Are there any surviving collars for mail standards to be attached to? I'm primarily interested in the 15th century, but I'll accept 16th as well. And if there are no known surviving originals, do we have much period artwork depicting them? I've seen a number of modern-made ones, but I don't know how historical they are.

http://www.historiclife.com/Armory.htm check out JamesB's site. scroll down to the "English Maille Standard from the British Museum in London"

Thanks, Chuck! That piece doesn't have the collar anymore, but I still enjoyed taking a look at it. (though I appreciate seeing how James did his own collar as well) I find it interesting that the brass pieces are butted and not rivetted... neat!

hello,
i have recently found an interesting photo of a german example from 1530 c.,
follow the link below
http://www.humanities-interactive.org/medieval/chivalry/
gabriel

As for a collar are you referring to padding or some type of structure that the mail is attached to?

Best,

Db

Hello Bill,

This is something that I been looking into recently. I'm not entirely certain that a reinforcing structure is needed on all standards. It appears on at least on two extant examples that the standard is constructed of two different mail weaves. A collar of 6 in 1 is attached to a mantle of 4 in 1. Not only does the 6 in 1 serve as additional protection but also gives the standard some structure.

At first I was a bit hesitant to say this since 6 in 1 is commonly held as an ahistorical weave. Nonetheless, here is a close up of the collar in the British Museum (photos courtesy of James Barker and used with permission http://www.historiclife.com/Armory.htm)

There are plenty of ways to do it and all were employed. You can use a denser weave by inserting more links such as 6-in-1. You can have a denser weave by using smaller links of the same wire gauge. You can use leather thongs woven through the rows to pull a looser weave tighter - this was done more often in India and the Middle East.

Daniel found another example like the British Museum one: http://jbarrett.7host.com/details.aspx?item=488

It too is using thicker wire at the neck than the rest of the collar.


Bill I don't know of a standard with the padding or foundation still attached; I just took a guess. I am going to go back and redo the leather one day. I also want to make a copy of the example on my page using a 6 in 1 pattern and thicker wire.