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.¹²

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.³² 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.⁶⁷ Charges may be borne in pall, that is, arranged in a form resembling a pall.⁸

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  Arms of the Earl of Glencairn, chief of Clan Cunningham: Argent, a shakefork sable
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  Arms of the See of Canterbury with an episcopal pallium
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  Arms of the town of Saint-Wandrille-Rançon:
  Vert, a pall wavy Argent accompanied in chief by one mill wheel Or and flanked by two fleurs-de-lys of the same.
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  Arms of the city of Khabarovsk
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  Coat of arms of Nigeria
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  Coat of Arms of Otto von Bismarck (oak leaves in pall)
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  Seal of Shanghai Municipal Council, Shanghai International Settlement