On other occasions, the mail-coif had the additional armament of a helmet of some kind. This may be better considered in our general notice of helmets.
The Hood of Chain-mail appears to have been designed as an improvement on the Continuous Coif by rendering unnecessary the side-opening and the lacing about the face. But the hood had this great disadvantage; that, as it lay on the shoulders of the knight, it permitted the lance of the adversary to pass beneath it and deal a deadly thrust on the unguarded neck. This fact is of constant occurrence, as well in the chronicles as in the pictures of the times. The hood, like the coif, is both flat-topped and round. The flattened hood is seen in the effigy of De l'Isle, (Stothard, Pl. XX.) The round appears in the brasses of Sir John D'Aubernoun (woodcut, No. 55), and Sir Roger de Trumpington (Waller, Pt. iv., and our woodcut, No. 73): in the statues of De Vere, Crouchback, and Shurland, figured by Stothard; and in our engravings, No. 59 and 63. A simple lace, passing across the forehead and tying behind, bound the hood firmly to the head. The manner of this may be seen on comparing the brass of Sir John D'Aubernoun and the statue of Sir Robert Shurland. Both hood and coif appear occasionally to have been slipped over the head and suffered to rest on the shoulders. Compare the effigy in the Temple Church (Stothard, Pl. XXXVIII.), Hefner's plate 27, and our woodcuts No. 56 and 70. The hood is sometimes shewn as made of a cloth-like material, (cloth, leather, or pourpointerie?) as in the front figure of our engraving, No. 68, from a MS. in the library of Metz. Its colour is brown, while the banded mail in this drawing is iron-colour. (Hefner, Pl. LXXVII.) Plain and enriched fillets, which we have seen were worn over the mail-coif, appear also upon the hood. The plain circle occurs in the Gosberton effigy (Stothard, Pl. XXXVII.), and in our woodcuts, No. 59 and 63. Enriched examples are found in the sculptures of De Vere and Crouchback (Stothard, Pl. XXXVI. and XLII.).
Beneath the head-defence of chain-mail was worn a coif of softer material, to mitigate the roughness of the iron-cloth; and perhaps also to assist in protecting the head by being made of quilted-work. See our woodcut, No. 56, from a miniature given by Willemin (Monumens Inédits, j. Pl. CII.) Compare also Painted Chamber, Pl. XXXV., and Willemin, j. Pl. CXLIII.