An aventail, also known as a camail, is a flexible mail armor protection that was attached to the bottom of a helmet. The armor hung down like a kind of curtain and covered at least the neck, but often also the throat, shoulders, and sometimes even part of the face.
With some helmets, a ventail was added: a loose flap of mail rings at the mouth that could be laced or hooked shut to seal the bottom of the face. This could also hang loose, allowing the wearer to breathe or speak more easily.
Early and High Middle Ages
Aventails appeared very early in Europe. Their use dates back to the 6th century, during the Vendel period in Scandinavia. A well-known example is the Valsgärde 8 helmet, dated between 580 and 630 CE, where the aventail enclosed the entire lower part of the face, throat, and neck.
Around the same time, a different form developed in England, as seen on the Coppergate helmet from York (circa 750–800 CE). This helmet used a combination of hanging cheek plates and a separate strip of mail to protect the neck. It's likely that this kind of mixed construction was already common among Anglo-Saxon elites in the 7th century.
Aventails also appeared in the Byzantine Empire. An important find for this is a helmet from Yasenovo in Bulgaria, dated to the 10th century, which had a round shape and a headband with holes to attach a camail.
This points to a recognizable Byzantine style. In the centuries that followed, the fully enclosed aventail, like that found on Vendel helmets, became increasingly common. With some helmets, the mail armor was directly connected to a face mask or a nasal helmet, as seen with various helmets of Kievan Rus.
Other helmets left the aventail hanging loose in front of the face, as if a veil of metal hung there. In these cases, a soft lining was often used to prevent chafing and better absorb blows.
Complete archaeological finds from this period are rare; usually only the holes where the aventail was attached remain.
Late Middle Ages
In the early Middle Ages, a camail was often riveted directly to the helmet. Starting in the 1320s, this changed in Western Europe. Then people began using detachable camails, where the mail collar was first attached to a leather band.
This band was then placed over small metal pins with holes, called vervelles. Through these vervelles, a waxed cord was threaded, which kept the camail firmly attached to the helmet while still allowing it to be removed when necessary.
During the 14th century, camails were especially used in combination with the popular bascinet. In this period, the camail became so established that it completely replaced the traditional mail coif.
Many examples from this time were decorated with brass or bronze trim, sometimes gilded, or had a distinctive zigzag-shaped lower edge that was popular in the 14th century. By the middle of this century, the camail was the standard protection for neck and throat in battle.
At the beginning of the 15th century, however, the camail began to disappear. New helmet types, such as the Great Bascinet and armet, got a steel neck plate, the gorget, which fitted better with increasingly improved plate armor. Under the gorget, a mail collar was still worn, the mail standard or bishop's mantle. This development made the flexible camail less necessary. Eventually, it was completely superseded by fixed plate armor protection and disappeared from the military equipment of European warriors.
Internal links
- Bascinet: medieval helmet with visor and neck protection
- Mail coif: Medieval head and neck armor
- Standard: mail collar for neck protection
- Gorget: metal collar for neck and upper chest
Sources:
- Museum collection: The collection of the Harnaschkammer at Churburg Castle (Italy), with 14th-century bascinets that still have their original leather bands and iron aventails.
