This style of helmet was very common in eastern Europe throughtout the mid-late Middle Ages, and has come to be known as the "Great Polish" style, from the number of examples which have been found in Poland.
The characteristics of this style seem to be the fact that the plates were rivetted directly to each other rather than to a frame, cusped edges to the plates, often with inserts of copper alloy, a spike, perhaps with a plume, at the top, and applied metal decorations - diamonds or flowers rivetted to the centre of the side plates, and often a trident shape at the front.
The spike has often been lost or destroyed, and the trident is sometimes visible only by the mark left behind in the gilding when it was ripped off. However, this reconstruction is fairly representative of the type.
It is based on an example found in Mokre, near Dubno in the Ukraine, and held in the State Archaeological Museum, Warsaw. |
