Orle (heraldry)

Argent, an orle gules

Inheraldry,anorleis asubordinaryconsisting of a narrow band occupying the inward half of where abordurewould be, following the exact outline of the shield but within it, showing the field between the outer edge of the orle and the edge of the shield.

An orle can sometimes be confused with aninescutcheonor escutcheon voided(a smaller shield with a shield-shaped hole), or with a patch of the field left over between a bordure and an inescutcheon.

Orles may varied by any of thelines of variation.

Discretechargesarranged in the position of an orle aredescribedasin orleor as "an orle of".

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  Gules, an inescutcheon argent within a bordure argent
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  An orle Gules indented on its inner edge
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  Argent, eight torteaux (roundelsgules) in orle;alternativelyan orle of eight torteaux
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  The arms ofDervorguilla of Gallowayand her husbandJohn de Balliol;the latter's orle isdimidiated

Tressure

Atressureis asubordinarythat can be regarded as a diminutive of an orle. John Woodward is of the opinion that "a plain tressure is a diminutive of the orle, and is depicted half its thickness".A tressure is described as representing the circular raised line on a coin that shows the user if the coin has been clipped or overly worn. A double tressure is normally an 'orle gemel', i.e. an orle divided into two narrow ones set closely together, one inside the other, with artists interpreting it as composed of two narrow orles each being one-third or one-fourth the width and the void between them being one-third or one-half the width.A. C. Fox-Daviesargued that a tressure is by necessity doubled, otherwise it would be an orle. However, examples exist of coats of arms with a single tressure, as in the arms of Edward Lawrence.

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  Example of a double tressure: Argent a double tressure Gules
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  Example of a double tressure flory-counter-flory: Argent a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules

Plain tressures are rare. It is much more common to see tressures flory-counter-flory, especially inScottishheraldry, where many coats of arms derive from the Royal Coat of Arms, in which the tressure represents theAuld Alliancewith France (fleurs-de-lys being a French symbol). As a result the double tressure flory-counter-flory is often referred to as 'the royal tressure'.

When a tressure isimpaled,it is supposed to follow the same rule as thebordure,and not to be continued on the side of the impalement, but several exceptions may be found.

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  Example of quartered arms (Bowes-Lyon) with tressures in two of the quarters: Quarterly 1 and 4 argent a lion rampant azure, armed and langued gules within a double tressure flory counter-flory of the second (for Lyon); 2 and 3 ermine three bows stringed palewise in fess proper (for Bowes).
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  Royal coat of arms of Scotland with a double-tressure flory-counter-flory
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  Example of the arms of the Montbeliard of Montfaucon family, showing two barbels within a plain double-tressure
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  Example of a double tressure impaled, the arms ofIsabella of Scotland

Sources

• A C Fox-Davies,A Complete Guide to Heraldry(revised by J P Brooke-Little, Richmond Herald), Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1969