Raising A Great Bascinet

"Pamplona Great Bascinet" (c1430) originally in the Cathedral at Pamplona.
Now in The Museum of Fine Art Navarra, Spain

This article was prompted by emails we received from Stuart Quayle from The Isle of Man (Mann). He has spent a lot of time researching "The Pamplona Great Bascinet" in order to have an authentic replica made not only to look like the original, but to made in the same way by the armourer.

Stuart's email reply after we were rude enough to ask just how much he had spent on his harness,

Well, a little bit about myself. I have been fascinated by 'knights in armour' and all things medieval military since about the age of six, when I began sketching them. The obsession never ceased and I read military history whenever I could, but it was not until 12 years ago that I began to research it properly and began collecting arms & armour.

For the next 12 years (I am now 48 years old) I have saved to piece together enough kit for three different variations of a harness and I am pretty pleased with the final result. I live on the Isle of Man. Unfortunately to the best of my knowledge Dave, my medieval gunner mate, and I are the only two locals re-enacting medieval military in the Isle of Man, but we hope to get a medieval group together at some point in the future.

I also research the medieval Kings and Lords of Mann and portray both - William le Scrope - Earl of Wiltshire - King & Lord of Mann in 1392 and Henry Percy - 1st Earl of Northumberland - King and Lord of Mann in 1399.

Stuart as William le Scrope - Earl of Wiltshire and Henry Percy - 1st Earl of Northumberland

Right my Boucicault kit consists of:

'Raised' Great Bascinet - completely 'raised' in the authentic medieval manner by Czech armourer - Jiri Klepac. It took Jiri 2 months to complete and is a very good copy of the original which resides in the Musee l'Armee, Paris (this Great Bascinet has a twin which resides in the Museum of fine art, Navarre). 

The internal lining and maille drape themselves were properly researched, we looked at the effigies of the Dukes of Burgundy to get these details right, I believe this helmet is pretty 'ground breaking' in this respect. The cost = mega bucks I had to sell off loads of armour to pay for this helmet. Getting a raised copy made of such a Great Bascinet today could cost over £3,000!

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Late 14th century/early 15th century plate legs by Czech armourer - Stanislav Prosek (aka Mac) cost = GBP700;

ditto plate arms by Stanislav - cost will be GBP550 when I have had the brass edging added.

9 piece, segmented breastplate (type Churburg #13) by Czech armourer BestArmour = GBP620;

Riveted habergeon by GetDressedForBattle in the UK, = GBP370;

Aketon/arming coat by Revival Clothing = GBP180; 

Waxed arming 'points' by Mark Griffin's wife = GBP100;

Properly research knight's boots period 1415, by Morgan Hubbard of Plantagenet Shoes = GBP130,

Copy of Boucicault's jupon by Frayed Edges = GBP80 (all hand stitched an absolute bargain!);

Sword is customised Del Tin with a wire bound grip and wood core scabbard by Triton Scabbard Works = GBP600

French style Poleaxe (circa 1400 - 1450) is by Mark Taylor at Dressed to Kill armoury, Mark makes semi-sharps I had mine properly sharpened up - cost GBP300

Rondel dagger scabbard and belt by Tod's Stuff = GBP220

Shield by Bonnacon Shields = GBP70 

By my calculation that comes in at GBP6,900 a serious investment!

The final result on the left the original Jeffrey Burn picture and on the right Stuart's armour

Raising a Bascinet

So on to the Bascinet and it's creation, fortunately Stuart has provided a sequence of photographs so that we can see the interim and final construction. They do say a picture is worth a thousand words; these say a million so I will say no more, click here and enjoy.

Article by Chris Skinner, The Azincourt Alliance with a thankyou to Stuart Quayle for permission to use his photographs.

Document updated 03/09/08

 Copyright The Azincourt Alliance