Standard (mail collar)

A standard, also called a pizaine, was a collar of mail often worn with plate armour.

The standard protected the throat and neck and usually extended over the shoulders; it was in use from the 14th to the 16th century.

It was called a standard because the part encircling the neck and throat was able to stand upright without any external stiffening.

The lower, shoulder-covering, part of the standard was of 4-in-1 linked mail.

Standards were frequently worn with helmets that did not afford integral neck and throat protection, such as the sallet, barbute, and kettle hat.

Mail standard 16th century, the transition between the more densely linked upstanding throat/neck part and the less densely linked shoulder section of the collar can be seen
Fully armoured man wearing a vandyked standard, English funerary brass c. 1480