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Tressure

Heraldic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

In heraldry, a narrow, decorative border placed just inside the edge of a shield, often fleury or engrailed.

Detailed Definition
Tressures frame central charges, often symbolizing protection and allegiance. Literary use portrays boundaries, defense, or high status within a narrative structure.
Example
Example in poetry:
The tressure, a double border, framed the shield like a circlet of honor; “Tressure of memory,” the elegy pictured ancestral bonds as enclosing grace; The poet described the moon’s halo as a tressure in the night sky; In Scottish arms, the tressure flory counterflory declared royal favor; Tressures remind poets that boundaries can adorn as well as define.
Additional Notes
Tressure is a double bordure, often flory-counterflory, most famously the Royal Tressure of Scotland; it signifies royal favor or special protection; in poetry, a tressure implies sacred enclosure, elevated status, or national identity; it is rarer than a bordure and typically reserved for sovereign or high noble arms.
Also Known As
Flory tressure (when decorated) Border with fleurs-de-lis
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