This summer I recreated a mid 14th century helmet with a nasal piece, this is its story.

Prologue

Our decision to attend the 2016 re-enactment of the battle of Wisby of 1361 meant I had a big deadline to come up with a whole new suit of armour. As it was my wish to partake in the battle on horseback I could no longer use my old 14th century armour of a foot soldier (which had not been updated since 2004 anyway and shamed me to hell). Luckily I was able to buy several good pieces of armour second hand (thanks Jan!), so I could focus on making the few still missing items myself.
This also gave me the opportunity to recreate a piece that was particularly special to me because I discovered it over ten years ago: a nasal of a bascinet helmet. This piece, which had been excavated at the market square of the town of Amersfoort by its archaeological service in 1991, was published in the book 'Nering en vermaak' with the subscript that its original purpose was unknown. I recognized it for what it was, contacted the archaeologists in 2005, took photos and measurements and was asked to write a small article:

Brokamp, B. (2005), Een raadsel opgelost; vondst blijkt onderdeel wapenuitrusting. In: Oudheidkundige Vereniging Flehite, Kroniek: Tijdschrift Historisch Amersfoort, jaargang 7, nr. 4, pp. 2-3. Amersfoort: Museum Flehite.

When Doug Strong asked me in 2011 if he could use one of my photos in his to be published volumes on surviving plate armour 1250-1430, I photoshopped one to look good and send it to him. This photo has mysteriously made it onto pinterest a year ago, with a wrong dating (1330-1380). We know from the archaeological publication that the cattle drinking pond in which it was found was filled in around 1375 with rubbish from the market square (such as the nasal).

Left: The photo I took of the Amersfoort nasal in 2005. Right: My photoshop clean-up of that photo in 2011.

The Amersfoort nasal did not consist of steel plate of X mm, but was made out of a thick slab, slightly hollowed out at the backside. This made it very sturdy and not likely to get bend easily when hit by a weapon.

About nasals

In the late 13th century it was common practice for knights to wear an iron or steel skullcap in combination with a maille hood (which was separate or part of a maille shirt) and an all enclosing helm over these two. The helm offered good protection against lances and arrows but could be taken off to be better able to do close combat with swords and such (and be still protected by the skullcap).
This skullcap, known as bascinet in English and French and as huve/hube in Dutch and German (meaning cap), evolved in the early 14th century into a helmet that came further down the sides and back of the head. Also the maille hood was dispensed with, instead a maille curtain was attached to the bascinet. In the Holy Roman Empire armourers started experimenting with lengthening this maille curtain in a triangular shape upwards over the nose, where it could be temporarily attached to the brow of the helmet. By 1330 this flap of maille was replaced by an iron or steel plate counterpart, a nasal piece, which stayed in use as late as 1370, judging by its depiction in funerary art until that time.

Left: A Bildindex picture of the effigy of Rudolf I von Hogenberg (+1336) in Rottenburg am Neckar. Right: A Bildindex picture of the effigy of Gunter von Schwarzburg (+1349) in Frankfurt am Main.

According to the late 19th century armour historian Boeheim this nasal piece was called a bretèche. I assume he meant in France, but he does not state a source (!!!) or further explanation in his Handbuch der Waffenkunde. A Flemish manuscript about the story of Gawain, written in 1350, does tell us the probable Dutch / German name: a nesebant (noseband).

Mettien heifti tswaert verheven
Ende gheraectene weder metter hant,
Ende cloofde hem helm ende nesebant,
Ende sloech hem in al toten tanden,
Doe trac hijt uut met beden handen,

Which I translate as:

"At once he lifted the sword
And hit (him) again with (the force of) the hand,
And cleaved his helm and noseband,
And smashed him in all unto the teeth,
Then he pulled it out with both hands,"

As you can see here, the sword cut through a helm and through a noseband. You could argue that this noseband might be a part of the helm but why then mention them separately? The logical explanation would be that the noseband belonged to a smaller helmet underneath the helm. Around this time helms were still carried on top of bascinets, as you can find in depictions in contemporary art but also in a description of the armour of men at arms in the year 1351 in the Limburger Chronicle.

... mit iren gekroneten helmen, darunder hatten si ire kleine ponthuben.

Which I translate as:

"... with their crowned helms, and underneath these they had their small pointy bascinets."

The noseband has the added advantage that it helps to stabilize the helm on top, which might explain why we see the bascinet with noseband often depicted on funerary monuments of knights but not so much in depictions of foot soldiers (who would not have worn a helm on their bascinet). Taking this thought further, I would best justify using such a setup within Deventer Burgerscap if my alter ego, merchant Henrik ter Brugghen, was a mounted man at arms. Luckily he is mentioned specifically as such in the Deventer accountbook of 1375. He was an alderman this year and with a few other aldermen lead several military campaigns on horseback of the city militia.

Reconstruction

In 2009 I made a simple small bascinet of 1.5 mm thick mild steel, but I never got round to furnishing it with a liner and maille. This was the perfect victim to install a new noseband on, which is what I did.

The bascinet that I made in 2009, photo taken prior to installing the vervelles (tubes for attaching the maille).

I made the noseband out of a thick slab of steel: a bit of hammering and a lot of stock removal. Of course I kept a picture of the original noseband nearby, printed on a 1 on 1 scale, for instant reference.

Time to create the latch to keep the noseband in place on the bascinet.

Noseband and latch finished.

Left: Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, c. 1370, photo by Roel Renmans. Right: Gunter of Schwarzburg effigy again (+ 1349), photo by me (2005).

Both the bascinet on the left and on the right in the above picture were a general inspiration for this project and for the method of fastening the noseband to the bascinet brow. The DHM bascinet probably had a visor instead of a noseband, but the latch system was likely nearly the same. I have not yet seen convincing evidence of a turning pin system. There is a bascinet in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg that seems to show this, but this pin is so flimsy that I guess it is a later addition by some collector or curator.
These days many bascinets are made way too large, because 95 % are not custom made for clients (or if they are, the producer still does a shitty job) and because of the whole current thing of 'medieval battle as a sport where you beat each other up' it is necessary to have a really thick layer of padding to prevent concussions. I wanted to keep my bascinet snug like the originals and depictions in art, and keep the ability to wear a helm over it. As you can see, in also keeping the measurements of the original noseband, the proportions of both together are still good. While if I had a too large bascinet, the noseband would have dwarfed next to it or I would have had to alter its shape. In the next photo you can see the size of my old bascinet, bought in 2001, next to the size of my new one with noseband. I could literally put the new one inside the old one.

Making the liner for the bascinet, and comparing my old and new bascinet (the latter with the new liner installed)

Left: Making a pattern for the maille liner from an old bedsheet and the pattern for the leather strap in paper. Right: The nearly finished liner which is waiting for the maille to go on top before I could see where to cut off the lower edge so they would line up.

Left: The way too large piece of maille that I had bought from India and needed to be cut short a lot, and triangles added up along the face opening of the bascinet. Right: the leather strap for attaching the maille and maille liner (that is why there are two rows of holes).

Here I am over halfway tailoring the maille. Left: Effigy of Gottfried von Arnsberg (+1372) in Cologne, whose length of maille I tried to copy. Right: Effigy of Lodewijk van Lichtervelde (+1375) in Koolskamp, whose small protruding chin and leather band running across the brow I used as inspiration.

Due to the fact that the organisation of the Battle of Wisby event asked me to portray the Danish king Waldemar I decided to make a crown that would go on top of the bascinet. As I still wanted to put a great helm on top, it needed to lie flat against the helmet surface. Also as I wanted to be able to take it off, I needed to give it 'loops' that could temporarily attach it to the vervelles. To cover the two frontal loops I opted for the leather band to run across the brow, like in the Lichtervelde effigy.

The end result, while me being King Waldemar at the battle of Wisby. Photo by Vera Bos.

Here I am wearing the bascinet underneath the helm, it worked fine.

The first time that drums solidly feature in a martial context in Western Europe is in texts written in the early 14th century. For example, in the 1306-1307 verse Branche des royaux lignages the story is told of the battle of Mons-en-Pévèle (Pevelenberg) in French-Flanders in 1304, by eyewitness Guillaume Guiart. (Contamine, 1997) He describes 'Drums beating, horns blowing, pipes piping and trumpets braying':
Tabours croistre, cors bondonner, flagieux piper et trompes braire

Somewhat later, shortly after 1346, Johannes de Beke finished his chronicle of the county of Holland. In his description of the battle of Ane in 1227 he tells how the lord of Goor had 'The trumpets blown and the drums beaten and then advanced with his armed men':
Alterna vero die cum emicantibus radiis aurore iubar accresceret, dominus de Gore beati Martini vexillifer in clangore tubarum et stridore tympanorum cum electis antecessit armigeris

The Middle Dutch version of De Bekes chronicle, translated around 1393, states it like this:
Des anderen daghes, alse die dagheraet opghinc ende die sonne begonste te schinen, die here van Gore, die sunte Martijns banier droech, dede die basunen blasen ende die bonghen slaen ende toech voren mit uutghecoren wapentuers.

Interestingly the 'Quedam Narracio' manuscript, written before the end of 1233, gives a detailed account of the battle of Ane of 1227 as well, but does not mention any such drums! (thanks for looking that up Henk 't Jong). This suggests that De Beke must have made up their presence at Ane, based on his own knowledge of the drums being used in contemporary warfare in the first half of the fourteenth century.

The piper / the drummer

The drum was not only used in actual warfare but also with mock warfare. In the lawbook of the German town of Goslar of c. 1350 it is stated that whenever a drum was beaten at a tournament and someone rode down the piper (on foot or on horse) and hurt him, he was not to be brought to court if he would apologize (and compensate the victim) and state that it happened by accident.
The fact that the text is about drums being beaten but a piper being run down may seem strange. This can be explained by the fact that a piper would often not only play the flute but also beat a snare drum at the same time, they were more all round musicians. When in 1372 the ensemble of three pipers of lord Jan van Blois is described, the first and third are called pipers but the second one is named a bongenaer, a drummer. Inversely, in 1362 a drummer 'piped' at a feast for Jan as well. There is a good contemporary depiction of a piper (or drummer) combining the flute and drum on one of the statues in the Beverly Minster in England (c. 1330-1350).  The drum would have a rope or leather belt with which it could be fastened around the neck, shoulder or to the upper or lower arm, so that the musician retained the use of both his hands.



When only playing the drum, the drummer could be using one stick or two sticks to beat his instrument. This we find depicted for example in the 'Gravenkapel' in Kortrijk (1370-1374), on the choir-stalls of the Dom of Erfurt (c. 1330-1350) and on a console from the city hall of Bruges (1376-1379). As you can see here (and on all other effigies of 14th century drums), this drum was tubular, had a snare and was rather flat (as opposed to the smaller kettle-shaped naker drums). In 1364 Jan van Blois' drummer received a 'white oxen hide' to use as drum skin. The really deep drum, which we nowadays regard as the typical marching drum, seems to have been a Swiss / Italian development of the period 1470-1500, so a hundred years later.

Civic pipers @ war

While we know noble folk employed their own musicians, what about cities? The piper of Goslar of c. 1350 may very well have been one that was also hired by the town magistrate. In fact, from the mid 14th century onward, civic ensembles of musicians ('Stadspijpers' / 'Stadtpfeifer') blossomed in many  towns in the Holy Roman Empire. For example Hamburg and Dortmund had ensembles of three players in 1350 and 1363. While Osnabrück had a two player ensemble in 1358, just like Wesel and Munich in 1360 and Frankfurt in 1361. (Polk, 1987)

In Deventer in 1368 Roelviken den Piper was paid to travel to Dordrecht and The Hague in the county of Holland to deliver letters to two noblemen and receive one from the count. In 1369 the same Roelve den Piper seems to have been given a more permanent position on the city's payroll because he was given 4 ells of broadcloth (for clothing), while a year later a piper is called the town's herald (probably Roelve) and he and his men are given broadcloth again. In 1372 we find that the piper  swore his service to the city's aldermen. In 1380 the Deventer magistrate not only issued broadcloth to its two pipers but also to a drummer, a 'bongenaar'.

1369
Roelve den Piper 4 ellen ghewaendes

1370
Eynen piper der stad gheralde 2 elle roet menghedes ende 2 elle blawes
Sinen ghesellen 3 ellen des selven ghewaendes

1372
Des sonnendage daerna den zelven piper do hi der stad sinen dyenst ghelovet hadde: sinen ghesellen ende hem to drincghelde bi der scepen ghehiete

1380
Onser stad tween pipers ende enen bunghener 9 ellen ghewandes


While the pipers in Deventer may only have been institutionalized as a civic ensemble in 1369, they were already sporadically employed earlier by the city, to deliver messages to foreign lords, play at feasts but also to accompany military campaigns. In 1344 in a list of expenses for a campaign to Ommen, Rutger Menre is paid for the horses he had procured for the pipers to ride there. In the 1361 city accountbook Ludiken the piper was paid for his presence at the siege of the castle Voorst near Zwolle. And in 1368 two pipers traveled with the city militia to attack a local lord. Interestingly we are told the army they accompanied consisted of 300 people. When from 1369 onward the pipers are on the fixed payroll of the city, we find they are no longer separately compensated for their serving on campaigns. This stands to reason since this would have been part of their job description.

1344
Item Rotghero Menre pro conductione equi quem equitavit fistulator Ummen

1361
Item Ludiken den piper die mitter stad vor Voerst lach

1368
Tween pipeners die mit onser stad uyt ghetrect waren

Like Deventer also other cities employed pipers to go on campaign. For example Hamburg sent four pipers to the Hanseatic war with the Danish king in 1362, Wesel had them at an expedition in 1365 and Basel hired pipers in 1374 for an attack on Belfort.

We even have visual evidence of the practice of pipers going on campaign with their city militia. In the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena a mural painting by Lippo Vanni of 1364 depicts the victory of the Sienese troops at Val di Chiana in 1363. In front of the crossbow troops walk three pipers, playing their flutes and beating their drums. They are marching straight into battle behind their cavalry and trumpetters. In the early fifteenth century chronicle of Giovanni Sercambi an army is depicted with a drummer up front, holding his drum in a very similar way. Sadly we only have a modern drawing of this miniature. Both these groups of pipers do not seem to be wearing armour, but in other instances they might have. For example when nobleman Jan van Blois went on a crusade in the Baltic area in 1369 he had two sets of armour rented for his piper and his drummer. Likewise did the duke Albrecht of Bavaria have his trumpetters wear armour at the battle of Kuinre in 1396.

 

The drum is going to the battle of Wisby!

With the above sources in mind, we decided to buy a replica 14th century snare drum to use for our portrayal of the Deventer city militia of c. 1370. Naturally we need to make the future drummer also the city's herald at some point. ;-) In February we had a big training with our new pike shafts and drum, to prepare for our participation in the Battle of Wisby event in August 2016. It will be a blast.




Some of the general literature I used

J. I. van Doorninck, J. de Hullu en J. Acquoy, ed. (1885-1914), De cameraarsrekeningen van Deventer, 1337-1393, 7 volumes.
Contamine, P. (1997), La musique militaire dans le fonctionnement des armées: l'exemple français (v.1330-v.1550).
Polk, K. (1987), Instrumental Music in the Urban Centres of Renaissance Germany.

Ehmck, D.R. (1883), Bremisches Urkundenbuch, vol. 4; 1381-1410
Müller-Hickler, H. (1906), Studien über den langen Spieß
Waldman, J. (2005), Hafted Weapons in Medieval and Renaissance Europe; The Evolution of European Staff Weapons between 1200 and 1650.

Pro duabus lanceis dictis peke ad inponendum ferros: 2 s. 8 d.
Eynen knapen die in der nacht sinen piec hadde verloren die mit onsen scepenen tot Zutphen was ghevaren ... : 15 s.

From the same accountbooks we learn that the Deventer city councillors would go around town to make sure that all the citizens had the proper amount of personal armour at home, according to their wealth, so that they could serve as the city militia in times of war. Alas the exact type and amounts are not known for Deventer, but we can can get an idea from a surviving law of the town of Schiedam from the end of the 14th or early 15th century. It states for example that citizens from the lowest property class (possessing goods worth up to 24 pounds), should own 'a staff, or a mace/club or a pike'. Since this lowest class probably made up at least half of the population, the amount of pikemen the town could turn out would have been considerable. We had already encountered this in the 100+ pikemen army of Ghent in 1380.
Another visual representation of pikemen has survived in Italy. They are depicted on a fresco in Padua, made by Altichiero da Zevio in 1378, showing the beheading of Saint George.


Pikes in 14th / early 15th century battle
Concerning the way pikes were used in battle we can first have a look at the Chronicles of Jean Froissart again, to be more precise his description of the battle near Kuinre in 1396. Albrecht of Bavaria, count of Holland, Zeeland and Hainault had sailed from Enkhuizen to Kuinre near the border of Frisia with an army of men from all three of his counties. The bonnes villes et gens du pays (good towns and people of these lands), had provided Albrecht with a grand nombre d'arbalétriers et cranequiniers, picquenaires et gens d'armes (great number of crossbowmen, cranequin-crossbowmen, pikemen and men-at-arms). Also some troops from England and France had joined this venture. The Frisians which Albrecht had come to battle and subdue were armed with longues picques and bâtons ferrés but, except for shields, were poorly armoured. They had the vantage point though, standing on and sheltering behind their defensive dike in between two wet moats (this type of defense line is called a landweer) which means that Albrecht's army could not use horses but had to fight on foot.
The army was ordered in a line, the trumpets were sounded and it advanced. The troops from Holland had cleverly made ponts de lances et de piques (bridges of lances and pikes) to cross the first moat. In the ensueing battle many daring attacks were made, with grand poussis de lances et de piques (great pushes of lances and pikes). Only when the Hainaulters had found a passage over the landweer somewhere further along, where they able to outflank the Frisians and could Albrecht's army defeat them. It is interesting to note that the term 'push of pike'  was still used in the 17th century to describe fights between pike blocks, suggesting that the way they were used in battle had not changed that much either.

The advantage of having pikes (spears of 4,5 to 5 meters long: food for the next blogpost) is that you can form up a line of battle which is a few ranks deep where the second, third and fourth ranks can still join the fight at the front because of the length of their weapons reaching over the ranks in front of them. A pike block should be tightly packed together to make sure no enemy can pass between the pikes. This also means that in case of emergency the deeper ranks can do with less armour than the men in the front line. This, and the main target area, are described in a chronicle of the bishopric of Münster: In 1407 a mounted army of two nobles and their retinues from Cleves invaded the said bishopric near Gescher. Local lord Hynrick van Gemen quickly gathered his soldiers and huesluden (farmers) on foot and marched towards them. Having arrived at Gescher and ordered his men into battle he told them:

Gy menne, de nyn harnsch anne en hebben, gy solt achter uns beharnscheden gaen, und wyket nycht und schuwet uns und steket myt den peyken under de iseren hode.
"You men, who have no armour on you, you shall go behind our armoured (men) and will not move nor fear and you will stab with the pikes underneath the iron hats (in the faces of the enemy)."

The 'Wisby Project'
All these sources combined have made us at Deventer Burgerscap decide that we should aim to form a proper pike block (that does not target faces...). We have picked the Battle of Wisby reenactment event in August 2016 to realize this. Of which, and of the measurements of pikes, I will speak in the next blogpost.

In 1344 liet de Hollandse graaf Willem IV zijn zwaard schoonmaken en van een nieuwe schede en bijbehorend riemwerk voorzien:

Item van I swaerde dat mijns heren was, te verveghen ende niewe schede ende rieme daertoe te maken, VI scot.

Anno 2010 was mijn zwaard hier ook dringend aan toe. Met de volgende set aan midden tot laat 14e eeuwse bronnen ben ik naar The Upperclass gestapt, aan de hand waarvan ze daar een schitterend stuk werk hebben gemaakt.


In 1344 the count of Holland, William IV, had his sword cleaned and refurbished with a new scabbard and belt. Anno 2010 my own sword was in need of such a new habitat as well. With the following mid to late 14th century sources in hand I contacted The Upperclass, with which they made a fabulous piece of work.

Een sneak preview van een nieuw project, een die aan mijn nieuwe riem met beslagstukken moet gaan hangen. Het wordt een scherp kort zwaard van het type bazelaar, gebaseerd op de vondst die uit de voormalige gracht van het kasteel Voorst is gehaald. Dit kasteel werd in 1362 belegerd, veroverd en afgebroken (o.a. door Deventer!).



A sneak preview of a new project of mine, to complement my new plaques belt. A sharp baselard type short sword based on the one that was excavated from the castle Voorst site. This castle was besieged (by a.o. Deventer!), conquered and demolished in 1362.

Afgelopen DB/HEI evenement te Ootmarsum, twee weken geleden, was de eerste keer dat ik mijn personage van Gosen de platemaker op een middeleeuwse markt heb kunnen neerzetten. Een platemaker was een ambachtsman die een plate maakte, het veertiende eeuwse borstkuras. Naast dit belangrijkste onderdeel van de wapenrusting maakte de platemaker ook andere harnasdelen zoals de helm en arm- en beenstukken.
Omdat het mij nog aan een mobiel middeleeuws smidsvuur ontbreekt moest ik op het evenement koud smeden. Gelukkig had ik nog een ca. 1350-75 wapenhuve liggen die middels koud smeden afgemaakt moest worden; namelijk het er aan vastklinken van buisjes waaraan een barbier (maliënkraag) kan worden bevestigd. Hier heb ik mij het weekend dus mee zoet gehouden.



Past DB/HEI event at a medieval market in Ootmarsum two weeks ago, was the first time I actually portrayed my persona of Gosen the platemaker as a practising craftsman. A platemaker was a guy who made a plate, as the 14th century cuirass was named in the Low Countries. Next to this important piece of the harness the platemaker also made other armourpieces such as the helmet and arm- and legarmour. Because I still lack a transportable medieval smithy fire I had to work the metal cold. Luckily I had a c. 1350-75 wapenhuve (bascinet for you English types) lying around which had to be finished. I rivetted the little tubes to this helmet, by which means it will be able to attach a barbier (maille collar) to it. I happily spent the weekend doing this.



Ook net op tijd voor dit zonovergoten evenement had ik het doek voor mijn nieuwe marktkraam provisorisch af. Toen ik het houtwerk ervan aanschafte had ik hem eigenlijk in gedachten voor mijn koopmanspersonage, maar tevens de platemaker maakt er dankbaar gebruik van!



Also just in time for this sunbathing event I had temporarily finished the cloth for my new medieval marketstand. When I purchased its woodwork I thought I was going to use it for my merchant persona, but the platemaker was happy to be able to use it too!

Om aan te tonen dat ik ook nog wel eens iets maak, post ik maar eens een foto van mijn beukelaar in wording. Ik ben er twee weken geleden mee begonnen en dit is wat ik tot nu toe heb gefabriceerd. Deze schildknop heeft een diameter van ca 30 cm (van punt tot punt) en zal worden vastgeklonken op een rond houten schildje, dat nauwelijks groter zal zijn.
De sporen van de schuurmachine die ik heb gebruikt moeten nog even weggepolijst worden, maar verder is dit gedeelte af.

De beukelaar is gebaseerd op een afbeelding uit de Alexanderroman (Roman d'Alexandre) uit ca 1340 (MS Bodleian 264 fol 109r), waarop, ietwat simplistisch, twee identieke beukelaars te zien zijn, met de zespuntige schildknop erop. Op de miniatuur is ook nog een soort rand over de bolling te zien; ik heb dit maar weggelaten, omdat ik het niet mooi vind, en dit project mijn eerste poging is om te smeden. Tot nu toe vind ik het best aardig lukken, dus als deze af is, ga ik verder met ander harnasmateriaal. Hetgeen natuurlijk 14e eeuws wordt, want dat is veel cooler dan die 15e eeuwse rommel - ik bedoel, dan kan ik er namelijk hier over schrijven.

Laurens

Summary: I have posted this picture of the buckler I am currently making. The metal cover has a diameter of 30 cm across and is to be riveted to a wooden part, not much bigger.

The buckler is based on a picture from the Flemish Romance of Alexander from 1340 (MS Bodleian 264 fol 109r). I have decided not to shape the rim across the surface, partly because I don't like it, and partly because it is my first experiment. After this I shall try my luck in more armouring, 14th century-style mostly, which is much cooler than 15th c. rubbish - I mean, so I can write about it here.