Pale
… palet; per pale; paly; pile

The pale is a broad stripe running the length of the shield.

Its width may be from one fifth to one third of the width of the field, narrower when it lies between other charges, broader when it is itself charged.

Argent, a pale sable — Erskine (Scotland)

Or, a pale azure — Schönstein

An exceptionally broad pale, occupying half the width of the field, appears on the national flag of Canada. This vexillological creation has crept into modern heraldry, where it may be blazoned a Canadian pale.

Gules on a Canadian pale argent a maple leaf gules — Canada

Diminutive: palet

There are several old examples of three pales, but in modern armory is more likely to blazon more than one pale as palets. Eleanor of Provence, queen of Henry III bore four red pales in a golden shield, but this was unusual in English armory. (From the early 12th century to the middle of the 13th century, Provence is said to have used the arms of Aragon — Brianville, Jeu d’Armoiries, Lyon, c. 1660.)

Or iij palets gules — Count of Foix

Or iv palets gules — Aragon

Parted field: per pale

A shield or a charge divided palewise down the middle into two tinctures is said to be party per pale or per pale – or in old armory just party.

(party) per pale argent & gules — Waldegrave

(party) per pale gules & or — van Erdmannsdorff

A shield divided evenly palewise into three tinctures may nowadays be said to be teirced in pale, although many examples of “teirced in pale A B and C” would likely have been blazoned as per pale A and C a pale D in early English armory. Many modern national flags are so divided: Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, and so on.

«tierced in pale»

“tierced in pale sable, or & gules” — Belgium

Varied field: paly

When the field is divided evenly palewise into six pieces it is said to be paly. If the field is divided into four or eight pieces, it is blazoned as paly of four or paly of eight, but paly of more or less than six pieces is rarely found.

paly (of vj) or & sable — Athol (Scotland)

paly (of vj) argent & azure — Strelley

paly of viij argent & gules — Rothinge

Related charge: pile

The pile, or rarely stake, is a wedge-shaped figure jutting from the chief to the foot of the shield, its name allied to the pile of the bridge-builder. A single pile is found in the notable arms of Chandos. Two piles are sometimes found (e.g., Hollis), but three are much more common. When more than one pile is represented the points are brought together at the foot.

Or, a pile gules — Chandos

Or iij piles azure — Sir Guy de Bryan (or Bryene)

In modern heraldry there has been a tendancy for a single pile to spread out to almost the full width of the shield, and for multiple piles to recede from the foot. Both are inelegant and likely confused with per chevron reversed and a boldly indented chief.

Or iij p[a,i]les gules — Basset

In ancient armory piles in a shield are sometimes reckoned as a variety of pales, and a Basset with three piles on his shield is seen with three pales on his square banner.

Fields described as pily, pily counter-pily, or barry pily; pily paly; and bendy [sinister] pily are likely misunderstandings of bold indented lines of partition per pale; per fess; and per bend [sinister].

There seem to be no pily fields, even though this is a logical variation of the field.