heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...

, an orle is a subordinary consisting of a narrow band occupying the inward half of where a

bordure In heraldry, a bordure is a band of contrasting tincture forming a border around the edge of a shield, traditionally one-sixth as wide as the shield itself. It is sometimes reckoned as an ordinary and sometimes as a subordinary. A bordure encl ...

would 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 an ''

inescutcheon In heraldry, an escutcheon () is a shield that forms the main or focal element in an achievement of arms. The word can be used in two related senses. In the first sense, an escutcheon is the shield upon which a coat of arms is displayed. In the ...

or 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 the lines of variation. Discrete charges arranged in the position of an orle are described as ''in orle'' or as "an orle of". File:Inescutcheon within Bordure demo.svg, ''Gules, an inescutcheon argent within a bordure argent'' File:Zeer smal getande binnenzoom.jpg, An orle indented on its inner edge File:Armoiries de Stael.svg, ''Argent, eight torteaux ( roundels

gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). In engraving, it is sometimes depicte ...

) in orle''; alternatively ''an orle of eight torteaux'' File:Balliol College, Oxford.svg, The arms of Dervorguilla of Galloway and her husband

John de Balliol John Balliol ( – late 1314), known derisively as ''Toom Tabard'' (meaning "empty coat" – coat of arms), was King of Scots from 1292 to 1296. Little is known of his early life. After the death of Margaret, Maid of Norway, Scotland entered an ...

; the latter's orle is dimidiated

Tressure

A tressure is a subordinary that 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-Davies argued 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. File:Double Tressures demo.svg, Example of a double tressure: Argent a double tressure Gules File:Double Tressure flory-counter-flory demo.svg, 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 in Scottish heraldry, where many coats of arms derive from the Royal Coat of Arms, in which the tressure represents the

Auld Alliance The Auld Alliance ( Scots for "Old Alliance"; ; ) is an alliance made in 1295 between the kingdoms of Scotland and France against England. The Scots word ''auld'', meaning ''old'', has become a partly affectionate term for the long-lasting a ...

with 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 is impaled, it is supposed to follow the same rule as the

, and not to be continued on the side of the impalement, but several exceptions may be found. File:Bowes-Lyon Arms.svg, 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). File:Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg, Royal coat of arms of Scotland with a double-tressure flory-counter-flory File:Armoiries Montbéliard-Montfaucon.svg, Example of the arms of the Montbeliard of Montfaucon family, showing two barbels within a plain double-tressure File:Isabella_of_Scotland_Arms.svg, Example of a double tressure impaled, the arms of

Isabella of Scotland Isabella Stewart (autumn of 1426 – 13 October 1494/5 March 1499), was a Scottish princess who became Duchess of Brittany by marriage to Francis I of Brittany. Also known as Isabel, she was the second daughter of James I of Scotland and ...

References

Sources

* A C Fox-Davies, ''A Complete Guide to Heraldry'' (revised by J P Brooke-Little, Richmond Herald), Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1969 {{Heraldry Heraldic ordinaries fr:Liste de pièces héraldiques#Orle