wearing a Flemish pointed headdress and a young knight kneeling at her feet. He wears a suit of plate armour and a sword. His helmet, a pair of gauntlets and a pole-axe lie on the ground. The skeletal figure of Death lurks behind him. The legend on the scroll above his head reads: 'vous ou

la mort' ('you or death'). It suggests that the knight would rather die than prove unworthy of his lady's love.

who served their lord but did not

necessarily come from wealthy or noble

families. In return for military service

the knight received land, and peasants

to help cultivate it. Success in battle was

linked to the cult of chivalry, a strongly

religious code of behaviour combining

humility, courtesy, bravery and devotion

to the ideal of love. Romances, stories

of heroes or lovers, first developed by

troubadour poets in the south of France,

spread the concept of chivalry across

Europe. In England, the cult of chivalry

was formalised by the creation of the

Order of the Garter in 1348, which

still exists today.

the early medieval period. The helmet consists of an iron cap with a crest, neck-guard, cheek-pieces and face-mask. It was originally covered with tinned copper alloy panels, decorated with animal and warrior motifs. Viewed together, the helmet's mouth, nose and eyebrows form the image of a flying beast. Similar helmets are known from eastern Sweden, implying shared cultural traditions and interactions

with East Anglia. The scarcity of surviving Anglo-Saxon helmets indicates that only those of great status could possess them.