Cervelliere
{{short description|Hemispherical, close-fitting skull cap of steel or iron}}
File:Bascinet MET 29.158.33 005AA2015.jpg]]
A cervelliere (cervelière, cervelliera; {{langx|la|cervellerium}}, {{Lang|la|cerebrarium}}, {{Lang|la|cerebrerium}}, {{Lang|la|cerebotarium}}Planché, loc. cit., citing Chronicon Francisi Pepina, lib. ii. cap. 50) is a hemispherical, close-fitting skull cap of steel or iron. It was worn as a helmet during the medieval period and a version known as a secret was worn under felt hats during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the early modern period.
History
The cervelliere was first introduced during the late 12th century. It was worn either alone or more often over or under a mail coif. Additionally, a great helm could be worn over a cervelliere,{{Harvnb|Nicolle|1996|p=51}} and by the late 13th century this was the usual practice.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}}
Over time, the cervelliere experienced several evolutions. Many helmets became increasingly pointed and the back of the skull cap elongated to cover the neck, thus developing into the bascinet.{{Harvnb|Petersen|1968}} (Encyclopædia Britannica, "Helmet") Cerveillieres were worn throughout the medieval period and even during the Renaissance.Douglas Miller, Armies of the German Peasants' War 1524-26 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003), 47. They were cheap and easy to produce and thus much used by commoners and non-professional soldiers who could not afford more advanced protection.
Anecdotally, medieval literature credits the invention of the cervellière to astrologer Michael Scot {{Circa|1233}}, though this is not seriously entertained by most historians.{{Harvnb|Muendel|2002}} The Chronicon NonantulanumPlanché gives Nantubanum but Nonantulanum is given by Du Cange records that the astrologer devised the iron-plate cap shortly before his own predicted death, which he still inevitably met when a stone weighing two ounces fell on his protected head.{{Harvnb|Du Cange|1842|p=295}}{{Harvnb|Planché|1896|loc=volume 2|p=88}}
Notes
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Refbegin}}
- {{cite book|author-link=Frederick William Fairholt|last=Fairholt|first=Frederick William|title=Costume in England: a history of dress to the end of the eighteenth century|place=London|publisher=George Bell and sons|volume=2|edition=4th|year=1896|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kjraAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA116}}
- {{cite journal|last=Muendel|first=John|title=The Manufacture of the Skullcap (Cervelliera) in the Florentine Countryside during the Age of Dante and the Problem of Identifying Michael Scot as its Inventor|journal=Early Science and Medicine|volume=7|number=2|year=2002|pages=93–120|jstor=4130215|doi=10.1163/157338202x00045}}
- {{cite book|last=Petersen|first=Harold Leslie|contribution=Helmet|title=Encyclopædia Britannica|place=London|volume=11|year=1968|page=335-}}
- {{cite book|author-link=David Nicolle|last=Nicolle|first=David|title=Knight of Outremer AD 1187-1344|place=London|publisher=Osprey|year=1996|isbn=1855325551|page=51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_FO270pBG64C&pg=PA51}}
- {{cite book|author-link=James Robinson Planché|last=Planché|first=James Robinson|title=A cyclopaedia of costume or dictionary of dress|place=London|publisher=George Bell and sons|volume=2|edition=4th|year=1896|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGMYAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA88}}
- {{cite book|author-link=Du Cange|last=Du Cange|first=Charles Du Fresne|title=Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis |place=Paris|publisher=Firmin Didot|volume=2|year=1842|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCB3-LPwWA8C&pg=PA295|page=295}}
{{Refend}}{{Elements of Medieval armor}}
{{helmets}}
{{Medieval-armour-stub}}