Abstract: In what survives of Henry VIII's vast collection of armour, there exists a grotesque, ugly, and bizarre helmet. A gift from Maximilian I in 1514, the armet's strange features have perplexed historians for centuries. This article reassesses the iconographical significance of Henry VIII's horned helmet and posits many of its features point towards the Greek myth of Jason and the golden fleece, and the chivalric order this myth inspired. Drawing upon evidence from the Burgundian court, it establishes a connection between the Order of the Golden Fleece and current scholarship that proposes the helmet's mask reflected a fool. This connection situates Henry's helmet within a broader cultural trend that bound the princely community of sixteenth-century Europe.
Grace Waye-Harris (Wed,) studied this question.