"Carolingian Style helmet Name" Topic

Is there a specific name for the style of helmet used on many Carolingian figures.

As seen here being worn by the standard bearer.

I am researching its origins.

Thanks

We don't have any archaelogical evidence of actual helmets that look like that. They are painted like that in the psalterium aureum and look really cool.

It is uncertain if that painting depicts actual Carolingian helmets or is based on antique Byzantine images.

I've only ever seen it referred to as a "Carolingian helmet".

Most likely helmet would have been a spangelhelm.

Obviously inspired by contemporary haircuts?

If it existed, it would appear to have been descended from Late Roman two-piece ridge-crest helmets like the Intercisa type.

I always thought that the Carolingian ridged helmet looked like a "proto-" sallet or morion of some sort:

link
link

Some people call it the "Frankish kettle helmet":

link

Dan

I am in the Spangenhelm camp with Mick the suggestion is that the image is taken from a illustration of the period that did not reflect what they wore.

See link

I dunno. There are still a few rusty examples of Thracian gladiatorial helmets, from illegal gladiatorial combats, from very late antiquity (late 6th Century).

It looks like a skip and a hop move to me, to give your new Empire a uniquely "Roman" appearance.

We will find remnants of them one day, or if they have already been found, they will finally be recognized for what they are.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

There are many examples of Byzantine or Late Roman life that for centuries we only knew from a single artistic rendition or two, until we found additional artifacts.

So, if you want to game with figures that have those helmets, I salute you.

Dan

I googled Spangenhelm, it would seem to be the basic conical helmet worn by many in the Dark Ages, the term seems to apply to the "ribs" thta held the pieces together.

link

Personally I am also in the spangenhelm camp. If the "Carolingian Moiron" were really a thing, we would see artistic & archaeological evidence of the type both before & after the period. Continuity is a strong factor in history, and there doesn't seem to be much of this, or much evidence of an evolution from an earlier type, or into a later type. If anything, I feel it is an artistic interpretation of the Roman ridged helmet, that had continuity from the Late Antiquity into the Early Middle Ages (and even arguably into the beginning of the High Middle Ages), or instead a modern misinterpretation of something else. But in the end it is your choice; I however and not convinced of the design.

Damon.

Well I learned something today. This was educational, really.

Thanks for the replies

But hey, that 'Carolingian helmet' look is so distinctive, I'd still go with it on my figures. If I did Carolingians…

Louie N: "This was educational"

LOL. I always hear that line in movies, but never in a good context. :)

Dan

I feel it was good in this case

I always go for the Carolingian Helmet for the elite troops, if it's good enough for period Italian painters, it's good enough for my gaming table!

My Nappies also wear dress uniforms. ~,~

Here are some of the illistrations referenced in 'Carolingian Arms and Armor in the Ninth Century' by Simon Coupland mentioned above by TodCreasey:

9th Century Carolingian Soldiers in the Bible of San Paolo Fuori Le Mura, c.870-880AD
9th Century Carolingian Soldiers in Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram (Saint Emmeram Gospels), c.870AD
9th Century Carolingian Soldiers in the Lothar Bible, 849-851AD
9th Century Carolingian Soldiers in the Vivian Bible, 845-851AD
Carolingian Cavalry in the Stuttgart Psalter, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Cod.bibl.fol. 23
Carolingian soldiers in the Corbie Psalter, beginning of the 9th century, Northern France
Carolingian soldiers in The Golden Psalter of St. Gallen, Codex Perizoni F 17, c.883-888 and 890-900
Ivory Book Cover of Charles the Bald, France, c.860
Wall paintings in the Church of St. Benedict in Mals, South Tyrol, before 881AD
'Abraham an Lot' in Prudentius' Psychomachia, Bern Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 264, Lake Constance, c.900AD
The Leiden I Maccabees manuscript, Germany, second half of 9th–early 10th century, Codex Per F 17
Lombard Arms & Costume in an 11th Century copy of the Encyclopedia of Maurus Hrabanus or De rerum naturis

Druzhina
Carolingian illustrations of soldiers plus those from Germany and Northern Italy

The helmet is similiar to those shown in Byzantine art. I have always assumed that kettle helms developed from this style of helmet, by adding a brim onto a spanghelm. Brims are a good way to prevent injury to the face, and were used in various forms in Roman and Hellenistic helmets.