Bevor: M.13B-1941

Maker(s)

Unknown

Entities

• Bevor

Categories

• Armour

Description

Bevor, of munition quality, for field use. Formed of three medially-ridged plates of which the top two protect the lower face and chin respectively, and the lowest protects the throat and upper chest. The upper edge of the top plate is nearly straight with a plain, flange-like, outward turn bordered by twenty-two holes for attaching a lining or covering, of which the central one is now plugged. The lower edge of the top plate descends to a deep cusp at its centre and to lower cusps at either side where it is connected by modern round-headed rivets with internal washers to the second plate which it overlaps. The second plate is strongly shaped to the chin and has a convex upper edge cut with a shallow, v-shaped notch at its centre. A flat, horizontal spring-strip is attached by an externally-flush rivet at its outer end within the right upper edge of the second plate. Riveted to the inner end of the spring, and protruding through a hole in the second plate, is a plain, circular stud that supports the top plate. The lower edge of the second plate is flanged outwards to receive the lowest plate which overlaps it and is connected to it at either side by a modern, round-headed rivet with an internal washer. The left washer is circular, and the right octagonal. The upper edge of the lowest plate rises to a low cusp at either side, just above the connecting-rivets, and is decorated with a small, v-shaped nick at its centre. The lower edge curves down from either side to an obtuse, central point. The lower and rear edges are pierced with a total of twenty-seven holes for attaching a lining or covering. Those at the lower rear corners are in each case occupied by modern, flat-headed rivets with internal washers that retain modern straps that fasten around the rear of the neck by means of a modern, double-ended, brass buckle attached to the end of the right strap. The left washer is square, and the right washer circular. Part of the composite Spanish armour M.13A-K-1941.

Notes

History note: From the collection of Dr Bashford Dean, Riverdale, Long Island, New York. According to a manuscript note by F.H. Cripps-Day, dated December 1926, in his grangerised copy of G.F. Laking, A Record of European Armour and Arms, [section on jacks in volume titled 'mail'], now preserved in the Library of the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, 'I exchanged [a jack] with Dean for a Gothic Spanish suit made up. I wanted a Gothic suit but parted with a rare piece'. The jack, from a house in Tonbridge, Kent, is now part of the Bashford Dean Memorial Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The bevor is almost certainly one of a series of such pieces from the armoury of the Knights of St John at Rhodes that Bashford Dean acquired from the Parisian dealer Louis Bachereau, most of which passed into the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and then via auction in London to the St John's Gate Museum, Clerkenwell, London. Mr Francis Henry Cripps-Day.

Legal notes

Given by Mr F.H. Cripps-Day

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1941-06) by Cripps-Day, Francis Henry

Dating

16th Century, Early#
Production date: circa AD 1500

Note

The bevor is bright with light patination on the top plate and somewhat heavier patination on the lower two plates. The upper left corners of the first and second plates are slightly damaged, while the metal of the lowest plate shows some evidence of delamination at its right side.

The lowest plate fits the second plate poorly and is clearly associated with it. The top plate is somewhat brighter than the other two plates and exhibits a fresh lower edge, suggesting that it also might be associated with the second plate and slightly reworked to fit it.

Western European