Talk:Gorget

Webster's New Universal International Dictionary says that a gorget was a cresent shaped ornement on a chain that was worn around the neck as a badge of rank by officers in the middle ages. Also in 1775 Col. William Moultrie designed a flag for the Revolutionary War troops from South Carolina. He chose a blue field, the same shade as the uniforms, with a silver gorget that echoed the symbol on their caps. Almost 100 years later the General Assembly designed a flag for the new nation after succeding from the union. They chose Moultrie's flag with the gorget and added a palmetto tree, a reference to the palmetto log fort used by Moultrie and his troops to succesfully defend Charleston Harbor from the British Navy.
 * Please add that to the article with citations. Durova 00:35, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

There is no 'last' armor worn on the battlefield - today, helmets and vests protect soldiers.

In the context of its placement in the article the reference is clearly to medieval and renaissance armor.

I doubt VERY much that the use of gorgets in Finland has anything to do with the Third Reich. It is MUCH more probable that it is a tradition shared with Sweden (since Finland was part of Sweden until 1809). The duty officer (dagofficer) of Swedish Army regiments, garrisons and training posts wore a gorget as a badge of office at least into the 1980's, possibly even longer. As they had for several hundred years. Allan Akbar (talk) 21:34, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Allan: I can confirm that it is still in use. 212.181.158.116 (talk) 20:50, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

Almain Collar
Perhaps somebody coudl try adding some information about the Almain collar, whether as part of this page or in a new page of its own? It was a fairly important form of neck and shoulder protection in the 16th century, and I'm suggesting its inclusion here because it was after all derived from the medieval/Renaissance gorget.

Non-projectile protection?
"intended to protect against swords and other non-projectile weapons." Being a bit of a longbow buff this statement has quite confused me. I was under the impression that one of the motivations for development of the gorget was to protect the vulnerable necks of soldiers from archers. The majority of good armour in the mid-late middle ages was arrow proof except at quite close range, so archers would deliberately aim for the neck and face which had least protection. A significant number of the french nobles killed during the hundred years war are described as having been shot through the neck. Got any references to back non-projectile statement up? Thefuguestate (talk) 15:35, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Pectoral
I got here from the link under the picture of a gold-alloy garment on the page tumbaga. That thing is described as a "pectoral", and apparently has tits on, both clues that it was worn on the chest, not the throat, yet "pectoral" links here. Should it? 81.131.15.153 (talk) 17:00, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Missing definition
The word Gorget has a third definition not touched on here and I came by today specifically to see more about that information.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gorget Third definition. 3. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Zoology) a band of distinctive color on the throat of an animal, esp a bird

(Think of a "Ruby Throated Hummingbird" as an example of a well known gorget patch.)

I just thought, in order to make this page more complete, that a brief section touching on the zoology gorgets (perhaps even with a lovely photo of a Ruby Throated Hummingbird so they can see the flame burning under his bill) would help bring this page up to standards. You also should probably add a "Zoology" Category to all those "Middle Ages" references at the bottom.

Carl McCall (talk) 14:55, 6 August 2011 (UTC)


 * That's a different article, don't think of this as a dictionary. We have it already. Gorget (bird). Look at the top of this article, it links to it. Dougweller (talk) 17:59, 6 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Thank you for that link! That was what I was searching for but Google messed me up on this one! (Somehow I missed that link at the top.)

Oh, Well: "Never Mind"! Please just delete this "Missing Definition" category .... Carl McCall (talk) 12:34, 7 August 2011 (UTC)