Great helm

Since the 10th century the German language area began spreading to the east and southeast in the course of the German territorial expansion into the Slavic and Baltic settlement areas. As the Hanseatic League grew, Low German became the language of trade in the whole Baltic region, and German continued to be spoken and understood in many cities until the middle of the 20th century. Merchants, missionaries and knights helped to spread the German language. In the 13th century Germans began to settle in Pomerania (Pommern), which was largely inhabited by Slavs. The helmet was found in Dargen near Köslin and was no doubt part of the armour of a German knight who had come to Farther Pomerania in the course of the German colonisation. Great helmets appeared in the 12th century, became a symbol of the armoured knight and later of the knightly nobility altogether. This is the oldest extant example of a heaume.