Lamellar helmet

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Reconstruction of the lamellar helmet from Niederstotzingen

The lamellar helmet was a type of helmet from Asia and the early Middle Ages in Europe .

Reconstruction of the lamellar helmet Kerch II

Its dome consists of a large number of overlapping, sewn individual lamellae, as they appear in a similar form in lamellar armor . In addition, there are typically cheek flaps, a forehead plate with a nasal and an iron chain mesh as neck protection.

The lamellar helmet appears alongside other early medieval helmet types such as spangenhelmen and Vendel helmets towards the end of the 6th century in Europe. Centuries before this type of helmet was part of the equipment of Asian cavalry warriors . He came to Central Europe with the Avars . Shortly afterwards it was mainly taken over by the Lombards , but also by other Germanic peoples.

Finds

Agilulf plate, the face plate of a lamellar helmet on which two warriors, presumably with lamellar helmets, are depicted

The only lamellar helmet found in German-speaking countries comes from Niederstotzingen . This helmet is made up of 52 narrow, long slats that are sewn together and converge at the top in a hemispherical crown knob. The helmet also has a front plate with a nasal.

Several, mostly fragmentary lamellar helmet finds, which are ascribed to the Lombards, are known from Italy. The best known is the so-called Agiluf plate from Val di Nievole ( Province of Pistoia ). It is the iron faceplate of a helmet, which is covered with a gold-plated copper sheet and richly decorated. The corresponding helmet is associated with the Longobard king Agilulf and should therefore date from around 600. Another find comes from grave 119 of the Longobard burial ground Castel Trosino . This includes eight lamellas, a crown knob, a fragment of a faceplate and iron rings of a chain mesh that served as neck protection. A third Italian find consists of a crown knob and a fragment of a faceplate and comes from Nocera Umbra .

The other finds of lamellar helmets in Europe come from the southeast and point to an origin in Central Asia. One comes from Kerch on the Black Sea. It is called the Kerch II lamellar helmet to distinguish it from a clasp-lamellar helmet Kerch I that was also found there . The lamellar helmet Kerch II consists of a damaged, iron helmet hood . The decorative sleeve (pin at the apex), parts of the faceplate and at least one cheek flap are missing. Another lamellar helmet was recovered as a river find from Legrad- Šoderica in Croatia. This is an incompletely preserved helmet hood, which is not composed of long lamellas, but rather relatively short, scale-like pieces. Cheek flaps, neck and nose protection are missing. In addition, there is a bronze-gold-plated crown knob of a lamellar helmet from Intercisa in Hungary. Other helmets from Eastern Europe have not yet been described in detail, but some of them could be lamellar helmets.

In Asia, lamellar helmets are relatively widespread and in the early Middle Ages (7th to 8th centuries) they were known, for example, from Balyk Sook in the Altai Mountains .

literature

  • Mahand Vogt: Spangenhelme. Baldenheim and related types (= catalogs of prehistoric antiquities. Vol. 39). Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-88467-100-6 (also: Munich, Univ., Diss., 2000).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Vogt, 2000, p. 297 f.
  2. ↑ a b R. Kory: scale and lamellar armor . In: Herbert Jankuhn, Heinrich Beck u. a. (Ed.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , Volume 27. 2nd edition, 2004. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York NY 1968 / 73–2007, ISBN 3-11-018116-9