Fess#Gallery

{{Short description|Ordinary in heraldic blazon in the form of a single, isolated horizontal band}}

In heraldry, a fess or fesse (from Middle English {{Lang|enm|fesse}}, Old French {{Lang|ang|faisse}},{{cite book |last= Fouché |first= Pierre |author-link= |date= 1961 |title= Phonétique historique du français |language= French |location= Paris |publisher= Klincksieck |page= 921 |volume= III: Les Consonnes et index général}} and Latin {{Lang|la|fascia}}, "band"){{Cite news |url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/94/F0089400.html |title=Fess 1. |work=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed |year=2000 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |access-date=2009-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050926182954/http://bartleby.com/61/94/F0089400.html |archive-date=2005-09-26 }} is a charge on a coat of arms (or flag) that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield.Woodcock & Robinson (1988), Oxford Guide to Heraldry, p. 60. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third. The Oxford Guide to Heraldry states that earlier writers including Leigh, Holme, and Guillim favour one-third, while later writers such as Edmondson favour one-fifth "on the grounds that a bend, pale, or chevron occupying one-third of the field makes the coat look clumsy and disagreeable."Woodcock & Robinson (1988), Oxford Guide to Heraldry, p. 58. A fess is likely to be shown narrower if it is uncharged, that is, if it does not have other charges placed on it, and/or if it is to be shown with charges above and below it; and shown wider if charged. The fess or bar, termed {{Lang|fr|fasce}} in French heraldry, should not be confused with fasces.

Gallery

File:Fess cotised demo.svg|Fess cottised

File:Barrulet demo.svg|Two barrulets

File:Bars gemelles demo.svg|Two bars gemelles

File:Armoiries de Kerpen 1.svg|Fess indented

File:Party per fess demo.svg|Party per fess

File:Hungary Arms.svg|Barry of eight

File:Blason-Rochechouart.svg|Barry wavy

File:Heraldique blason ville fr rochechouart.svg|Barry nebuly

Diminutives

In English heraldry, two or more such charges appearing together on a shield are termed bars, though there are no definitive rules setting the width of the fess, the bar, nor their comparative width. A shield of (often six or eight) horizontal stripes of alternating colour is called barry. Narrower versions of the bar are called barrulets ("little bars"), and when a shield of horizontal stripes alternating colour is composed of ten or more stripes, it is called barruly or burely instead of barry. A cotise, defined as half the width of a barrulet, may be borne alongside a fess, and often two of these appear, one on either side of the fess. This is often termed "a fess cotised" (also cottised, coticed or cotticed).{{Cite web |url=http://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglossc.htm |title=Cottise |work=A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry |last=Parker |first=James |year=1894 |access-date=2009-03-29}} Another diminutive of the fess called a closet is said to be between a bar and barrulet, but this is seldom found.

Other uses

File:Tierced per fess demo.svg|Tierced per fess

File:Coat of arms of Owain Gwynedd.svg|Three eagles in fess

File:Stevenson arms.svg|A fleur-de-lys between two mullets in fess

File:141 Signal Battalion DUI.PNG|A flaming arrow fesswise

A shield party per fess (or simply per fess) is divided in half horizontally (in the manner of a fess). A charge placed horizontally may be termed fesswise or fessways, and two or more charges arranged in a horizontal row are blazoned in fess or in bar.

Notable and unusual forms

A mural fess, that is a fess embattled and masoned of the field, can be seen in the arms of Suzanne Elizabeth Altvater.{{Cite web |date=1998-10-29 |title=Suzanne Elizabeth Altvater Grant of Arms |url=http://archive.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=930&ShowAll=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160728020456/http://reg.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=930&ShowAll=1 |archive-date=Jul 28, 2016 |access-date=2009-03-29 |work=The Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada |publisher=The Canadian Heraldic Authority}}

The arms of Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie provide an example of three Barrulets fracted and there conjoined to a Chevronel.{{Cite journal |date=2007-11-24 |title=Heraldry of New Life Peers |url=http://www.docstoc.com/docs/75720250/ep-06-Issue |journal=The Heraldry Gazette |publisher=The Heraldry Society |issue=June 2007 |page=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110093133/http://www.docstoc.com/docs/75720250/ep-06-Issue |archive-date=Jan 10, 2014 |access-date=2009-03-29}}

A flag which has a central horizontal stripe that is half the height of the flag is sometimes said to have a Spanish fess. The name is based on the most well-known example of this style of flag, the flag of Spain.

Fess#Gallery

Gallery

Diminutives

Other uses

Notable and unusual forms

See also

Notes

Further reading