"Rank-and-file headgear for 17th Century armies?" Topic

Looking at the Empress Miniatures ECW range recently, I see that there are some new thoughts floating around on what the men in the ranks wore in battle.

As far as the ECW is concerned, the wide-brimmed "floppy" hat appears to be more suited to officers as it was quite expensive and (I'm told) not popular with pikemen. If that is true, then infantrymen not wearing helmets were either in monmouth (knitted woollen) hats, monteros (mainly the Oxford Army?), and bonnets – both the Scots Covenanter style and the northern English style similar to that of the late Tudor period. Is this a fair assessment?

However, what about TYW armies? Most contemporary art seems to show pike in helmets, and shot predominantly in the wide-brimmed hat – possibly with a taller crown than those worn in England. As I understand it, the Swedes (and the Spanish?) issued helmets to their musketeers as well, but did anyone else? Did the trends change significantly between 1618 and 1648?

the wide-brimmed "floppy" hat appears to be more suited to officers as it was quite expensive

What makes you think a wide brimmed hat was expensive?

According to Picouet, the Spanish issued broad brimmed hats to their shot.

I'm not sure the Northern English bonnet of the ECW was similar to that of the late Tudor period. There is a record in the Surtees Society papers stating that in 1642 the Earl of Newcastle purched 3000 "Scotch" (sic) bonnets.

Yep not the tudor style.

And whatever they might have liked and scrouged from looting.

I think there were two broad types of floppy hat. The expensive sort apparently made from beaver, and the cheap version which was felt.

Just like today the clothes of the wealthy were copied at a price and quality for the masses.

link

I think some pike wore a knitted cap under the helmet for comfort.

In the TYW the wool felt hat was pretty much the standard headgear for soldiers though therte were some exceptions.
The style and shape of the hat would change during the war and is one way one can roughly date paintings that are otherwise not dated.

The Swedish army museum has one of the "pattern hats" made for the infantry of Queen Christina during the 1640-1650 period. link
Such "pattern garments" were made by the Royal Wardrobe and then sent to the hat makers and tailors who were to make clothing for the army. It was considered a much more efficient way than sending paper patterns or drawings and is probably why we have so few detailed written descriptions of the military clothing made in large numbers for the Swedish Crown.

The Swedes were AFAIK the only ones who took the unusual step of issuing helmets to everyone, probably a legacy of the Polish war were the Swedes has learned the hard way that Polish cavalry tended to cause a lot of head wounds in melee. So already during the later half of the 1620s helmets became standard issue for all but a few regiments. (The all musketeer regiments did not get helmets). The bandoliers issued to Swedish musketeers were even supposed to be made with a hook so that the musketeer did not have to wear the helmet on the march.

In Spanish service there was still helmets issued to the arquebusiers/calivermen early in the war but the musketeers did not get them. You could find a similar practice in the Catholic League regiments which still had a small number of calivermen in some units. But the practice seem to have died out more quickly than the Swedish use and was never as widespread in either army.

17c.flybb.ru/topic44.html
A good site for clothing and weapons to TYW

I certainly wore a knitted cap under MY helmet when a pikeman otherwise you got your head smashed in ….
The kings Infantry were certainly issued with Monteroes and Essex' with "caps" – which implies something different from a "hat" or a "bonnet"
English fashion is not always the same as European fashion – we tended to lag behind a bit – The French used felt hats but the Montero – in various form was also quite opoular .
I also suspect that in England the felt hat was a bit more used by troops who might be defined as "civilians" rather than "regulars" of the KOA or Essex's army

As the OP states Montero Caps were issued to the King's Oxford Army. I am aware that Sir Thomas Fairfax was wearing one at Naseby. Apart from that I don't have any hard evidence for widespread use in Parliamentarian units. There were laws to protect the knitting industry in England and Wales which suggests Monmouth Caps may have been fairly easily available.

From a practical point of view very few of the felt hats available to re-enactors have wide enough brims. As a result they don't provide enough shelter to the shoulders in rain, that takes away the value of them while leaving the disadvantage which is that brim gets in the way of shouldered muskets and pikes. Hence many re-enactors don't like them, me included. I tend to use a Monmouth instead. However, for the reasons stated re-enactment likes and dislikes are not a safe indication of what was actually used.