Salvete Omnes,
today is the 420 anniversary of the momentous battle of Kircholm (1605). I have written about Kircholm many times (please, be so kind and check labels).
Today a word or two about the war hat found to have been used by the winged hussars(companions and retainers). Typically we associate the winged hussars lancers, especially the companions, with a helmet known as a szyszak (shishak, shishaq). Naturally during the period of late XVI and early XVII century the lancers wore a variety of helmets, and a kapalin war hat was one of them.
Note that war hats or kettle hats were in use since the early Middle Ages, and even as late as 1630s Swedish modern army had kapalin war hats in their panoply, especially the cavalry, albeit their were often blackened.
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| winged hussar carrying a lance and a kapalin war hat |
Polish museums, eg Krakow National Museum, have a collection of these helmets, also in Belarus too, perhaps in Lithuanian and Ukraine as well.
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| a 'kaapalin' from a Belarusian museum, placed on a chain mail shirt |
National Museum in Kielce has a very nice example of these kapalin war hats used by our hussars.
Also, Museum Ziem Wschodnich-Lublin Castle has a well preserved example of Polish-Lithuanian cavalry kapalin war hat.
more photos of the helmet on the museum website.
So perhaps some of the boys who charged the Karl IX's Swedish army wore the kapalin war hats, a popular helmet with some companions and many retainers through 1650s.
enjoy
Valete
