We very rarely see infantry in the 16th century with closed helmets; while this is likely not without reason, we do, however, read of them being commended in the military treatises of the time, particularly in the middle of the century.
Erhard Schön, Heereszug der Landsknechte, 1532-1542
Anyone who has read Guillaume du Bellay's (or Raymond de Fourquevaux's, if you must) Instructions sur le faict de la Guerre (1548) would have noticed the strange arming of the armed pikemen:
"The arms that we will take for the body will be these here: Firstly the Hallecret complete & Tassets to the bottom of the knee, & the base of the chausses of maille, & the braie of iron, & with good Vambraces & Gauntlets, or gloves of maille, & with a good Cabasset which has the sight almost covered [bon Cabasset qui ait la veue presque couuerte]. The other harnesses of the body will be the maille Chemise or Golette, sleeves & gloves [gantz], & open Cabassets [Cabassetz descouuertz]."
Note: he seems to use cabasset as a generic term for helmet. Two things stick out: short maille stockings, and a "good Cabasset which has the sight almost covered". This may seem odd as both attributed authors were veterans of great experience, although the author does recommend some other strange things (like the use of bows and crossbows, jacks, and rondaches).
Now the former I have never seen, but the latter is further recommended by another author from around the same period, Thomas Audley, the Provost Marshal of Guines (and later Lieutenant of the lower Town of Boulogne) and brother to the more famous Sir Thomas Audley. His work, A Treatise on the Art of Warre, written some time prior to 1553, and says:
"Then must you first place the corselettes, which in old tymes was called men at Armes on foote, for that thei were better armyd and also were men of more force & experience than thother were. Wherefore thei had double paie more then any footeman had. I wold wish also that thei had rather close headpeces than others."
And Thomas Audley's treatise is certainly more grounded when compared to du Bellay's.
Wapen des Heyligen Römishcen Reichs Teutscher Nation, 1545
And indeed, we know of a proper description of some French infantry around 1551 or 1552 wearing bevors, written by Francois de Rabutin in his Commentaires des dernières guerres en la Gaule Belgique:
"Of that which I say I appeal to all those who have viewed it as witnesses, friends and enemies; for to begin firstly with the infantry, there were three square battalions [bataillons quarrez], the first of which was of the ensigns paid and maintained from the time of the late king in the wars of Piedmont, of Champagne and Boulogne, with other new captains raised at the beginning of these wars, [and,] without including any brave soldiers and young gentlemen of [noble] houses, who were there for their pleasure and without pay from the King: complete, [they consisted] of fifteen to sixteen thousand men, of whom were nine to ten thousand armed with corselets, with the burgonets with bevors [bourguignottes à bavieres], arm harnesses [brassals], gauntlets, and tassets to the knee, carrying long staves [long bois], and the most with the pistol at the girdle... The second battalion was of Gascons, Armagnacs, Biscayans, Béarnais, Basques, Périgourdins, Provençals, and Auvergnats, making muster of ten to twelve thousand men, having the physiognomy and the poise of men of war... of whom among them there could have been eight to nine thousand carried long staves, armed with corselets and halecrets..."
Note the wars that they fought in; Piedmont, Champagne, and Boulogne. The Occitans seem to have been meaner armed, although still of great experience.
Matthäus Schwarz in 1545, Klaidungsbüchlein
Indeed, both du Bellay and Audley seem to have been at least somewhat basing their opinions on actual practice, but what would be the advantage of such helmets? Luckily, we have another treatise (and the last source here) to explain some possible reasons to cover the face! Discorso dell'ordine et modo di armare, compartire, & essercitare la militia del serenissimo duca di Sauoia was written in 1557 by a veteran of the wars in Flanders, Giovanni Antonio Levo, who would eventually become the sanctioned reformer of the military of Savoy after writing this work.
Bevor itself can refer to many things, but thankfully, he defines what exactly he means by bevor:
"FIRSTLY Therefore as for arming the soldiers of that Militia, I would be of the opinion that after the proper enrollment, & selection of the men most able with arms, part of them should be armed with pikes, & corselets, & these corselets if not all at least some should have the bevor [buffa], a piece to remove & put on, which [when] joined to the cellata, covers the whole face; and this principally protects the front, back and rear of the large battaglie for the causes that will be discussed, others with rotelle and corselets; and such rotelle should be of iron, & others with halberds and corselets..."
His bevor is A: something that can be removed and attached at will, B: joined to the helmet (probably a burgonet, as per the usage of celata in this period), and C: covers the whole face. This is not simply something that just covers the chin, or covers the face with bars with wide openings between each, and very likely in my opinion, is not a bevor worn on the cuirass, but one directly attached to the helmet. And the numbers he wants are:
"That each of such companies shall have pikemen with corselets numbering 150. [and] among the which corselets, thirty at least shall have the bevor."
Along with 10 men with rotelle and corselets with the ensign, another 10 halberdiers with the ensign, 230 harquebusiers with morions; 400, plus an additional 10 officers for a total of 410 for each infantry company. But we should focus properly on the ratio of those armed pikemen with bevors and those without; and he wants at least 1/5 of these pikemen to be designated wearers of the bevor. Later on he wants additional bevors to be kept in addition to these 30, to be handed out when the captain wills it.
But continuing:
"Of the corselets with bevors, which are very useful at the first clash of a battle, & also in an assault [of a fortress], whether for to offend or to defend... the battaglia furnished with two ranks at the front, with one at the rear, and another file along each flank with corselets with the bevors.
THEY CAN also in fact place all or most of those corselets with the bevors where needed at the greatest danger of the encounter, for to better resist the first impetus, and thus give heart and good example to the rest of the squadron, which should this happen it is desired that the front ranks should never become dismayed nor become disordered, but resolve oneself to that end for which he is led to this matter, which is to win or to die each one as a courageous, valiant man, rather than to ever abandon his Ensign, & his place in battle, saving for commandment by his superiors, or to restore or reform the front ranks little by little in the manner of the Phalanx, or to recover arms, & to save a comrade, & to strike at an enemy that was close to him thus carrying the honor, & duty of true, good Soldiers, who doing otherwise may know that they incur by custom, & Military law all under capital punishment with perpetual infamy..."
We see here that the bevors are very useful at the first clash of the battle, and in the assaults of fortresses, or the defenses against thereof. He wants two ranks in front, a rank at the rear, and the whole file at each flank to consist of these men armed with bevors. But, he likewise says that the captain can place concentrate these bevored-men where he sees fit, principally to resist the first shock, and prevent the formation from being disordered. He expands on these thoughts again:
"And if those armed with corselets all had the bevors on the day of battle, or for an assault, or large encounter I would consider it to be to our great advantage, because of how important blows aimed at the face are, as well as that example of the feat of arms at Pharsalus between those two great warriors, Caesar and Pompey [that] made it clear; one can also consider [by] imagining a large squadron of pikemen that comes at us with lowered pikes to charge, or that we go to encounter them, regarding soldiers [who are] well disciplined and valorous, and not a little experienced, and without courage, that [do not flee] as soon as they see or feel that the enemy squadron has penetrated barely some of their first ranks, which could be saved, if [it is] saved, and this is the cause that makes me so esteem said bevors, [for] they have been proven in fact by myself several times, of the which having also several times discussed with the principal warriors of our time [principali guerrieri de' nostri tempi] who were of my opinion for to give cause for greater constancy in the squadron; one must not believe that there is one man so ardent, if he was not completely desperate or careless, who seeing blows coming to the face, does not flinch for to dodge [them], moving to the one side, or to the other, or abandons the pike entirely, or in part to defend [himself]: and such an action is an evil example, and can cause disorder in the squadron, which at times by [such] a little matter is put to rout, [as] one must not at that moment show even the slightest sign of cowardice, or of evil example. But the good soldier who feels himself thus covered [by the bevor] will sustain, or will charge even more courageously without flinching, nor cede to the enemy, and thus will give heart, and good example to his squadron preserving himself with the help of that piece, & of the rest, and not let himself be overthrown or disordered at the first joining."
According this veteran, he proved the use of bevors (presumably in battle) several times, as well as discussed the use of this piece of armor with other "principal warriors". Now, as you have seen, these works are all from or regarding the middle of the 16th century, which is quite curious; but further, these authors (and the men Francois de Rabutin describes) served in the same regions. It is very likely then, in my opinion, that Levo was not lying about these things. And further, although he references ancient battles, he rejects many of their customs, and likewise rejects the battle order of Machiavelli.
Our last source is from Cartelli et Manifesti passati tra M. Perseo Buoninsegni et M. Franc. Baldinaccio (1560), with a letter, regarding arms that were to be brought for a duel, circa 1559.
"An infantry Corselet for foot [Corsaletto da fant'à piedi], complete at all points, that is, with arm harness, gauntlets, & celata, with the articulated bevor in the German fashion [buffa snoda ta alla tedesca]."
The complete infantry corselet (ie, the full harness for the armed footman) in this case includes the bevor.
Matthäus Schwarz in 1543, Klaidungsbüchlein
Now, if you have been paying attention, you would have also noted all of these depictions were also from the mid-16th century! Now, we must ask the obvious question, why are the bevors almost never depicted? Well the obvious answer is that they likely were, all in all, not that commonly worn. They were also probably the more easily ditched pieces of equipment, and when marching, they likely would have not been wearing them (and thus easily missed by potential artists). And covering the face does have its own host of disadvantages, after all! However, I do think we can say, with some reason, that it was certainly a military practice amongst certain men in the mid-16th century.
Took me a while to find and then translate these, so that's all for now!
- William
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