View source for Couter

{{short description|Elbow armour}}
{{refimprove|date=April 2012}}
[[File:Briquet détail armure Vienne.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|A couter of an Austrian imperial armour, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria]]
The '''couter''' (also spelled "'''cowter'''") is the defense for the [[Elbow-joint|elbow]] in a piece of [[plate armour]]. Initially just a curved piece of [[metal]], as plate armor progressed the couter became an articulated joint. Couters were popular by the 1320s.{{sfn|Oakeshott|1996|p=285}}

In fighting reenactment groups such as the [[Society for Creative Anachronism]], a couter/cowter is often called an ''elbow cop''.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}<!-- There was a page for this term, but it had no good sources and no content that isn't already here. -->

==See also==
* [[Poleyn]]

==Citations==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book | last=Oakeshott|first=R. Ewart|title=The Archaeology of Weapons: Arms and Armour from Prehistory to the Age of Chivalry|year=1996|orig-year=1960|publisher=Dover Publications|location=[[Mineola, New York]]|isbn=978-0486292885 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041207000438/http://www.chronique.com/Library/Glossaries/glossary-AA/armsindx.htm Armour Glossary]

{{Elements of Medieval armor}}

[[Category:Western plate armour]]
[[Category:Armwear]]


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