Tournament Helm

Unknown

ca. 1510–20 · Steel, copper alloy · Arms and Armor

Helms bolted to the breast- and backplate and having large visors with multiple apertures for maximum sight and ventilation were typically used both in the tourney and in foot combat. The former was a mock combat fought by groups of mounted contestants armed with lances and rebated swords or clubs; in the latter, two armored contestants fought on foot within a wooden enclosure, the favored weapons usually being polaxes or swords, their strokes carefully monitored by referees. This helm bears faint traces of a mark, an M surmounted by a crescent, which is thought to be that of Guillem Margot (active in Brussels, recorded 1505–20). The same mark appears on three other elements of armor in the Metropolitan Museum: an armet (acc. no. 29.158.52); and elbow defense, or couter (acc. no. 29.158.1h, where it is struck twice); and the front half of a tournament helm (acc. no. 14.25.572).

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1510–20

Medium

Steel, copper alloy

Culture

Anglo-Flemish

Department

Arms and Armor

Credit line

Bashford Dean Memorial Collection, Funds from various donors, 1929