View source for Bevor


{{short description|Plate armour for the neck and chin}}
[[File:HJRK A 79 - Armour of Maximilian I, c. 1485 (detail of bevor).jpg|thumb|Armour of [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]] with bevor ({{Circa|1485}})]]

A '''bevor''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|iː|v|ər}} {{respell|BEE|vər}}) or '''beaver'''<ref name=Wagner41>{{cite book |title= Medieval Costume, Armour and Weapons |last1= Wagner|first1= Eduard|last2= Drobná|first2= Zoroslava|first3= Jan |last3= Durdík|year= 2014|isbn=978-0-486-32025-0 |page=41|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uACVAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |accessdate=15 January 2021}}</ref><ref name="Oakeshott2012">{{cite book|first=Ewart |last=Oakeshott|title=European Weapons and Armour: From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NkD86JPgCS4C&pg=PA87|year=2012|isbn=978-1-84383-720-6|page=87}}</ref> is a piece of [[plate armour]] designed to protect the neck, much like a [[gorget]].

==Etymology==
The word “bevor” or “beaver” is derived from [[Old French]] ''baver'', meaning ‘to dribble’. This is a reference to the effect on the wearer of the armour during battle.<ref name="Oakeshott2012"/>

==Description==

The bevor was [[Components of medieval armour|a component of a medieval suit of armour]]. It was usually a single piece of [[plate armour]] protecting the chin and throat and filling the gap between the [[combat|helmet]] and [[breastplate]].<ref name=Wagner41/> The bevor could also extend over the knight’s left shoulder doubling the thickness of the armour.<ref name="PuypeStevens2010">{{cite book|first1=J. P.|last1= Puype|first2=Harm |last2=Stevens|title=Arms and Armour of Knights and Landsknechts in the Netherlands Army Museum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5IvxPd5RZrgC&pg=PA48|year=2010|isbn=978-90-5972-413-6|page=48}}</ref> 

The bevor was originally worn in conjunction with a type of helmet known as a [[sallet]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Ewart |last=Oakeshott|title=European Weapons and Armour: From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NkD86JPgCS4C&pg=PA111|year=2012|isbn=978-1-84383-720-6|pages=111–113}}</ref> With the [[close helm]] and [[burgonet]], developments of the sallet in the late medieval and Renaissance period, the bevor became a hinged plate protecting the lower face and throat.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ewart |last=Oakeshott|title=European Weapons and Armour: From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NkD86JPgCS4C&pg=PA121|year=2012|isbn=978-1-84383-720-6|pages=121–122;214–217}}</ref> In the 16th century, the bevor developed into the [[falling buffe]]. This was a composite piece made up of several [[Lame (armor)|lames]] protecting the lower face and throat, but which could be raised or lowered as the lames were articulated.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Terjanian|editor-first=Pierre|title=The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=X-anDwAAQBAJ |date=2019|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=978-1-58839-674-7|page=308}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Kirkland|first=J. Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZH-LdKS-zyQC|title=Stage Combat Resource Materials: A Selected and Annotated Bibliography|year=2006|isbn=978-0-301-30710-7|page=267}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commonscat|Bevors}}
* [http://www.myarmoury.com/othr_sallet.html The bevor's description on myarmoury.com]
* [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/135959 ''The Art of Chivalry : European arms and armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art : an exhibition''], Issued in connection with an exhibition in 1982 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art 

{{Elements of Medieval armor}}

[[Category:Medieval armour]]
[[Category:Western plate armour]]


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