Pall (heraldry)

A pall (or pairle) in heraldry and vexillology is a Y-shaped charge, normally having its arms in the three corners of the shield. An example of a pall placed horizontally (fesswise) is the green portion of the South African national flag.^[1]^[2]

A pall that stops short of the shield's edges and that has pointed ends to its three limbs is called a shakefork, although some heraldic sources do not make a distinction between a pall and a shakefork.^[3]^[2] A pall standing upside down is named pall reversed.^[3]

An ecclesiastical pall on a shield, or pallium, is the heraldic indicator of archbishoprics.^[2] These palls usually have a lower limb that stops short of the bottom of the shield with a fringe.^[3]

Palls can also be modified with heraldic lines.^[4] One example is the coat of Saint-Wandrille-Rançon,^[5] displayed below (third). The wavy heraldic line on a pall can be used to represent a river, or a confluence thereof, as in the arms of Nigeria (the rivers Niger and Benue, which join at Lokoja).

A field may be divided into three parts, tierced per pall (or in pairle), resembling a combination of division per chevron and per pale.^[6]^[7] Charges may be borne in pall, that is, arranged in a form resembling a pall.^[8]

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Pall (heraldry)

Gallery

Flags with palls

Flags party per pall

Flags with charges in pall

See also

References

External links

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