The secrete or secret, a French term adopted into English usage, was a type of helmet designed to be concealed beneath a hat.
Usage
In the 17th century, cavalrymen, especially fashion-conscious members of the gentry or aristocracy, who wished to wear fashionable broad-brimmed
felt
Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...
hats, but also retain some level of protection for the head, would employ a hidden helmet called a ''secrete''. This type of helmet could also be worn by civilians, including some of the judges at
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
's trial, who believed that their safety was threatened. The existence of a large number of ''secrete'' helmets of a very similar type all stored together in the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
suggests that they were occasionally issued to troops as a uniform piece of military equipment.
Appearance
The ''secrete'' was usually a small skull-cap of iron or steel pierced around its rim. The piercing allowed it to be sewn into the inside of a hat. The ''secrete'' was then undetectable to any observer, but offered considerably more protection from edged weapons than could a felt hat alone. Many different designs were used, some had solid domes, others were ring-shaped with a scalloped lower edge, presumably to save weight. A few exceptional examples had a folding cage of bars, which could be drawn down to afford protection to the face when in action. A further type of head protection which could be considered to fall under the same category, as it was intended to deceive the observer and mimic civilian headgear, was an entire broad-brimmed hat made of iron or steel. Such hat-helmets were either covered in cloth, or blackened and given a dulled finish so as to resemble felt. King Charles I of England is recorded as possessing such a helmet.
[Tincey, p. 46]
Notes
References
*Bull, S. (1991) ''An Historical Guide to Arms and Armour,'' Studio Editions, London,
*Tincey, J. (McBride, A. - illustrator) (1990) ''Soldiers of the English Civil War (2) Cavalry'', Osprey Publishing,
External links
Hat-helmet, with sliding nasal, 17th century
{{helmets
Early Modern helmets
Headgear
Western plate armour
English Civil War