From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Type of knot
Relief sculpture of a Bourchier knot (of the
reef knot variety) on the chest-tomb in
Bampton Church, Devon, supposed to be that of Thomasine Hankford (d.1453),
[1] heiress of the
feudal barony of Bampton , wife of
William Bourchier, 9th Baron FitzWarin (1407-1470)
Bourchier knot (of
granny knot variety), published in Aveling, S.T., Heraldry Ancient & Modern, New York, 1891
Examples of Bourchier knots visible in Tawstock Church, Devon, parish church of Tawstock Court, seat of the Bourchier
Earls of Bath . Top left : detail from monument to
William Bourchier, 3rd Earl of Bath (1557-1623); top right : detail from monument to
Sir Henry Bourchier Toke Wrey, 10th Baronet (1829–1900); bottom left : detail from 16th century Bourchier Pew ; bottom right : detail from 16th century bench-end
The Bourchier knot is a variety of
heraldic knot . It was used as a
heraldic badge by the Bourchier family, whose earliest prominent ancestor in England was
John de Bourchier (alias Boucher, Boussier, etc., d. c. 1330), a Judge of the
Common Pleas , seated at Stanstead Hall in the parish of
Halstead , Essex. He was the father of
Robert Bourchier, 1st Baron Bourchier (d.1349),
Lord Chancellor of England. The various branches of his descendants held the titles
Baron Bourchier ,
Count of Eu ,
Viscount Bourchier ,
Earl of Essex ,
Baron Berners ,
Baron FitzWarin and
Earl of Bath . The knot should perhaps have been called the "FitzWarin knot" as according to
Boutell (1864) the device was first used by the
FitzWarin family ,
[2] whose heir was the Bourchier family.
Forms
The Bourchier knot is shown in two forms: as a
reef knot and as a
granny knot .
Examples of reef knot form
Examples of granny knot form
Prominent examples
References
^
Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.147
^
Boutell, Charles , Heraldry, Historical and Popular , 3rd Edition, London, 1864, p.236, (quoting
James Planché )
Sources
Aveling, S.T. Heraldry: Ancient and Modern, New York, 1891. (Illustration of granny-knot form)
Mollett, J.W., Illustrated Dictionary of Art and Archeology by J W Mollett, 1883. (Fig.410, Illustration of reef-knot form)
[1]
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies , Complete Guide to Heraldry, 1909, pp.
390 ,
469 .
External links
Media related to
Bourchier knot at Wikimedia Commons