In actual use the helm seems often to have been covered behind by a hanging scarf or cloth of some kind, perhaps to temper the heat of the sun, like a modern puggaree. Heraldically this is represented by what is now called the mantling.

At first this was a simple affair, worn puggaree-wise, but by degrees it was enlarged in representations until it extended on either side beyond the helm, and was disposed in graceful twists and folds with dagged edges, which have been supposed to represent the cuts it was liable to receive during fighting (figs. 70, 71).

The usual colour for the mantling, for a long time, has been red, and its lining of ermine or white fur, but there is ample precedence for a difference of treatment, as may be seen in that rich collection of ancient heraldic art, the stall-plates at Windsor.

The earliest surviving plate, that of Ralph lord Bassett (K.G. 1368-90), has a short black mantling, to match the boar's head that forms his crest (fig. 72). A large group of plates set up in 1421 exhibits a considerable variety. Thus the plate of Sir Sanchet Dabrichecourt has a red mantling powdered with gold lozenges, a treatment suggested by two bands of red similarly decorated which encircle the bush of feathers forming his crest (fig. 73). The mantling of William lord Latimer is of red and silver stripes, and that of John lord Beaumont, like the field of his shield, is, together with the cap of estate, of blue powdered with gold fleurs-de-lis. Sir Walter Pavely has also a blue mantling.

Sir William FitzWaryn's mantling is quarterly per fesse indented of red and ermine, like his shield of arms. The Captal de Buch, Raynald lord Cobham, Hugh lord Burnell (fig. 77), Hugh lord Bourchier (pl. XVI), and Sir Thomas Banastre have black mantlings,[Pg 142]
[Pg 143] and John lord Bourchier and William lord Willoughby d'Eresby (pl. XV) white mantlings lined with red. Sir Miles Stapleton and the Soudan de la Trau have black mantlings lined with red. Several early mantlings, too, are formed entirely of silver feathers, with red, black, or other linings. These usually accompany a feathered crest, like Sir William Arundel's griffin (fig. 74), or the earl of Warwick's swan (fig. 75), or Sir Thomas Erpingham's bush of feathers. Another curious variation, which is found on four early plates, has the colour of the mantling different on the two sides of the helm, such as red on one side, and blue or black on the other. In about a dozen plates between 1450 and 1470 the red, and in one case the blue, ground of a mantling is relieved by a trailing pattern in gold, sometimes in lines only, but more usually as leafwork or flowers. In the plate of Walter lord Hungerford (el. 1421) the mantling on his banner-like plate is barred with red and ermine (see fig. 136), in allusion to the arms of his lordship of Hussey. Lastly, in the plate of Richard lord Rivers (el. 1450) the mantling is red, sown with gold trefoils, and lined with white, with gold tassels at the ends (fig. 76). This is derived from the crest, which is the upper part of a man brandishing a scimitar, and clad in a red tunic with standing collar and large hanging sleeves, also sown with trefoils. The sleeves are cleverly arranged in the plate, as if forming part of the mantling, and are similarly dagged and lined and tasselled. On the stall-plate (c. 1483) of Francis viscount Lovel the mantling is of purple sown with gold hanging locks.