The sallet, also called celata, salade or schaller, was a combat helmet that replaced the bascinet in Italy, Western Europe, Northern Europe and Hungary during the mid-fifteenth century. In Italy, France and England the armet was equally popular, but in Germany the sallet was used almost everywhere.
History & development
The sallet probably originated in Italy. The name celata first appears in an inventory of the weapons and armour of the Gonzaga family from 1407. The earliest sallets were actually a kind of bascinet that was worn without a visor or chain mail aventail.
Because leaving out these left the face and neck unprotected, the back of the helmet was made longer and curved outward to protect the neck, and the sides were pulled further forward to below the eyes to protect the cheeks. This latter development was most prominent in the barbute, a variant of the sallet that borrowed elements from the classical Corinthian helmet. Through contact with Italy, the sallet also became popular in France, England and the Netherlands, and was eventually adopted in Germany.
Regional styles
Regional styles emerged, produced in the large weapon-making workshops of Northern Italy — especially Milan — and Southern Germany, such as Augsburg and Nuremberg.
However, an armour or helmet that was German in form could just as well have been made in Italy, and vice versa. The German sallet possibly originated from a combination of the Italian sallet and the deep-bowl German kettle hat, a chapel-de-fer helmet with a wide brim and visor.
Some Italian sallets were covered with rich fabrics, usually velvet, with edges of gilded silver, brass or copper. Additional decoration in those same metals could be applied to the helmet, leaving parts of the fabric visible. Similar finishing was done on some barbutes.
Sallets without visor
Around 1460, the later Italian sallets lost their integrated face protection and became open helmets with gracefully curved shapes. In this simple form they were popular with lightly armed soldiers, especially archers and crossbowmen, who needed clear vision.
Sallet and bevor
More heavily armed fighters could gain extra protection by combining a bevor with a sallet. These two pieces could be worn in different ways, depending on the situation:
1. Straight on the head, with open visor and open bevor
This provides optimal field of vision and maximum breathing room.
2. Straight on the head, with closed visor and open bevor
This provides optimal protection but minimal field of vision.
3. Straight on the head, with closed bevor and open visor
This provides good field of vision and face protection.
4. Tilted on the head, with closed bevor
This provides a larger field of vision and more breathing room, at the cost of some protection.
5. Tilted on the head, with open visor and open bevor
German sallets
Between 1450 and 1460, a clearly recognizable German style emerged. This featured a round helmet bowl that was less smoothly curved than the Italian form. The most striking feature was the long, pulled-back tail, sometimes constructed from multiple metal plates. An important difference between the early German sallets and the later German sallets up to around 1495 was that this tail became increasingly longer.
The front of some helmets extended far down to cover the upper part of the face, with a narrow viewing slit for sight. Other versions retained the same shape but had a movable half-visor that covered only the upper face.
German sallets were often worn with a bevor, which ran from the upper chest to just below the nose and protected the lower face. Extra ventilation holes were usually not necessary, because a natural opening was created between the helmet's edge and the bevor, at mouth level.
English - Burgundian Sallet
During the same period, a regional variant developed in England and the Netherlands, the English-Burgundian style. The Netherlands were then under the rule of the Duke of Burgundy.
This helmet was worn with a bevor by fully armoured soldiers and had virtually the same front protection as the German sallet. However, it was more curved in shape and had a less prominent rear. In many respects, this style sat right between the German and Italian forms.
French sallets
French sallets closely resembled this type and are often counted among the so-called short-tail sallets.
Late sallets
In the last generations of the German sallet, the bevor was hinged to the same pivot points as the visor. Initially the bevor was still on the inside of the helmet. When the long tail on the rear became shorter from around 1495, these later sallets began to closely resemble the closed helmet.
The attachment of the bevor then shifted to the outside of the helmet. The sallet was gradually phased out in the first quarter of the sixteenth century for warfare and replaced by the closed helmet and the burgonet. However, it remained in use until mid-16th century in a heavily reinforced form for certain types of tournaments.
The German sallet was the model for the German Stahlhelm from World War I, while the kettle hat formed the model for the British and French helmets from the same period. Later, a British-Belgian helmet with a ballistic visor was designed at the request of Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, also based on the sallet's shape.
Internal links
- Armet: 15th-century helmet that completely enclosed the head
- Bascinet: medieval helmet with visor and neck protection
- Bevor: metal chin and neck protection for armour
- The cuirass: medieval chest and back armour
Sources:
- Archaeological Collection: Churburg Castle and the Bavarian National Museum (Munich) for both the German (winged/fluted) and Italian (round) sallets.
