The shield in a coat of arms can have one solid color with charges placed on it. Often, however, the shield is divided by various methods and charges placed in these subfields. I will consider some of the more common divisions here.
Dividing a shield into two areas…top and bottom is quite common. This is called “per fess” in blazon terminology and can be seen in the accompanying illustration.
Another common method of division is to divide the shield down the center to create a field on the left and right. This is referred to as a “per pale” division.
Yet another way to divide the field is to divide it with a diagonal line running from the top left to bottom right (“per bend”) or top right to bottom left (“per bend sinister”) as per the accompanying illustration.
Another way to divide the field is into quarters (“per cross or quarterly”).
Placing an inverted V on the shield is another common division. This is referred to as a “per chevron” division.
Placing an X on the field is an oft-used way to divide the field. This is referred to as “per saltire”.
The final two ways we’ll consider are using a Y (“per pall”) or inverted Y (“per pall reversed”).
The illustration below shows these and some other variations.
