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KNIGHT c.1175
An extract from Armies of Feudal Europe 1066-1300by Ian Heath
4. KNIGHT c.1175
This figure is from the seal of count Philippe d'Alsace of Flanders and Vermandois, which some authorities (eg, A. C. Fox-Davies) date to c. 1181. The flat-topped helmet he wears is of a type which first appeared at about this date and was particularly popular in England by the beginning of the 13th century, 4a, from the early-13th century effigy of Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, in the Temple Church in London, shows the same type of helmet but with a one-piece cheek-guard attached, padded on the inside; in this instance the helmet itself stands 7" tall. A painting of Simon de Montfort (d.1218) in a mid-13th century window at Chartres Cathedral appears to show him wearing an almost identical helmet. The tabs on the back of Count Philippe's helmet seem to have remained an indication of rank now just as they had been a century earlier (they appear on William the Conqueror's helmet in 2 scenes in the Bayeux Tapestry, for example).
The flat-topped shield appeared c.1140 and was the most common design after the early-13th century, decreasing somewhat in size as time passed. The heraldic device is repeated on the side of his helmet, a common practice by the end of the 12th century as mail, nasal or faceguard (see figure 6) came to hide more and more of the wearer's features. 4b and c are examples from Pietro da Eboli's 'Carmen de Rebus Siculis' of c.1197. This custom persisted in Spain even as late as the end of this period, despite the fact that open bascinets predominated there; 4d and e depict Aragonese and Castilian examples of the late-13th century.
[Based on The seal of Philippe d'Alsace of Flanders and Vermandois]
[4d on Knights from the army of King James I in a Mural from the Tinell Hall at the Palau Reial Major]
[4e on Gran Conquista de Ultramar, Spain, 1295]
