four of the helmets from Rayne Church doubtless belonged to various Capels who lived at Rayne Hall, and were patrons of the living. None, however, has the importance of the splendid helm of Sir Giles Capel, a knight, who at the commencement of the XVIth century was the lord of the manor of Rayne, and one of the most celebrated champions in all jousts of the reign of Henry VIII. Born about 1485, he died in the year 1556, after a life full of adventure in war and tournament.
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Fig. 493. Helm
From Costessey Hall. Metropolitan Museum of New York
There is yet another helm of this same class, which can claim English provenance, a fine head-piece which is also in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Like the Capel helm, it used to be in the collection of Signor Ressman; but it originally came from Lord Stafford's armoury at Costessey Hall, which was dispersed by public sale in 1885. It could be used either in contests with blunted lances or in combats on foot, judged by the number and size of the apertures in the visor, and by the fact that the number of these breathing holes is the same on both sides. We should imagine that the latter use was the one to which it was most probably put. The form of the visor is that called à soufflet, which, from this time, the early years of the XVIth century, replaced the hemi-*spherical convex visor fitted to helms used in the lists. The paintings in the manuscript Cérémonies des gages de Bataille, published by Crapelet in 1830, show combatants with armet-helm head-pieces to which both types of visor are adapted. This helmet (Fig. 493), except the visor, is similar in style to that of Sir Giles Capel. The visor is pierced with two long horizontal apertures for the purpose of sight, and shorter ones for the purpose of breathing; throughout it is strong and heavy and has concealed hinges as in the case of the preceding example.
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Fig. 494. Helm
Now hanging over the tomb of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset Wimborne Minster
