Helmet as an Element of Protective Equipment of a Professional Warrior in the Galician and Volyn Lands in the X‒XII Centuries: the Problem of ”Latin Helmets”

Abstract

The article considers the findings of helmets of the X–XI centuries from the territory of the former Volyn land and and neighboring areas. Attention was paidto the discovery of an11th-century helmet from the outskirts of the village Nemija in the Vinnytsia region. The author defines the artifact as a typical European helmet of the so-called “Norman type”, analogies of which are known from Central Europe. On the basis of a number of material analogies and iconographicsources, an assumption was made about the connection of typical European “norman helmets” with the “latin helmets” mentioned in the A Word about Igor, s Expedition. It has been suggested that western helmets in the Galician and Volyn lands became cheap analogues of eastern and expensively decorated “Чорної Могили” helmets.