The bascinet was a Medieval European open-faced military helmet, typically fitted with an aventail and hinged visor. It evolved from the cervelliere.
The term is also written as bassinet or basinet.
The earliest versions of the bascinet, at the beginning of the 14th century, had no visors, and were worn underneath larger "great helms". After the initial clash of lances, the great helm was often discarded during fierce hand-to-hand combat, as it impeded breathing and vision. Thus, having a smaller helmet und ...
A helmet (a 15th century loan from Middle French, a diminutive of Frankish helm, from Proto-Germanic *khelmaz, PIE *kelmo- "a cover") is a form of protective clothing worn on the head and usually made of metal or some other hard substance, typically for protection of the head from falling objects or high-speed collisions.
Helmets are common in the military, construction, mining and some sports, including American football, baseball, ice hockey and rock climbing. Motorcycle helmets and bicycle helmets are co ...
As the coat of arms was originally designed to distinguish combatants on the battlefield or in a tournament, even while covered in armour, it is not surprising that heraldic elements were often also used for the decoration of knightly helmets, while it was also possible to use different elements then on the shield, but equally standardized.
Furthermore, it became common to use a helmet (or some other headgear, e.g. a crown) as part of the coat of arms, above the shield, a practice maintained long after her use in reality was ended by ...
