Horned helmet of Henry VIII

The suit of armour was elaborate, intended for display purposes at tournament parades. Its design was inspired by intricate fabrics, which may have been worn alongside the armour. It is possible that the armour was designed to include interchangeable pieces to be swapped to suit different forms of tournament contests.^[6] The entire suit was put on display after Henry's death, but today only the helmet survives. The rest of the armour is presumed to have been sold for scrap after the English Civil War; it is thought that the helmet was saved from this fate on account of its bizarre appearance.^[3]

The helmet includes a face piece with protruding eyes, a toothy grimace and a stubbly chin.^[2] The face includes fine detail such as crow's feet around the eyes and a drip beneath the nose.^[3] Ram's horns, made from sheet iron, are rivetted to the upper part of the helmet.^[3][2] The helmet has hinged cheekpieces, with rosette decoration around the ear holes.^[2] The face of the helmet has a pair of copper-alloy spectacles.^[3] It is not known if these were original to the helmet, but they date from before 1547.^[7] The spectacles are of the hinged type, known in Europe since the mid-14th century. The spectacles may have originally been gilded and are non-functional, not being fitted for lenses.^[3]

It is unclear if the armour was intended to be worn by Henry or another. During the 16th century horns were associated with cuckolds or the devil, rendering the armour unsuitable for a royal person, but it might have been worn by Henry as a jest.^[2][3] The armour was used primarily during court pageants.^[2]

The appearance of the helmet is likely to have been modelled on one of Henry's court fools. During the 17th century the helmet was displayed at the Tower of London and attributed to Will Sommers, one of Henry's fools, but he did not join the royal court until 1525.^[2]

Its possible that the horns are not original to the helmet.^[8] The design of the mask closely matches a face found on a playing card dating from the 1st half of the 16th century.^[8] The character is known as Schellenunter or Knave of Bells and does not have horns.^[8] The quality of the workmanship appears lower than the rest of the work on the helmet.^[8] They do however appear to have been fitted before 1547.^[8]

The helmet is currently in the collection of the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, and has been adopted as the symbol of the museum.^[2]