| No. 81.— De Harecourt. | No. 82.— Wake. | No. 83.— De Huntercumbe. |
A Fesse or Bar, when placed between two similar figures narrower than barrulets, is said to be cotised by them; or, to be “doubly cotised,” when placed between two bars gemelles: thus, for De la Mere, No. 84,—Or, a fesse doubly cotised (or, between two bars gemelles) az. (E. 2). An even number of bars alternately of a metal (or a fur) and a colour form the varied field which is to be blazoned “barry,” the number of the bars in every case to be specified—as, “barry of six,” “barry of eight,” &c. If the number of bars exceeds eight (some writers say ten), it is “barrulée” or “barruly”; and in this case it is not necessary that the number of the bars should be specified, the word barrulée being used alone, or the expression “barrulée sans nombre” to denote a considerable number, but not a fixed number of bars—the number, however, always to be even. But this is a modern refinement of blazon to which little if any attention was paid in early days. It is to be observed that while the bars, whatever their number, if they are blazoned as bars, are to be treated as if they were executed in relief upon the field of a Shield, a Shield that is barry or barrulée has its field formed by bars which are all in the same plane. Examples:—Barry of six or and gu., for Fitz Alan of Bedale, No. 85: Barry of six arg. and az., for De Grey: Barry of eight or and az.,—for De Penbrugge (all H. 3): Barrulée arg. and az., an orle of martlets gu.,—for De Valence, Earl of Pembroke, No. 86; in this example ten bars are represented, but in the noble enamelled shield of the first De Valence (A.D. 1296) preserved in Westminster Abbey, the bars are twenty-eight in number. Charges, not “in fesse” or “in chief,” that are disposed horizontally across the field are “bar-wise.”
| No. 84.— De la Mere. | No. 85.— Fitzalan of Bedale. | No. 86.— De Valence. |
The Pale.—Like the Fesse, this Ordinary occupies rather less than a central third of the field, but it is vertical in its position instead of horizontal. No. 87, for Erskine, is—Arg., a pale sa. Its Diminutives, the Pallet and the Endorse, severally one-half and one-fourth of its width, may be placed vertically in any part of the field. A Pale between two Endorses is “endorsed” but the term cotised is also employed with this meaning. An even number of Pallets of a metal (or a fur) and a colour set alternately, form the varied field to be blazoned “paly,” the number of the Pallets (which lie all in the same plane) always to be specified: thus—Paly of six arg. and az., on a bend gu. three eaglets displayed or, for Grandison, No. 88 (H. 3) Charges that are disposed one above another in a vertical row are “in pale.” This is the arrangement of the three golden lions of England.
| No. 87.— Erskine. | No. 88.— Grandison. |
The Cross (H. 3), formed from a combination of a Fesse with a Pale, in its simplest form is set erect in the centre of the field, and it extends to the border-lines of the Shield. If at any time it may be necessary or apparently desirable specially to set forth in the blazoning of a Shield, that a Cross charged upon it does thus extend to the border-lines, such a Cross is blazoned as a “Cross throughout.” [No. 1], Arg., a Cross gu., the armorial ensign of St. George, the special Patron Saint of England, may be blazoned as “A Cross of St. George.” Of this Cross, the great symbol of the Christian Faith, Spenser says—
“And on his brest a bloodie Cross he bore,
The deare remembrance of his dying Lord....
Upon his Shield the like was also scored.”
Faerie Queen, I. I. 2.