PARTED FIELDS

It is possible to have a coat of arms that consists of nothing more than a field. And in fact, long before heraldry was formalised, a knight may have been recognised simply by his shield of a particular colour. Sometimes in stories knights were referred to by the colour of their shield as opposed to their name to create a sense of mystery about the character, for example the Black Knight, the Green Knight, etc. But with a relatively limited number of tinctures, it is easy to foresee the eventual problem that would occur with large numbers of knights. Besides, it wouldn't be very interesting. So, many shields would have been "parted" (or "partitioned") into different sections. 

Partitions
In Blazon, the term "party" is used in many terms for divisions to mean "divided" or "parted". For example, "party per fess" is the same as "per fess". Divisions are named after the ordinary from which they take their shape. For example, a horizontal band in the centre of the shield is called a "fess". A horizontal division in middle of the shield is called "party per fess". 

Some of the more common divisions are illustrated below.

party / (party) per pale	(party) per fess	(party) per bend	(party) per bend sinister	(party) per chevron
quarterly / (party) per cross	(party) per saltire	gyronny / gyronny of eight	gyronny of six	(party) per pall

Diagram - Parted fields - common divisions

If a field is divided into three parts, it is "tierced". And again it is often named after the ordinary which the three divisions take their shape. In reality, a shield tierced and a shield with a thick band running across it may look identical (e.g. "tierced palewise gules, Or and azure", "per pale gules and azure, on a pale Or"). A key difference is that the three sections of the tierced shield do not have to obey the rule of tincture because the partitions are beside each other, whereas the "pale" is an "ordinary" (an object) on the shield and must therefore follow the rule in regards to the two sections that it is placed upon. Some authorities also argue that a band is less than one third of the area of the shield (with exceptions, of course).

tierced palewise	tierced per fess	tierced bendwise	tierced pallwise (same as "party per pall")

Diagram - Parted fields - tierced

The divisions themselves can also be divided.

per fess, the base per pale	pre fess, the base also per fess	per pale the sinister also per pale

Diagram - Parted fields - subdivided

Divisions are generally centred on the middle of the shield but occasionally they are shifted to a different position. In this case, the position must be indicated. For example, "per fess (at the nombil point)". The points of the shield are described later. If something is upside-down, it is (usually) described as "reversed" (although some re-enactors incorrectly use the term "inverted"). If it is facing the sinister (i.e. a mirror image of how it normally appears) then it is "contourny" or "turned to sinister" (which the previously mentioned re-enactors describe as "reversed").

Some charges cannot be used for divisions for practical reasons. Some charges are treated almost like parted fields themselves and some have irregular shapes that would make it difficult to use them as a division. For example, you can not use a "chief" or "border". These charges are illustrated later in this article.

In heraldry, a swastika-shaped division is called "quarterly en equerre". This division is often not used (and in fact sometimes prohibitted) in reenactment groups for the sake of political correctness. You will see it from time to time though in heraldic designs of the middle ages.

per fess (at the nombril point)	party per pall reversed	party per chevron reversed	quarterly en equerre	quarterly en equerre (outline)

Diagram - Parted fields - less common divisions

Lines of Partition
In the previous examples, the lines of partition are all "right" (straight), but the lines are not always so. Some of the other most common lines of partition are engrailed, invected, wavy, nebuly, indented, dancetty, embattled, raguly, dovetailed, and potenty. 

engrailed	invected
wavy / undy	nebuly / nebulée
indented	dancetty / dancettée
embattled / crenellée	raguly
dovetailed	potenty / potentée

Diagram - lines of partition

Note: In the middle ages, there would have been no distinction made between indented and dancetty. 

per fess gules and argent	per fess Or and purpure	per fess embattled gules and Or	per chevron raguly argent and vert	quarterly per pale indented Or and gules

Diagram - Examples of divided fields and their blazons

When describing a partitioned shield, it is important the list the tinctures in the correct order to correspond with the correct partitions. The ordering is top then downwards, right then left (from the point of view of someone standing behind the shield).

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