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 helmets of ancient times.