13th century painted helms

A discussion on the 13th Century Heraldry wargamers forum on Facebook about painted helms in the 13th century. As the 13th is one of my favourite periods I thought I should share my reference pictures I have put together from early thirteenth to the later half.

The first place to look for references are in bibles, possibly the most famous is the Morgan Bible of Louis IX (1226-1270) or the crusader bible to portray the 7th crusade (1248-50 to Egypt), later becoming known as the Maciejowski bible after it was gifted in the 16th century to the Shah of Iran, Abbas I. 

Possibly illuminated from 1244 to 1250,  although much discussion surrounds this, two copies survive in the National Library of France in Paris.

Collection of troubadours poems

Recuil des poésies de troubadours, contenant leurs vies..1201-1300 Bibiotheque Nataionale de France

Quite interesting pieces of knights, a total of 60 in the collection, each knights coat of arms is also on the helm, predominantly great lords are pictured, I digital copy is available here

hopefully we shall see some more painted helms o the wargames table

cheers

Matt