View source for Aventail

{{short description|Flexible curtain of mail attached to the skull of a helmet}}
{{about|the piece of medieval armor|the network technology company|Aventail Corporation}}
[[File:DHM - Beckenhaube.jpg|thumb|upright|Camail with triangle ventail (mail flap) on a [[bascinet]] (ca. 1360) at the [[German Historical Museum]].]]
An '''aventail''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|v|ən|t|eɪ|l}})<ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster |aventail |access-date=2021-10-21 }}</ref> or '''camail''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|m|eɪ|l|,_|ˈ|k|æ|m|eɪ|l}})<ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster |camail |access-date=2021-10-21 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/camail |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021134802/https://www.lexico.com/definition/camail |url-status=dead |archive-date=2021-10-21 |title=camail |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] }}</ref> is a flexible curtain of [[mail (armour)|mail]] attached to the skull of a [[helmet]] that extends to cover at least the neck, but often also the throat and shoulders. Part or all of the face, with spaces to allow vision, could also be covered. Some featured a ventail (a mail flap next to the mouth), which could be laced or hooked up to cover the lower face, or left loose for easier breathing or speech.

== European history ==
=== Early and High Middle Ages ===
Aventails of [[chain mail]] started appearing on [[Northern Europe]]an helmets as early as the [[6th century]], as seen on several [[Vendel Era]] helmets, most notably the [[Valsgärde|Valsgärde 8 helmet]] ([[580]]–[[630]] AD)<ref name="vendel helmets">{{cite web |title=Hjälmen under Yngre Järnåldern, Härkomst, förekomst och bruk |url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:541128/FULLTEXT01.pdf |website=diva-portal.org |publisher=[[Uppsala University – Campus Gotland|University of Gotland]] |access-date=2023-10-23}}</ref> from [[Uppsala]], Sweden, but also the well preserved [[Coppergate Helmet]] (ca. [[750]]–[[800]] AD) from [[York]], England.<ref>Tweddle (1992).p.940</ref> These early appearances varied greatly in configuration, the Valsgärde 8 helmet featuring an aventail which enclosed the entire lower face, throat and neck, versus the Coppergate Helmet, which combines hanging cheek guards with an aventail for the neck (a configuration likely also used on the similar 7th century Anglo-Saxon [[Pioneer Helmet]]).

Byzantine helmets also sometimes show evidence of mail aventails. A rare find of a helmet in Yasenovo in Bulgaria, dating to the 10th century, may represent an example of a distinctively Byzantine style. This rounded helmet has a brow-band pierced for the attachment of a face-covering camail.<ref>Dawson, Timothy (2007), p. 61.</ref>

The enclosed Vendel style aventail came to be the most conventional type going forward into the [[High Middle Ages]]. Some configurations fixed the frontal aventail to a spectacle visor (upper face mask) like the Vendel 8 helmet or a nasal guard, notably seen on several [[Rus' people|Rus']] and [[Kievan Rus']] high medieval helmets. Other configurations let the aventail hang loose in front of or under the face like a veil, most likely with an inner liner against chafing or padding against blows. A reason to not connect the frontal chain mail to a spectacle visor or nasal guard might have been to allow for a ventail, a flap of mail which allowed the user to open and close the mail over the mouth for added flexibility. Archeological finds of complete aventails from the early medieval period are however sparse and more than often only a few perforated attachment holes remain.

<gallery widths="120" heights="180">
File:ValsgardeB.png|[[Valsgärde|Valsgärde 8 helmet]] ([[580]]–[[630]] AD)<ref name="vendel helmets"/> with an enclosed aventail fixed to the visor
File:Coppergate Helmet YORCM CA665-008.jpg|[[Coppergate Helmet]] (ca. [[750]]–[[800]]) with a neck aventail combined with cheek guards
File:Rothenburg Museum - Nasalhelm 2.jpg|[[Rus' people|Rus']] [[nasal helm]] (11th century) with [[perforated]] nose guard for an enclosed aventail
File:Moscow State Historical Museum - IMG 3502.JPG|[[Kievan Rus']] modern reproduction [[Spangenhelm|spectacle helmet]] (1150–1250) with aventail fixed to the visor
</gallery>

=== Later Middle Ages ===
[[File:Basinet helmet with dog-faced visor and aventail (mail hood), probably Germany - Higgins Armory Museum - DSC05492.JPG|thumb|upright|Detachable aventail on a [[hounskull]] [[bascinet]]]]
Early aventails were riveted or otherwise fixed directly to the edge of the helmet, however, beginning in the 1320s in Western Europe, a detachable version replaced this type.{{sfn|Gravett|2008|p=116}} The detachable aventail was attached to a leather band, which was in turn attached to the lower border of the helmet by a series of pierced [[rivet]]s, called [[vervelles]].<ref name="DeVries">{{Cite book |last=DeVries |first=Kelly |title=Medieval military technology |year=2012 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |others=Smith, Kay Douglas |isbn=978-1-4426-0497-1 |edition=2nd |location=North York, Ont. |pages=77, 88 |oclc=782101074 }}</ref> Holes in the leather band were passed over the vervelles, and a waxed cord was passed through the holes in the vervelles to secure it.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bradbury|first=Jim|title=14 Medieval Armor Items |publisher=Routledge|year=2004|location=New York|pages=261–262}}</ref>

[[File:TombaPrincepNegre.JPG|thumb|Historic depiction of a bascinet with aventail on the tomb of [[Edward, the Black Prince]] (1376)]]
Aventails were commonly seen on [[bascinet]]s in the 14th century and served as a replacement for a complete mail hood ([[mail coif|coif]]). Some aventails were decorated with edging in [[brass]] or [[bronze]] links (sometimes gilded), or with a zig-zag lower edge (vandyked). By the mid 14th century, the aventail had replaced the [[mail coif]] completely. By the dawn of the 15th century, the plate armored neck guard ([[gorget]]) of the Great Bascinet started to replace the aventail.<ref name="DeVries"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
*{{cite book|last=Gravett|first=Christopher|year=2008|title=Knight: Noble Warrior of England 1200–1600|publisher=Osprey Publishing}}
* {{cite book
|first = Timothy
|last = Dawson
|title = Byzantine Infantryman. Eastern Roman Empire c.900–1204
|publisher = Osprey, Oxford
|year = 2007
|isbn = 978-1-84603-105-2
}}
* {{cite book | last = Tweddle | first = Dominic | author-link = Dominic Tweddle | title = The Anglian Helmet from 16–22 Coppergate | series = The Archaeology of York | volume = 17/8 | date = 1992 | publisher = Council for British Archaeology | location = London | isbn = 1-872414-19-2 | url = https://www.collections.yorkarchaeologicaltrust.co.uk/s/publications/item/74497 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240321135711/https://www.collections.yorkarchaeologicaltrust.co.uk/s/publications/item/74497 | archive-date = 21 March 2024 }} {{free access}}

==External links==
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Aventail |volume=3 |page=53|short=x}}

{{helmets}}

[[Category:Medieval helmets]]
[[Category:Western plate armour]]