Page 399 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

Heraldic Knots 393

the late 11th century [7]. It is now used as a crest by the Wake family since
at least 1621 [8], and also by the Isle of Ely County Council. Fairbairn [11]
shows it as a crest in the vertical form.
The effigy on the tomb in Westminster Abbey of Anne of Bohemia (1366-
1394), queen consort of Richard II of England, shows a curious knot (83),
apparently tied in a leather strap [20][21].
The Bourchier Knot [7][13][16] is a Granny Knot (84). According to
Palliser [21], who shows it as a Reef Knot, it is shown on a monument to
Archbishop Bourchier, who died in 1486; Elvins [10], however, identified the
knot as a Granny, both on the monument and on the arms, which showed the
cords of the ecclesiastical hat united below it with a Granny Knot.

Knots in the Arms of Ladies

The theory is that women, not being fighters, can't use shields, helms, crests
or mantling, but bear their arms on a `lozenge' (Fig. 8), surmounted by a
coronet if so entitled. Now that women take actively combatant roles in the
armed forces, they may press for more equality with men in the use of arms,
as in other things [2]. There have been a few anomalous instances in the past
where women have been granted arms on a shield.
There are complicated systems of uniting the arms of married men and
women, depending on rank and armorial history. In some heraldic traditions,
sometimes some knots are used outside the lozenge, with particular signifi-
cance, as in Fig. 8.

85

Fig. 8. Knots in the Arms of Ladies
Unmarried women in many traditions sometimes display a blue ribbon
above the lozenge bearing their, or their father's, arms. This is tied in a `true
lover's knot'. This knot is usually shown as three loops united at their base,
with the ends showing (85), with no possibility of distinguishing the knot;