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Gorget


A gorget /ˈɡɔːrt/, from the French gorge meaning throat, was originally a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period, or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term subsequently described a steel or leather collar designed to protect the throat, a set of pieces of plate armour, or a single piece of plate armour hanging from the neck and covering the throat and chest. Later, particularly from the 18th century onwards, the gorget became primarily ornamental, serving only as a symbolic accessory on military uniforms, a use which has survived to the modern day in some armies.

The term may also be used of other things such as items of jewellery worn around the throat region in a number of other cultures, for example wide thin gold collars found in Ireland dating to the Bronze Age.

In the High Middle Ages, when mail was the primary form of metal body armor used in Western Europe, the Mail coif protected the neck and lower face. During the 14th century as more plate armor appeared to supplement mail, the Bascinet helmet incorporated a mail curtain called the Aventail which protected the lower face, neck and shoulders. A separate mail collar called a "pisan" or "standard" was sometimes worn under the aventail as additional protection. Towards the end of the 14th century, threats including the increased penetrating power of the lance when paired with a lance rest on the breastplate made more rigid forms of neck protection desirable. One solution was a standing collar plate worn over the aventail and separate from the helmet, which was wide enough for the helmet to move around in so that the man-at-arms could turn his head. Through the early 15th century, gorget plates were integrated into the helmet itself to form the great bascinet. Other forms of helmet such as the sallet which did not protect the lower face and throat with plate were paired with a separate bevor, and the armet was often fitted with a wrapper that included gorget lames protecting the throat. During this time, the mail standard was still used.


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