Great helms, bucket helmets & secrets

Great helm: popular knight helmet

The great helm, often called pot helmet or barrel helm in Dutch, was one of the most iconic helmets of the High Middle Ages. This robust type of helmet emerged at the end of the 12th century, during the Crusades period. Knights and heavily armed warriors preferred this helmet due to its exceptional protection against arrows, lance thrusts, and heavy blows. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the great helm was worn throughout Western Europe, especially during battles and tournaments.

The construction of the helmet was simple but effective: an almost cylindrical steel exterior that completely enclosed the head. Only narrow openings for the eyes and small ventilation holes provided vision and airflow. Later variants had a more rounded top to better deflect blows. Some models were also extended to reach over the shoulders, making the helmet almost an armor piece in itself.

Pot helmet and sugarloaf

The pot helmet evolved from the previously used nasal helmets and more enclosed helmet types that increasingly protected the face. A well-known later variant is the sugarloaf helm, with a conical shape that offered much better defense against glancing blows. In Spain, this style was known as the yelmo de Zaragoza.

Due to the helmet's weight and restricted vision, knights often wore a chainmail coif or a cervelliere underneath, and the pot helmet was sometimes discarded immediately after the first lance attack to improve maneuverability. Nevertheless, the helmet remained popular for tournaments, where the so-called frog-mouth helm developed from the pot helmet.

Later function of knight helmets

Even in the 17th century, the great helm acquired a new role: it became part of ceremonial equipment and funeral decorations. Many examples were black lacquered, painted, or adorned with impressive crests and symbolic decorations.