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A hounskull was a form of steel helmet worn in Europe in the Middle Ages, almost invariably by knights and other mounted men-at-arms, from the middle of the 14th century until approximately 1420. It offered extensive protection for the wearer's face, at the cost of visibility, but its distinctive visor could be raised or lowered at will. == Form == The hounskull was a form of bascinet with a visor covering the entire face. It is the visor which gives the helmet its name, as this resembles the face of a hound, with a protruding muzzle in order to better protect the face from blows and to grant greater ventilation (which was largely afforded the wearer, when the visor was down, through holes in the "muzzle," such holes being either on the right side of the "muzzle" with additional holes near the mouth,〔Singman and McLean, ''Daily Life'', 148-149〕 or on both sides). The visor swung up to uncover the wearer's face when he was not in combat, to grant him better visibility and unrestricted ventilation. This was accomplished in one of two ways. The most common form of visor in Central Europe was held on by a single hinge fastened to the center of the top of the visor, called a ''Klappviser''. The other version had two pivot bolts on either side of the visor attaching it to the bascinet at the temples, and this was the most common form found in Southern, Western and Northwestern Europe. The wearer peered through two vision slots when the visor was lowered. The vision slots were either relatively flush with the visor, as was the custom in Western Europe, or elevated on mounts on the visor, as was commonly the case in Central Europe. As with all bascinets, the helmet generally had attachment points for armour to protect the neck and upper body, initially an aventail of mail and, later, plate armour. The chain aventail could have a decorative cloth cover.〔Nicolle, ''Italian Medieval Armies'', 35〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hounskull」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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