Sallet The sallet ( also called " celata , " " salade " and " schaller " ) was a war helmet that replaced the bascinet in Italy , western and northern Europe and Hungary during the mid - 15th century . In Italy , France and England the armet helmet was also popular , but in Germany the sallet became almost universal . Origins . The origin of the sallet seems to have been in Italy where the term " celata " is first recorded in an inventory of the arms and armour of the Gonzaga family dated to 1407 . In essence the earliest sallets were a variant of the bascinet , intended to be worn without an aventail or visor . To increase protection to the face and neck , that the abandonment of the visor and aventail would have exposed , the sides of the helmet were drawn forward at the bottom to cover the cheeks and chin and the rear was curved out into a flange to protect the neck . The barbute or " barbuta " was a related helmet appearing in Italy at much the same time as the sallet . Unlike the sallet , the fully developed barbute consciously copied elements of the Classical Corinthian helmet s of ancient times . Later developments and regional variation . The sallet became popular in France , England and the Netherlands through contact with Italy and eventually was adopted in Germany . Regional styles developed , which were catered for by the great armour manufacturing centres of northern Italy ( especially Milan ) and southern Germany ( Augsburg and Nuremberg ) . However , though a sallet , or complete armour , might be German in style it could have been of Italian manufacture , or vice versa . The German sallet may have been the product of the melding of influences from the Italian sallet and the deep - skulled " German war - hat , " a type of brimmed " chapel de fer " helmet . Later Italian sallets ( by c . 1460 ) lost their integral face protection and became open - faced helmets with gracefully curved surfaces . In this simple state they were favoured by lighter - armed troops , especially archers and crossbowmen , whose uninterrupted vision was at a premium . For more heavily armoured troops a greater level of protection could be afforded by the attachment of a plate re - inforce for the brow of the helmet and a deep visor , usually of the ' bellows ' form which incorporated many ventilation slits . Such helmets would have been worn with a stiffened mail collar , termed a " standard , " which protected the throat and neck . Some Italian - style sallets were provided with a covering of rich cloth , usually velvet , which was edged in silver - gilt or gilded brass ; ornamental decoration in the same metals could be added to the surface of the helmet , allowing areas of cloth to show through . In the period 1450 - 1460 a distinctive German style of sallet appeared . It was round - skulled but was less curvaceous than the Italian sallet , its most obvious feature was that the rear of the helmet was drawn out into a long tail , sometimes consisting of a number of lames . One characteristic that distinguishes early German sallets from later German sallets up to c . 1495 , is the length of the helmet tail , which became more pronounced over time . The front of these helmets sometimes extended down to cover the upper - face , with eye - slits provided for vision . Other versions retained the same outline , but the upper - face was protected by a movable half - visor . Most German sallets were worn with a separate scoop - shaped plate gorget , called a bevor , that extended from the upper chest to just below the nose and protected the wearer ' s lower - face and throat . Most needed no added ventilation holes , as there was a natural gap where the visor or front of the helmet overlapped the bevor near the wearer ' s mouth . By the mid 15th century a regional variety of sallet had evolved in England and the Netherlands , termed the ' English - Burgundian style ' ( the Netherlands were at that time ruled by the Duke of Burgundy ) . It was usually worn with a bevor and had very similar facial protection to , and frontal appearance as , the German sallet , but was more curvaceous and possessed a less extreme projection to the rear . In many ways it was intermediate between the German and Italian forms . French sallets were very similar to the English - Burgundian type and all have been classed as " short - tailed sallets . " Demise . In the last generations of German sallets the bevor was articulated from the same pivot as the visor . Initially the bevor was attached inside the skull . When the long tail at the rear of the helmet was eventually shortened , from c . 1495 , these later sallets became virtually indistinguishable from close helmet s , and the articulation of the bevor moved to the ouside of the skull . The sallet was gradually abandoned for field use in the first two decades of the 16th century , being largely replaced by the close helm and burgonet , however , it was retained into the mid century , in a heavily reinforced form , for some types of jousting . The German - style sallet was the model for the World War I German " Stahlhelm " , whereas the kettle hat inspired the contemporary British and French helmets . The sallet was the forerunner of the modern combat helmet and firefighter ' s helmet .