Fillet (heraldry)

Fillet supporting chief (Fr. Divise sous chef)

In English-language heraldry, the fillet is considered a diminutive of the chief. It is defined as occupying one fourth the width of the chief and typically positioned at its bottom edge.^[1] When so positioned the chief is blazoned as supported by the fillet; but, when the chief is charged by the fillet, when the fillet positioned at its top edge^[2] or middle, the chief is blazoned as surmounted.^[3] In French heraldry, terms for this charge are divise^[4] and filet en chef.^[5] The term chef retrait has also been used.^[6] The fillet or divise placed beneath the chief is of a different tincture than the field,^[7] evidently to avoid violations of the rule of tincture (see Berry 1828^[8]).

This use of the term, as the diminutive of an ordinary, is to be distinguished from other uses of the term fillet in heraldry. See section #Other uses of fillet in a heraldic context below.

Fillet as adjective

The adjective 'fillet'—as in fillet cross, fillet saltire—is used to denote a mode of diminution achieved by a reduction in thickness, to typically one-fourth that of the ordinary,^[9] without any corresponding reduction in the extent of the charge, in terms of length or width, or both. The fillet cross and fillet saltire occupy the full length and breadth field, as the cross and saltire as ordinaries do. The fillet bordure adheres to the outer edges of the field in the same manner as the bordure. In French heraldry, the 'fillet bordure' is the filière.^[10]

Filleting and fimbriation

The terms fillet and fimbriation share etymological roots with words associated with clothing, sewing and stitching. The word fillet derives from the Middle English and Old French filet, a diminutive of thread.^[11] But the heraldic use may derive more proximately from use of the term for an item of clothing, a headband of white silk or linen worn to indicate sovereignty.^[12] In its practical inspiration dating to the Age of Chivalry, as a cloth worn around the helmets of knights, sometimes by sons of nobles as a mark of cadency, the fillet is related to another heraldic charge, the lambel or label.^[13] But the meaning of the word fillet extends to bands of metal historically worn around the head as marks of distinction, as crowns.^[14] For its part, fimbriate derives from the Latin for 'fibers, fringe, and thread' and more proximately from the word for the skirt or hem of a garment, "implying an ordinary or charge bordered all round".^[15] The use of the term 'fimbriation' for the bordering of ordinaries like crosses and bends that extends only to the edge of the field and does not fully encompass the charge, though common, is considered by authorities like William Berry to be likely mistaken.^[16]

Other uses of fillet in a heraldic context

Aside from the use of the term fillet for the diminutive of an ordinary as a narrow band, the term is also used in a figurative-representational manner drawing on the meanings of fillet discussed above, as ribbon, cloth headband, or band of metal. In the first case, it is used to describe a decorative element of an achievement of arms, the figurative representation of a ribbon entwined around a helmet. The fillet in this sense is also frequently incorporated (twisted into) the torse.^[17] In the second, the term is used for representations of cloth wrapped around the heads of 'Moors' or 'Saracens'.^[18] When used thusly, the human figures portrayed with a candida fascia, after the diadem of the Roman kings, are blazoned diadameté.^[19] A third use, resembling the two preceding, is for the representation of a band of cloth or bandage used to bundle a sheaf of wheat or arrows together.^[20] Finally, the term is used for representations of a metal band, of gold, as a plain crown or as a component of a more elaborate crown.^[21] A derivative of this usage, is the use of fillet to describe a design component of some heraldic representations of the fleur-de-lis,^[22] such as that seen on the Flag of Quebec or the Flag of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (see section #Band as design element of fleur-de-lis below).

Gallery

Coats of arms

Gouzangrez, France
Wing Riders of South Africa
Arms of de Jong, Fillet with fillet saltire

See also the Coat of arms of the Harvard Medical School, blazoned as "sustained by a fillet compony".

Fillet in base

Baons-le-Comte, France

Fillet cross and fillet saltire

Drap, France
Bretigny, France
Roman Catholic Diocese of Bismarck
Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn
Coat of arms of Dominica
(cross fillet counterchanged)
Cénac, France

As component of crosses parted and fretted

Arms of Wilfrid Scott-Giles
Opština Nova Crnja, Serbia
Hjelmeland, Norway

As component of fretty variation of the field

Famille Gaudin de Villaine
Rushen Abbey, Isle of Man
Saint-Élier
Guer
The Textile Institute
Viscount Lambert

On flags

Fillet-adjacent diminutives*

Flag of Norman, Oklahoma, US (perhaps endorse, in flank)
Flag of the former Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979) (perhaps endorse, in flank)
Flag of Tennessee, US (perhaps endorse, in flank sinister)
Flag of Jenks, Oklahoma, USA
Flag of Nauru
Flag of Tatarstan, Russian Federation (barrulet)
Flag of the Arab Maghreb Union
Flag of Dallas, Texas, USA
Flag of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic
Flag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Flag of Chechen Republic, Russian Federation (perhaps barrulet in base)
Flag of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian Federation (perhaps barrulet in base)
Proposed flag of Western Canada (perhaps barrulet escartelly in base)
Flag of Aegina, Greece (ribbon or riband sinister)
Flag St. Paul, Texas, USA
Flag of the Solomon Islands (riband or bendlet sinister)
Flag of the Territory of American Samoa, US (perhaps fillet chevron)
Flag of Saint Lucia (perhaps fillet chevron)
Flag of Vanuatu (perhaps fillet pall)

*In English language vexillology, many of these would likely be blazoned as instances of fimbriation or cottissing.^[23] For 'fillet esquarre' as border of canton on two sides, see Esquarre (heraldry).