05-22-2010, 02:15 PM
Quote:Please don't get me wrong. I am not trying to suggest that a) old helmets would not remain in service
or b) that Intercissa helmets would not have been manufactured for a lengthy period.
I just felt that the last quarter of the fifth century seemed rather late for one to be brand new. But yes, I am familiar with the (assumed) construction of the Sutton Hoo helmet and thus I do accept the possibility that two part helmet construction may have remained in practice later than extant examples might suggest, although it is also possible that the Sutton Hoo helmet was already old when deposited and also that it may have been copied from earlier helmets (the remains of a ridge similar to that of the Sutton Hoo helmet were amongst the recently discovered Staffordshire Hoard, which was probably deposited in the late AD670s).
We agree here
Some people from our group use late roman ridge helmets. It is of course an hypothesis as the last dated elements are from the early 5th century (for the Concesti helmet). Otherwise we use a lot of late 5th-early 6th spangenhelms. I opted myself. for a helmet which owns to both anglo-saxon ridge helmets and late roman helmets :wink:
"O niurt Ambrois ri Frangc ocus Brethan Letha."
"By the strenght of Ambrosius, king of the Franks and the Armorican Bretons."
Lebor Bretnach, Irish manuscript of the Historia Brittonum.
Agraes / Morcant map Conmail / Benjamin Franckaert
"By the strenght of Ambrosius, king of the Franks and the Armorican Bretons."
Lebor Bretnach, Irish manuscript of the Historia Brittonum.
Agraes / Morcant map Conmail / Benjamin Franckaert