horse hooves was loud enough to reach them.
The pointy-read design evolved as they started to fight dismounted more often, as they found their heavy cavalry often sabotaged by light cavalry of the enemy.
Catholic brothers deus vult
The 2nd one for swag
2:16 suddenly I have the urge to engage in Jolly Cooperation
If only I could be so grossly incandescent.
@@comradejenkins993 you really are fond of chatting with me aren't you? If I didn't know better I'd think you had feelings for me. Hahaha!
A couple of things. First off, the eyeslits on the first helmet are actually very inaccurate and were historically made much, much narrower - just about the size of those on the second helmet. Such tall eyeslits are more than enough for an arrow point to fit in.
Second, you probably wouldn't find yourself wearing this type of helmet anywhere except for while on horseback in a cavalry charge. It's definitely not an infantry helmet and is very inconvenient for fighting on foot. In a way they are similar to great helms (they're in fact the predecessors of the latter).
all I could think with that first helmet was how easy it would be to stab your enemy in the eye with a dagger.
I was also thinking that these helmets were probably only worn by the cavalry (who are in turn the richer members of the crusade) the less well to do infantry quite possibly just used Norman style nasal helms possibly with an aventail to provide some facial protection.
***** If he's not moving, yes.
Important to remember these helmets weren't assembled on factory lines and probably hade a variety of eye-hole shapes and sizes, hand-made by many individual blacksmiths.
Second point I agree 100%, these strike me as mostly cavalry helmets, and I wonder if many knights didn't prefer the Norman style helmets when preparing to fight on foot
***** The "dagger/arrow through the eyeslit" is most likely movie fodder and probably didn't happen that often. Your opponent isn't going to sit still and let you stab him in the eye.
A reasonable guess as to why crusaders used flat top helmets inbetween uses of rounded tops is the rounded tops in many cases had to be hammered into shape which was long hard and expensive work while simply riveting (for lack of a better word) metal to metal at an angle was very easy and cheaper to make
Great. These are terrible helmets. Why couldn’t they use the eyeslits and curved cheek protectors from the first helmet so they could see better in the later helmets? Makes no sense these bad designs would last for generations.
Now I know why in Game of Thrones they always took off the helmets to speak unless they had one of those open faced helmets.
Having fought in both the the great helm and the sugarloaf, you get use to the visibility fairly quickly. After using them and going to a t-cut Barboot, spainghelm or a norman helm you feel like you have spidey sense.
2:34 SON ARE YOU STUDYING IN THERE!!!
DEUS VULT MY COMRADES
DEUS VULT
Was it really worth it wearing this helmets? From what I can see you'd be severely handicapped in a fight wearing one of these. Seems to be that wearing an open faced helmet would be far more sensible in any fight
***** well of course you'd be less protected. But Seeing what your opponent is doing is everything in a fight. I guess they must've managed somehow, but I don't even see how you can properly respond to an opponent with such limited vision and hearing. Hell some guy could from running at you from the side and you'd have no idea.
Ideally yea, you want something that can be either lifted or eaily discarded. So that you can have more protection if you're being shot at with arrows
StealthKab I don't know. How long did these formations hold? In my mind I can imagine i geting quite chaotic and strict lines would quickly fall. But maybe I'm underestimating how structured armies atthe time were
having a sword go *bonk* against your helmet is somewhat preferable to having it go *squish* against your face...
***** Obviously, but that's not really relevant to the discussion?
We'll it worked, I can't imagine that anyone would actually keep using the helmet if the first one killed the wearer. If only we can organize some kind of mock battle with everyone using those helmets than maybe we can get some sort of idea as to what it was actually like.
You wouldn't need to look up.....oh yea dragons