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Heraldic Templates -- Knots

The following links are to pages that contain images that you can use to help design your armory -- this set of images are for knots as they are used in heraldry.

Instructions (please read):

• If you want to use this for your heraldic submission, or print it for any reason, click on the 'PDF File' link -- a new browser window will open, and you can print from there.
  • If you want to use the image for your own armory submission, these should be sized to be close to the submission forms, and you can trace over them. For straight lines you might want to use a ruler to help.

The descriptions of the charges below are all taken from The Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry ...¹, and rather than having a 'footnote' for each, we have one. Note that not all of the detail in the Pictorial Dictionary has been included in the text given ...

The Pictorial Dictionary says about Crosses as charges in general:

"A knot is a complex interlace of rope or twine; there are a great many varieties. In mundane heraldry, knots were normally used as badges, but there are some examples of knots used in devices; and they may be so used in Society heraldry.
     "Of the knots used in the Society, many are taken from mundane heraldry; some are simple knots, described in the blazon rather than given a special name; some are used mundanely in other occupations, such as surgery; and some knots are SCA inventions."

Individual knots are described using what information is in the Pictorial Dictionary for them ...

Note: These are not done yet -- the links are here to make it easier for Hirsch, rather than having to keep adding them ... this is a work in progress.

Belt Knot		The belt knot is the knot used to tie a leather belt around a waist.
						PDF File
Bourchier Knot		Also called the granny knot.
						PDF File
Bowen Knot		The Bowen knot, normally drawn with curved bows as in the illustration, but sometimes with angular corners.
						PDF File
Cavendish Knot		The Cavendish knot or Savoy knot, used as a badge of the House of Savoy since 1362. Also called the figure-eight knot.
						PDF File
Donnelly Knot		SCA Invention.
						PDF File
Fidelis Knot		SCA Invention.
						PDF File
Foil Knots		Of the more generic knots, the "foil" knots are the simplest: a closed loop knotted into a number of lobes, which radiate out like the petals of the foil-type flowers. These knots are named for the number of lobes: a trefoil knot has three lobes, a quatrefoil knot has four lobes, etc. There is also the knot of four loops and tassels, which is simply as described.
						PDF File
Hangman's Noose
						PDF File
Heneage Knot
						PDF File
Hungerford Knot		The Hungerford knot (also called a Dacre knot), essentially a Bowen knot crosswise, opened at the bottom, and usually binding together other charges.
						PDF File
Ligature Knot		Also called a surgeon's knot
						PDF File
Mascle Knot		SCA Invention.
						PDF File
Masthead Knot
						PDF File
Stafford Knot		Also known as the overhand knot.
						PDF File
Wake Knot		... or Ormond knot. Also the carrick bend.
						PDF File
Weaver's Knot
						PDF File

Footnotes:
¹ The Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry as Used in the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., 2nd Edition, Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme and Akagawa Yoshio, 1992, self-published.

Disclaimer: All of these drawings are intended for use in the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., specifically for heraldic purposes. However, these pages do not delineate SCA College of Arms or West Kingdom College of Heralds policy. All attempts are made when describing or portraying the elements of armory used in these pages to be as accurate to both medieval and SCA usage as possible, but if you are not sure, you should check with the College of Arms or the College of Heralds. You may use these drawings "as is" for the purpose of designing heraldry for use within the SCA with this understanding. All decisions by the West Kingdom College of Heraldry and/or the SCA's College of Arms regarding the depictions used on your submission forms supercedes anything found here.

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