{{Short description|Ordinary in heraldic blazon in the form of a single, isolated horizontal band}} {{Other uses}}
150px|thumb|right|"Argent a fess gules"
In heraldry, a '''fess''' or '''fesse''' (from Middle English ''{{Lang|enm|fesse}}'', Old French ''{{Lang|ang|faisse}}'',<ref>{{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}}</ref> and Latin ''{{Lang|la|fascia}}'', "band")<ref>{{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 }}</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 {{Lang|fr|fasce}} in French heraldry, should not be confused with ''fasces''.
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed" heights="100"> 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 </gallery>
==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>{{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}}</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== <!-- This section is for other HERALDIC uses of the term FESS or FESSE. -->
<gallery mode="packed" heights="100px"> File:Tierced per fess demo.svg|Tierced '''per fess''' File:Attributed arms of Owain Gwynedd (died 1170), Prince of Wales.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''' </gallery>
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>{{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}}</ref>
The arms of Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie provide an example of ''three Barrulets fracted and there conjoined to a Chevronel''.<ref>{{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}}</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)
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== {{Commons category|Fesses in heraldry}} * Boutell, Charles (1890). ''[https://openlibrary.org/details/heraldryancient00avelgoog Heraldry, Ancient and Modern: Including Boutell's Heraldry]''. London: Frederick Warne. {{OCLC|6102523}} * Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909). ''[https://openlibrary.org/details/completeguidetoh00foxdrich A Complete Guide to Heraldry]''. New York: Dodge Pub. Co. {{ISBN|0-517-26643-1}}. {{LCCN|09023803}} * Neubecker, Ottfried (1976). ''Heraldry: Sources, Symbols and Meaning''. Maidenhead, England: McGraw-Hill. {{ISBN|0-07-046312-3}}. * Volborth, Carl-Alexander von (1981). ''Heraldry: Customs, Rules and Styles''. Poole, England: Blandford Press. {{ISBN|0-7137-0940-5}}. {{LCCN|81670212}} * Woodcock, Thomas and John Martin Robinson (1988). ''The Oxford Guide to Heraldry''. Oxford: University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-211658-4}}. {{LCCN|88023554}} * Woodward, John and George Burnett (1892). ''[https://openlibrary.org/details/treatiseonherald00wooduoft Woodward's a treatise on heraldry, British and foreign]''. Edinburgh: W. & A. K. Johnson. {{ISBN|0-7153-4464-1}}. {{LCCN|02020303}}
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Category:Heraldic ordinaries Category:Flags by design