Harquebusiers were the last type of cavalry to wear armor in England before it went out of use in the mid- to late seventeenth century. This harquebusier's helmet is rare and important for its richly engraved bands of decoration covered in silver and for the high quality of its workmanship overall. These features suggest it was made in the royal workshops at Greenwich, which were established by Henry VIII in 1511 and were in service until the 1640s.