Fess

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File:Fess demo.svg

"Argent a fess gules"

In heraldry, a fess or fesse (from Middle English {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Old French {{#invoke:Lang|lang}},<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, "band")<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name="Oxford60">Woodcock & Robinson (1988), Oxford Guide to Heraldry, p. 60.</ref> 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."<ref name="Woodcock">Woodcock & Robinson (1988), Oxford Guide to Heraldry, p. 58.</ref> 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 {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in French heraldry, should not be confused with fasces.

Gallery

• Fess cotised demo.svg

  Fess cottised

• Barrulet demo.svg

  Two barrulets

• Bars gemelles demo.svg

  Two bars gemelles

• Armoiries de Kerpen 1.svg

  Fess indented

• Party per fess demo.svg

  Party per fess

• Hungary Arms.svg

  Barry of eight

• Blason-Rochechouart.svg

  Barry wavy

• 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.<ref name="Oxford60" /> 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.<ref name="Oxford60" /> 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.<ref name="Oxford60" /> This is often termed "a fess cotised" (also cottised, coticed or cotticed).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Another diminutive of the fess called a closet is said to be between a bar and barrulet, but this is seldom found.<ref name="Oxford60" />

Other uses

• Tierced per fess demo.svg

  Tierced per fess

• Coat of arms of Owain Gwynedd.svg

  Three eagles in fess

• Stevenson arms.svg

  A fleur-de-lys between two mullets in fess

• 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The arms of Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie provide an example of three Barrulets fracted and there conjoined to a Chevronel.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

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.

See also

• Spanish fess
• Bar (heraldry)
• Pale (heraldry)

Further reading

• Boutell, Charles (1890). Heraldry, Ancient and Modern: Including Boutell's Heraldry. London: Frederick Warne. Template:OCLC
• Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909). A Complete Guide to Heraldry. New York: Dodge Pub. Co. Template:ISBN. Template:LCCN
• Neubecker, Ottfried (1976). Heraldry: Sources, Symbols and Meaning. Maidenhead, England: McGraw-Hill. Template:ISBN.
• Volborth, Carl-Alexander von (1981). Heraldry: Customs, Rules and Styles. Poole, England: Blandford Press. Template:ISBN. Template:LCCN
• Woodcock, Thomas and John Martin Robinson (1988). The Oxford Guide to Heraldry. Oxford: University Press. Template:ISBN. Template:LCCN
• Woodward, John and George Burnett (1892). Woodward's a treatise on heraldry, British and foreign. Edinburgh: W. & A. K. Johnson. Template:ISBN. Template:LCCN