Great helm: West European pot helmet from the Middle Ages

September 23, 2026

The great helm, also known as heaume, pot helmet or barrel helm, was a helmet from the High Middle Ages. This type developed in the mid-13th century from the bucket helmet (early great helm). It was extremely popular during the Crusades and remained in use until the 14th century.

History

The barrel-shaped variant was worn by knights in most West-European armies between approximately 1210 and 1340. This form later developed into the frog-mouth helm, a type that was especially used in lance tournaments.

The bucket helmet

The great helm ultimately originated from the nasal helmet. Around 1180, a variant with a flat top and square shape already existed. From this helmet, a transitional form emerged at the end of the 12th century—the closed helmet or primitive great helm. With this type, the nasal guard was further extended to a complete face plate, with holes for sight and breathing. By around 1240, this transitional form was largely replaced by the true great helm.

The great helm

In its simplest form, the great helm was a steel cylinder with a flat top. The helmet covered the entire head and had only small openings for breathing and vision.

Later great helms

A later variant had a more conical top and is known as the sugarloaf helm. In Spanish, this model is called yelmo de Zaragoza, named after the city of Zaragoza, where it was first used on the Iberian Peninsula. Thanks to the conical shape, blows to the head could be deflected more effectively. Some variants of the great helm became larger and came to rest on the wearer's shoulders.

Disadvantages of the great helm

Although the great helm offered much better protection than earlier helmets like the nasal helmet and the spangenhelm, it had drawbacks. The wearer had limited vision, and because the helmet was heavy and often had few air holes, it could quickly overheat in warm weather.

The secret

Knights usually wore the great helm over a mail coif (mail coif) and sometimes with a tight-fitting steel skullcap, the cervelliere or secret. Later, secrets were further developed into the bascinet, the first examples of which were also worn under the great helm. In foot combat, knights would often remove their great helm after they had performed the initial lance charge on horseback. After this charge, they would remove the helm to have better vision and move more quickly and freely.

The bascinet

The bascinet gained a mail 'curtain' as neck protection, a camail or aventail, which replaced the coif. The bascinet eventually developed to the point where it completely replaced the great helm for actual combat. The great helm gradually disappeared from the battlefield in the 15th century, but remained popular at tournaments, where a special variant was used: the frog-mouth helm, designed for lance combat on horseback.

Around 1600, great helms became popular as part of funeral decorations for noble families. The helmet gained ceremonial value and became the symbol of knighthood and aristocracy. Great helms are regularly depicted on family coats of arms. The great helm was often painted black, lacquered or decorated, and regularly bore ornaments such as decorated ventilation openings (crosses and symbols), cross-shaped decoration on the visor, crest ornaments, such as crowns, feathers, wings, hats, lions and other symbols.

How to wear a great helm

The first great helms were worn in a similar manner to earlier nasal helmets and bucket helmets. They were reserved for heavily armored aristocrats who wore a gambeson with a mail hauberk over it.

From the beginning of the 12th century, an outer garment was added, intended to protect the mail coat against dust and heat.

In the course of the 13th and especially the early 14th century, armor developed rapidly. Increasingly, large, conical helmets were worn, while body protection was expanded with the first forms of plate armor.

In the second half of the 13th century, shin protectors such as schynbalds and greaves appeared, as mail chausses provided insufficient protection, especially for mounted knights. Around the same period, knee pieces (poleyns) and elbow protection (couders) came into use.

Additionally, the coat of plates emerged, which was worn over the mail coat but under the outer garment.

Arm protection, such as vambraces (forearms) and rerebraces (upper arms), only became common at the beginning of the 14th century. In that same century, large, conical helmets were the norm.

Some examples were so large that they rested on the wearer's shoulders. Often they were equipped at the front with attachment points, such as cross-shaped openings, with which the helmet could be fastened with chains or leather straps to the coat of plates. This made it possible to quickly remove the helmet during foot combat.