The Horned Helmet

1. renderanything
   February 15th, 2009 at 1:37 am

   Little did Henry know that hundreds of years later he would be looked back on as a visionary in the art of steampunk goggle making.

2. Marge
   February 15th, 2009 at 4:57 am

   There's actually a lot of debate about that helmet. If you can go and look at it in the museum, it's very obvious that the horns are an afterthought - they interfere with a channel for other decoration. The mask also looks of different workmanship than the rest of the helmet. A lot of people think that it's unlikely that such a cobbled together piece would have been presented to a king (even if it was a joke). It's one of the more mysterious things in the Armouries.

3. Polx
   February 15th, 2009 at 8:16 am

   I've seen that helmet up close, at the Leeds Royal Armouries, that's West Yorkshire by the way.

   A very off putting item.

   And if any of you are near the Armouries I would recommend a visit it is mad.

   May be less so for US Americans as you guys live in an armed society but for most others it is odd to be in close proximity to firearms.

4. ted
   February 15th, 2009 at 9:20 am

   Wow, Polx, what a misconception.

5. Inti
   February 15th, 2009 at 1:03 pm

   Lots of bling-bling there. The kings of old were gangsta!

   The horns are dubious tho; if I was a king I wouldn't take too well an armor that questions my queen's fidelity.

6. Polx
   February 16th, 2009 at 11:02 am

   ted... I suspect that may not be true. In the US anyone is allowed to own and carry a gun, with very few exceptions.

   In the UK I have never seen nor even heard of anyone owning a gun.

   Not even illegally.

7. Skipweasel
   February 16th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

   I asked my daughter about this. She's six and apart from in Leeds Armoury she's never seen a gun.

   My eleven year old son's seen a shotgun at a country fair, and remembers seeing a French policeman with a pistol on his hip, and that's it. He's /made/ more dangerous weaponry than he's seen.

8. renderanything
   February 17th, 2009 at 1:53 am

   It seems odd to me to imagine a place without guns, and I've lived in or visited a few countries scattered throughout North and South America so far. We've got about eight firearms in the house right now, safely locked away in a secure gun safe, and most of them are shotguns used for bird hunting and skeet-shooting, but it only seems natural for me to not feel ill at ease with them as long as they are being used properly and safely.
   Then again, not everyone lives in the same state I do that houses a town with mandatory gun ownership written into their by-laws.

9. Hugo
   February 17th, 2009 at 10:04 am

   That face looks exactly like Dr. Gargunza's, from Alan Moore's Miracleman.

10. Byrd Brain
    February 17th, 2009 at 12:31 pm

    Polx, you are so funny. Please keep bringing us your comedic misconceptions and uninformed assumptions about what we in the US do, because they are hilarious.

    I once went to a museum about people with really bad teeth. It was quite strange to be around that sort of thing. Maybe not so for those of you in the UK, where you are around that sort of thing all the time, but...

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