aventail

Aventail refers to a protective element of medieval helmet armor: a curtain of mail or small metal plates that hangs from the lower edge of a helmet to cover the neck, throat, and often parts of the shoulders. It is sometimes called a camail, and in some contexts the terms are used interchangeably.

Construction and attachment: The aventail was usually made of interlinked iron rings (mail) and could be reinforced with plate elements. It was attached to the helmet’s lower rim, typically via rivets or laces, and sometimes extended to join with a bevor or gorget to create a continuous protective throat line. The design balanced neck protection with mobility and ventilation.

Historical use: Aventails were common in the late Middle Ages, especially on bascinets, sallets, and other helmets from roughly the 14th to the 16th centuries. They provided essential neck protection for combat while allowing relatively flexible head movement, though they could limit visibility and hearing compared with fully enclosed helmets.

Terminology and variants: Terminology varies by region and period; camail is often used for mail attachments, while aventail can refer more generally to the helmet-edge curtain, whether mail or plate. Some discussions distinguish between mail aventails and plate aventails, but overlap exists in practice.

Other uses: Aventail is also the name of a modern software company that produced SSL VPN and remote-access solutions; it was acquired by SonicWall, and its technology was incorporated into SonicWall’s secure remote access offerings.