Inheraldry and vexillology, a pale is a charge consisting of a band running vertically down the centre of a shield or flag.[1] Writers broadly agree that the width of the pale ranges from about one-fifth to about one-third of the width of the shield, but this width is not fixed. A narrow pale is more likely if it is uncharged, that is, if it does not have other objects placed on it. If charged, the pale is typically wider to allow room for the objects depicted there.[1]
The pale is one of the ordinaries in heraldry, along with the bend, chevron, fess, and chief. There are several other ordinaries and sub-ordinaries.[1]
The word pale originally referred to a picket (a piece of wood much taller than it is wide such as is used to build a picket fence) and it is from the resemblance to this that the heraldic pale derives its name[2] (see 'pale', English: Etymology 2 on Wiktionary).
In British heraldry when two or more pales appear on a field, they are conventionally termed pallets. While a pallet is generally classified as a diminutive of the pale, the pallets on a shield of two pallets may be no narrower than the pale on another where it has been narrowed to accommodate other charges on either side.[1][3]
paly
A shield with numerous pales may be termed paly, especially in early heraldry, though this term is now properly reserved to describe a variation of the field.[1][3]
in pale
In pale refers to the appearance of several items on the shield being lined up in the direction of a pale.[3]
A pale may be couped ("cut off" at either end, and so not reaching the top or bottom of the shield).[3] The special term in Canadian heraldry for a couped pale is "a pale retrait" (this also applies to pallets; see below). If couped at the bottom it is blazoned as "a pale retrait in base".[4]
^Webster, Noah; Walkers, John; Goodrich, Chauncey A. (1853). "Pale". An American Dictionary of the English Language. New York: Harper & brothers. p. 710.
^Kibbe, Stephen, ed. (September 2006). "Did you know...?"(PDF). The Seaxe (PDF) (52). Middlesex Heraldry Society: 12. This in turn credits A King in Canada, by Conrad Swan, pp. 242–247.
