Research Cheater

[hsifeng]

O Great LJ Hivemind...

I come to you with a request for information. A friend has recently been being pestered to produce evidence showing that 16^th C German men *did not* wear netted gold cauls under their battle helmets.

My initial thought upon hearing this was, “Are you crazy? Who would wear an item THAT EXPENSIVE under their helm?” I mean… gold…netted…re-embroidered over…? Are you nuts?

My second thought was, “I thought we normally tried to prove that someone *did* wear an item rather than the opposite? I mean, prove to me that 16^th C German men didn’t wear fairy wings under their backplates!”

*eye roll*

Then I realized; I have seen dozens of Landsknecht re-enactors wear these things around during the day while in their breastplates over the years. I don’t think I’ve seen any of them smash a helmet down over the top…but maybe that is where this guy got the initial idea. OK, so it may just be an issue of monkey see, monkey do. As for actual evidence of this taking place in the 16^th C on the other hand, if there are 16^th C images of un-helmed but armored men wearing these in portraiture, my guess would be that the images in question are “I’m Showing Off My Armor” shots; the addition of the “gelbhaube”/caul as a way to enhance the overall look-at-me-and-my-pimp-gear image, rather than to indicate that the caul was part of an armor rig in some way.

Then again, I don’t know that this particular re-enactment-ism has ever been really researched.

So I put it to ya’ll; anyone out there have any details (wardrobe inventory items, images of extant woolen arming caps, narrative descriptions, etc.) that might help clarify this issue with some data?

Comments

[zoccolaro.livejournal.com]

Well, 16th C. Germany encompasses quite a wide range of styles - I assume that you're referring mainly to the first third (possibly up to the first half) or so. I don't do much German, but you might want to take a look at the following:

http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/ausgaben/thumbnailseite.html?id=00016005&seite=1

Lots of great pictures of early century Germans in armor, but nary a gold caul to be seen.

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

Note that almost all the images I've seen of men wearing gold cauls with armor are either 1) saints or 2) very wealthy men.

So I wouldn't expect it to be an item worn by common soldiers.

[etaine-pommier.livejournal.com]

Flipped through my image library - briefly - and didn't find any examples of goldhauben under, or even with, helmets. Doesn't mean they didn't, of course, just that I couldn't find an image in my search.

Arming caps of leather and wool, yes, but nothing netted. (Which would be pretty uncomfortable and impractical under a helmet anyway.)

[jillwheezul.livejournal.com]

Laughs. It would be interesting to see if we can find a price for one of these so we can compare it to other equipment. It doesn't seem practical from both comfort and the damage that will come from wearing it under a helm. Clearly they are a luxury item, probably regulated by sumptuary law although the old spoils of war sort of "documentation" may serve to further the story.