An aventail () or camail () is a flexible curtain of

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

attached to the skull of a

helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protecti ...

that extends to cover at least the neck, but often also the throat and shoulders. Part or all of the face, with spaces to allow vision, could also be covered. Some featured a ventail (a mail flap next to the mouth), which could be laced or hooked up to cover the lower face, or left loose for easier breathing or speech.

European history

Early and High Middle Ages

Aventails of

chain mail Mail (sometimes spelled maille and, since the 18th century, colloquially referred to as chain mail, chainmail or chain-mail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common milita ...

started appearing on

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...

an helmets as early as the 6th century, as seen on several Vendel Era helmets, most notably the Valsgärde 8 helmet ( 580– 630 AD) from

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

, Sweden, but also the well preserved Coppergate Helmet (ca. 750– 800 AD) from

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, England. These early appearances varried greatly in configuration, the Valsgärde 8 helmet featuring an aventail which enclosed the entire lower face, throat and neck, versus the Coppergate Helmet, which combines hanging cheek guards with an aventail for the neck (a configuration likely also used on the similar 7th century Anglo-Saxon Pioneer Helmet). Byzantine helmets also sometimes show evidence of mail aventails. A rare find of a helmet in Yasenovo in Bulgaria, dating to the 10th century, may represent an example of a distinctively Byzantine style. This rounded helmet has a brow-band pierced for the attachment of a face-covering camail. The enclosed Vendel style aventail came to be the most conventional type going forward into the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

. Some configurations fixed the frontal aventail to a spectacle visor (upper face mask) like the Vendel 8 helmet or a nasal guard, notably seen on several

Rus' Rus or RUS may refer to: People * East Slavic historical peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus, a legendary eponymous ancestor, see Lech, Czech and Rus * Rus (surname), a surname found in Ro ...

and

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

high medieval helmets. Other configurations let the aventail hang loose in front of or under the face like a veil, most likely with an inner liner against chafing or padding against blows. A reason to not connect the frontal chain mail to a spectacle visor or nasal guard might have been to allow for a ventail, a flap of mail which allowed the user to open and close the mail over the mouth for added flexibility. Archeological finds of complete aventails from the early medieval period are however sparse and more than often only a few perforated attachment holes remain. File:ValsgardeB.png, Valsgärde 8 helmet ( 580– 630 AD) with an enclosed aventail fixed to the visor File:Coppergate Helmet YORCM CA665-008.jpg, Coppergate Helmet (ca. 750– 800) with a neck aventail combined with cheek guards File:Rothenburg Museum - Nasalhelm 2.jpg,

nasal helm The nasal helmet was a type of combat helmet characterised by the possession of a projecting bar covering the nose and thus protecting the centre of the face; it was of Western European origins and was used from the late 9th century to at least . ...

(11th century) with perforated nose guard for an enclosed aventail File:Moscow State Historical Museum - IMG 3502.JPG,

modern reproduction spectacle helmet (1150–1250) with aventail fixed to the visor

Later Middle Ages

Early aventails were riveted or otherwise fixed directly to the edge of the helmet, however, beginning in the 1320s in Western Europe, a detachable version replaced this type. The detachable aventail was attached to a leather band, which was in turn attached to the lower border of the helmet by a series of pierced

rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylinder (geometry), cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the deformed e ...

s, called vervelles. Holes in the leather band were passed over the vervelles, and a waxed cord was passed through the holes in the vervelles to secure it. TombaPrincepNegre

Aventails were commonly seen on

bascinet The bascinet – also bassinet, basinet, or bazineto – was a Medieval European open-faced combat helmet. It evolved from a type of iron or steel Cervelliere, skullcap, but had a more pointed apex to the skull, and it extended downwards at ...

s in the 14th century and served as a replacement for a complete mail hood (

coif A coif () is a close fitting cap worn by both men and women that covers the top, back, and sides of the head. History Coifs date from the tenth century, but fell out of popularity with men in the fourteenth century."A New Look for Women." Arts ...

). Some aventails were decorated with edging in

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

links (sometimes gilded), or with a zig-zag lower edge (vandyked). By the mid 14th century, the aventail had replaced the

mail coif A mail coif, a type of armour, covered the head. It consisted of a flexible hood of chain mail, extending to cover the throat, neck, and the top part of the shoulders. Mail coifs protected European fighting-men of the Middle Ages. History Th ...

completely. By the dawn of the 15th century, the plate armored neck guard (

gorget A gorget ( ; ) was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the English medieval clothing, medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon (headgear), chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather Collar (c ...

) of the Great Bascinet started to replace the aventail.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{helmets Medieval helmets Western plate armour