Hi, my name's Kevin Hicks,  welcome to my Youtube channel  

the History Squad and we're going to look at  today is what a bowman what a medieval bowman  

wore on his head, not only just on a daily  basis but also when he went on campaign,  

when he was in combat and we're going through  the ages here, so I'm just going to go  

straight into this subject yeah? First of all  you got to start with the basic your head yeah,  

but everybody in the medieval times they  covered their hair this is your medieval coif.

I say this is nice to keep your lice nice and warm  underneath your head covering then you can put  

other caps on yeah, but before we go any further  I've just got to show you the lady version.

The ladies, in medieval times particularly,  suffered quite a lot when it comes to the  

church and I'm going to show you  this quickly. So they had long hair  

but they couldn't show it out in public  because they would be regarded as a lady  

of the night or if she's a married woman and she  has a hair uncovered, so I understand, it was a  

sign that she'd been unfaithful to her husband. So  this is quite uh important, so you put the hat on  

all of your hair goes into the back you then bring  it round. Now remember I'm a Kevin I'm not a Julie  

so I don't know if I'm doing this 100 you then  turn it back how's that yeah enough of that so  

the coif let's put the coif back on and  start with a couple of just simple helmets.

Bowmen weren't always rich. Bowmen were often  regarded as quite low so you might find him  

just with a sheepskin cap yeah? It might be  all he has to wear but as he makes his money  

he might be able to afford a leather cap. Now  I've made this, boiled leather, and I will tell  

you right it's actually comfortable right?  You can see, you can shoot, you can feel,  

you can do it up and I'm going to just take  it off and just bring it a bit closer to you.  

It's just boiled leather that's all it is.  See Edmund there, the Patron Saint of Bowmen  

yeah? So leather cap, boiled leather cap you  won't see these in the films will you, right?

My fave, without a doubt my favourite,

an archer's woollen cap. Now these, I think it  was a little bit later were called Monmouth caps  

and and true to form this was actually made  in Monmouth right. Right on the border South  

Wales and England. Sometimes it was in  England sometimes it was in South Wales.  

Hey get out of here, so I like this. It's  stylish yeah, and it's warm and also if  

somebody clunks you on the head it might  just cushion the blow and of course we have

Robin de Bois, Robin Hood  

yeah. Robin Hood, stylish. Now what I used  to do at Sherwood, I used to tie me coif up  

yeah, so I could hear and when you look at some of  the drawings, some of the pictures of the medieval  

times these coifs are often are tied up. This  is good except you can't shoot very well in it,  

this gets in the way. So I have to tilt it right  back when I'm shooting yeah. But of course combat  

yeah I've got a series of helmets here now that  I'm going to show you and we go basically from  

1066 and through but these are what bowman would  have worn. This isn't particularly what knights  

or men at arms would have worn so we'll put the  coif back on keep my lice nice and warm yeah.

So what we have here is a very simple  conical helm. Uh the Normans had these  

right, they had the nasal bar these went through  1066 the Saxons had them, the Vikings had them  

and then they went right the way through  the 1100s to the 1200s it's a very simple  

helmet yeah? It's already lined, I can put that  on. It's good to shoot in yeah, it's pretty good  

except for one problem I feel like a bullet  when I wear it yeah? I don't like the look yeah.  

The reason I haven't got the nasal bar is it gets  in the way when I'm shooting. Don't forget this  

is for the bowman so conical helm. Now let's  move up just one tiny little notch, now i've  

got to show you this because it’s, it's quite,  it'll explain what bowman did on the battlefield  

so we're going to go on to a pig-faced bassinet  now. Now this is what a knight would have worn, so  

before I put it on I'm going to put on my trusty  sheepskin cap all right, this is for comfort and  

protection you can have an entire arming cap  but I prefer this. Now the pig face bassinet.  

You're a bowman on the battlefield,  the knight is wearing this,  

he's coming straight for you. Let's put it  on so you can see what the night looks like.

It fits really well it's very snug.

But the front comes off. Now the bowman, when  a knight is down on the deck on the floor,  

the bowman can pinch his bassinet. He now  has an open face. He is on the battlefield,  

but just have a look at this, this is the  knight's view through the visor of one of these.

Yeah because I shot him right, so the pig-faced  bassinet the bowman has himself a helmet  

yeah now let's change it.

Let's get on to Agincourt this is  my latest one, this is my Agincourt  

sallet these are called. Fit it on my head  nice and comfortable, I can do it up if I like  

nice, shoot yeah, I can see around and the  sallet has this piece coming back to protect  

your neck. This is nice, I like this helmet, it  could quite easily become me favourite yeah? The  

only problem with it is it is heavy, so you have  got to fasten it, fasten it down tight yeah so,

The sallet, open faced, but if  we go into the Wars of the Roses.  

Sorry if my hair's a mess, they  change yes, they had these for sure

But how about the kettle helm?

I wore this so much at Warwick Castle over the  years that it fits me perfectly inside it is so  

nice and it's it's yeah it's well oiled. There’s  so much oil in this you wouldn't believe it  

yeah but I've got a full cap in  there that makes it mine yeah, so  

I think I just put it on backwards yeah.  The kettle helmet, they had these earlier  

on and they were a little bit broader.  Now the one that people really like.

The visored sale. This is very  typical of the Wars of the Roses time

So there we go the open face has now  got a visor. You can bring it down.  

Now I have shot with it down  I've done demonstrations but  

I'll tell you it's difficult. But you've got  to weigh it up haven't you? If you've got this  

on and the enemy is shooting down at you, take  the battle of Towton for instance. If you're a  

Yorkist at the bottom of the hill and you can  see the arrows coming down you might just lock  

this down for a little while then when it's your  turn to shoot bang you know, so there we have it  

a nice selection medieval headgear for the  bowman and it's all part of my collection. I  

am going to add to it, so in the future stand  by, you might meet some new kind of helmets.  

Well I hope you enjoyed the film, if you  did please give us a thumbs up and do me a  

favour share these films if you can yeah? Let's  grow this site and I can make more films yeah?  

But we have a Patreon account now  so these people are helping me  

to grow this site as well. So I'm going to give a  thank you to some of the guys. P G Guillaume yeah,  

now if I didn't pronounce that right  you've got to tell me yeah? Gregory Clark,  

thanks mate and Maxwell Gross yeah, so thank  you very much guys and I'll see you soon. Bye.