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FESSE:
Sometimes spelled fess, (fr. fasce): (a band
across the centre of the shield) ~ signifies a Military
Belt or Girdle of Honour.
One of the
ordinaries, and though not found so frequently perhaps as
the bend, it is used as much as the chevron, and if its
kindred charge (for this is not allowed to be a diminutive),
the bar is taken into account more so. It is the most
natural form to be produced in the construction of a shield,
though fanciful heralds find an origin for it in the
military girdle. It should occupy, according to heraldic
rule, one third of the height of the escutcheon, but this
proportion is almost always considerably diminished in
practice. Its position is across the centre of the shield,
unless it is described as enhanced, or abased.
From: "A GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN HERALDRY" by JAMES PARKER, FIRST PUBLISHED in 1894