Capeline (derived from the French word for hat) is the name given to two distinct types of post-Renaissance helmet
The first was a steel skullcap (known as a "secrete" when worn under a hat) usually worn by archers that continued to be worn into the 17th century by musketeers and horsemen who wished to wear fashionable broad-brimmed hats but also retain some level of protection for the head.[1] It was also worn by civilians under their regular hats, including the judges at Charles I's trial. The prosecutor John Bradshaw feared assassination so had a special metal hat made to protect him.[2]
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The better-known Capeline is the cavalry helmet seen in the English Civil War, commonly known as a lobster tail pot.[3] This was worn along with the buff coat, gauntlets and breastplate[4] by Oliver Cromwell's Ironside cavalry. Another famous unit to use it was the London lobsters; unusual for the time they had armor that covered most of the body.[5]
The lobster-tailed pot had articulated cheek-pieces; a fixed forward projecting peak that included a sliding nasal bar[6], or, alternatively, a hinged peak with three attached bars to protect the trooper's face from sword cuts; and an articulated "tail" protecting the back of the head and neck that was said to resemble that of a lobster.[7] Another common name for it was the "harquebusier's pot", the harquebusier being the most common type of cavalry in Western Europe during the 17th century.[8]
The helmet had an oriental origin, being derived from the Ottoman Turkish 'chichak' (Turkish - çiçak) helmet. It was adopted by the Christian states of Europe in the early 17th century.[9][10] It saw widespread use during the Thirty Years War when it became known as the zischagge, a Germanisation of the original Turkish name.[11] Many of these European-made capelines were later imported during the English Civil War. Sometimes older helmets like the burgeonet or sallet were modified to resemble the lobster pot although these were less effective in the field.[12]
Similar helmets were worn in the late 17th century by Polish winged hussars and Prussian cavalry, including Fredrick William's forces at the Battle of Fehrbellin (1672).[13] The latter had a decorative fluted design and were painted black to prevent rust.[14]
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