klappvisier

English

A bascinet with a klappvisier.

Etymology

German Klappvisier

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklæp.vɪˌzɪɹ/, /ˈklɑp-/

Noun

klappvisier (plural klappvisiers)

1. (historical) A type of visor, found on medieval European (especially German) helmets, typically hinged at a single point in the middle of the brow of the helmet (rather than hinged on the sides of the skull).
   • 1935, Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity:

     Representations of the Sleeping Guard show war - hats as well as bascinets with Klappvisiers , as on the Easter Sepulchre in the Altertumsmuseum in the Grosse Garten at Dresden and in Constance Cathedral . They frequently appear in ...

   • 2001, Church Monuments: Journal of the Church Monuments Society:

     In Germany one of the earliest pictorial depictions of a Klappvisier appears to have been shown in the lost Volto santo fresco, formerly on the east wall of the Chapel in Kronberg (see ftn. 27 above).

   • 2006, Kate Morris, History, Lotus Press, →ISBN, pages 31–32:

     Early bascinets had no visors, but by the second quarter of the 14th century they were fitted with Klappvisiers, visors , using a centralised hinge […]
     During the 1390s steel ventails gradually replaced the mail aventail that had been fitted alongside the klappvisier to defend the neck.

   • 2015, James B. Tschen-Emmons, Artifacts from Medieval Europe, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 37:

     An improvement on this design was the Klappvisier, a larger, full guard that folded down over the face.

Alternative forms

• klappvisor

Further reading

• 2010, Clifford J. Rogers, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, →ISBN, page 252:

  The basinet was fitted with a visor, called a klappvisier, which at first was rounded and pivoted at the sides of the skull, although it later became more pointed and was usually attached to the center of the face opening.