QUARTERS

When all the colours (plains) had been used, other means of identification had to be found. Hence the quarters.

As the name indicates, these divided the shield into several “zones”. Their lines stemmed principally from the “4 blows of the warrior” - that is, from the directions in which swords were wielded in the Middle Ages, when they were used solely for slashing.

The types you will encounter most frequently are the party per pale, the couped (or coupé) = party per fesse, tranché (or party per bend), taillé (or party per bend sinister), quartered (cruciform or party per saltire), together with their derivatives, tierced or tierce, paly and fasces, as well as the lesser quarters (checky, chequered, lozenges, fusils, etc), or more rare and later terms such as papelonny and plumeté, or plummety.

Other regular and irregular quarterings feature mostly in non-French heraldic arms.