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| | Fess | Variants: Fess, Fesse | One of the honourable ordinaries, a horizontal bar drawn across the field. The Fesse occupies the third of the field, and like the other ordinaries, is subject to all the accidental lines as Engrailed, Wavy, etc. When the Fesse is placed higher than the centre, it is said to be transposed; and when below the centre, it is termed abaisse. The diminutives of the Fesse are the Bar, Closet, and Barrulet. These are also subject to the accidental lines; e.g. Three Bars Nowy, two Closets, or Cottises Fleury.
It is a fixed rule of British armory that there can only be one fess upon a shield. If two figures of this character are found they are termed bars, but it is hardly correct to speak of the bar as a diminutive of the fess, because if two bars only appear on the shield there would be little, if any, diminution made from the width of the fess when depicting the bars. As is the case with other ordinaries, there is much latitude allowed to the artist in deciding the dimensions, it being usually permitted for these to be governed by the charges upon the fess or bars, and the charges between which these are placed.
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