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Armet



 
 
Armet is the name of a type of helmet
Helmet

A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries, a variation of the hat. The oldest use of helmets was by Ancient Greek soldiers, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from sword blows and arrows....
 developed in the 15th century, most likely in Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
. It was distinguished by being the first helmet of its era to completely enclose the head while being compact and light enough to move with the wearer. The typical armet consisted of four pieces: the skull, the two hinged cheek pieces which lock at the front, and the visor. A multi-part reinforcement for the bottom half of the face, known as a wrapper, was sometimes added, and its straps attached to a metal disc at the base of the skull piece called a rondel
Rondel

Rondel may refer to:* Rondel or roundel, type of medieval dagger* Rondel , a circular piece of steel, as part of an armour harness, that normally protects a vulnerable point...
.
It reached its height of popularity during the 15th and 16th centuries when knights in medieval Europe wore plate armor into battle.






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Armet is the name of a type of helmet
Helmet

A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries, a variation of the hat. The oldest use of helmets was by Ancient Greek soldiers, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from sword blows and arrows....
 developed in the 15th century, most likely in Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
. It was distinguished by being the first helmet of its era to completely enclose the head while being compact and light enough to move with the wearer. The typical armet consisted of four pieces: the skull, the two hinged cheek pieces which lock at the front, and the visor. A multi-part reinforcement for the bottom half of the face, known as a wrapper, was sometimes added, and its straps attached to a metal disc at the base of the skull piece called a rondel
Rondel

Rondel may refer to:* Rondel or roundel, type of medieval dagger* Rondel , a circular piece of steel, as part of an armour harness, that normally protects a vulnerable point...
.
It reached its height of popularity during the 15th and 16th centuries when knights in medieval Europe wore plate armor into battle. Movable face and cheek pieces allowed the wearer to close the helmet, thus fully protecting the head from blows. Armets have often been confused with close helmets, and the two names can now be used almost interchangeably when referring to either form of helmet. Close helmets had a full visor and bevor (a chin/neck guard); the visor pivoted up and down by means of bolts attached to the side of the skull piece. Slightly different in design, armets had hinged cheek pieces which opened at the front of face backward. Note the similarities between the armet above and the close helmet to the lower left.

The armet is found in many contemporary pieces of artwork, such as Paolo Uccello
Paolo Uccello

Paolo Uccello was an Italy painter who was notable for his pioneering work on visual Perspective in art. Giorgio Vasari in his book Lives of the Artists wrote that Uccello was obsessed by his interest in perspective and would stay up all night in his study trying to grasp the exact vanishing point....
's 'Battle of San Romano', and is almost always shown as part of a Milanese
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
 armor.

The armet was most popular in Italy, whereas in England and Western Europe the sallet
Sallet

The sallet was a war helmet that replaced the bascinet in northern Europe during the mid-15th century. Some sallets were close fitting except at the back of the head where they extended and formed a pointed tail....
 helmet was preferred. It is believed by some that the close helm
Close helm

In medieval armor, the close helm was a military helmet worn by knights and other combatants in the late medieval and early renaissance era. It carried a visor that pivoted up and fully enclosed the head and neck area, unlike earlier helms such as the Sallet and Barbute, which sometimes may have left the wearer more exposed, or needed a bevor...
 resulted from a combination of various elements of each.

According Oakeshot (Ewart Oakeshott "European Weapons and Armour. From Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution" ISBN 0 85115 789 0, page 121 in edition of 2000 by The Boydell Press, Woolbridge) the close helm
Close helm

In medieval armor, the close helm was a military helmet worn by knights and other combatants in the late medieval and early renaissance era. It carried a visor that pivoted up and fully enclosed the head and neck area, unlike earlier helms such as the Sallet and Barbute, which sometimes may have left the wearer more exposed, or needed a bevor...
 is a helm which is very similar to armet
Armet

Armet is the name of a type of helmet developed in the 15th century, most likely in Italy. It was distinguished by being the first helmet of its era to completely enclose the head while being compact and light enough to move with the wearer....
, but has different method of opening. While an armet has two cheekpiece
Cheekpiece

A cheekpiece, cheek-piece, or cheek piece may refer to*A raised area on a rifle stock#Styles and features of stocks to support the cheek...
s, a close helm instead them has a kind of bevor
Bevor

A bevor is a piece of plate armour designed to protect the neck, much like a gorget. A bevor can be made of a single solid piece or multiple articulated Lam? around the neck and chin....
 which is attached in same way to pivots as its visor.

However other authors do not make such difference between close helm and armet. E.g. Wendelin Boeheim in his "Handbuch der Waffenkunde. Das Waffenwesen in seiner historischen Entwicklung vom Beginn des Mittelalters bis zum Ende des 18 Jahrhunders" (Leipzig 1890) do not separate close helms and armets. However he separates "Burgundian" Armet as kind of an armet (or a close helm) which has specific vertigous joint for being attached for a special gorget
Gorget

File:Gorget .pngA gorget originally was a steel Collar designed to protect the throat. It was a feature of older types of armour and intended to protect against swords and other non-projectile weapons ....
 made from movable rings.