Gorget

A gorget is a plate neck protection that covers much of the neck and hollow of the throat as well as some of the collarbone near the top of the ribs.

There is some indication that gorgets may have sat under breastplates to take spread the weight of the shoulder pieces of a back and breast and they continued to be worn even after other pieces of armour were abandoned. eg in the mid 17th century.

Even much later many armies still had them in symbolic forms for officers.

In the 15th century a mail standard or standart forms a similar function.

Gorgets in the SCA

In the SCA, a neck defence that encircles the neck is given this name and are a required part of armour for both light and heavy combat and are typically made of leather or metal.