Page 400 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

394 History and Science of Knots

sometimes it seems likely that the Pretzel Knot (40) is intended. Fox-Davies
[16] has pointed out the illogic of not allowing a married woman to display a
lover's knot and suggested some legitimate ways of arranging to do so. There
are other traditions in which married women surround their arms with a cord
tied in true lover's knots; if she becomes widowed, the knots are removed.
In some traditions, widows have encircled their arms with the `cordeliere',
a cord tied in alternate Figure Eight Knots and twin turns (86). This practice
upsets some heraldic experts [16] on the grounds that this cord is really part
of the insignia of the old French Order of the Cordeliere, founded by Anne of
Bretagne, widow of Charles VIII, in 1498 for widows of noble birth; it should
not, they say, be used by those with no connection with that order.

Knots in the Regalia of Knightly Orders

From the 14th century onwards, a number of Orders of Knighthood have been
founded as awards of honour and to promote chivalrous ideals. The members
wear special robes and display special insignia, some of which may accompany
their coats of arms. Some of these insignia have knots incorporated in their
designs; some of these knots are shown in Fig. 9 below.

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Fig. 9. Knots in the Regalia of the Knightly Orders
Perhaps the oldest such order is the English Order of the Garter, formed
in 1348. Members of the Order encircle their shields with the Garter (Honi
soit qui mal y pense) which is buckled and has the end half-hitched below the
buckle. The `collar' of the Order is a gold chain some of whose links [17] are
`double knots' (87). This is essentially the same knot as the `entrelacs' (Fig. 3,
39). A similar knot is found in the collar of the British Order of St Patrick; I
have not been able to discover its exact structure, except that it has two rather
than four ends. The photographs I have seen [17] look different from some of
the drawings [19]. I have also not been able to distinguish the structure in the
knots formed between `cables' entwined with sealions and a crown in the collar