Staffordshire
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The Stafford knot argent
The first known use of the know is on a seal, which belonged to a certain Joan, Lady of Wake, in the first half of the fifteenth centure. Joan, Lady of Wake traced her descent from the famous Hereward, who foung William of Normandy in the fens and forests of Mercia. Hereward's badge was the Wkae Knot, made of two monks girdles knotted together to form the letter W
Joan, Lady of Wake died childless, and her possessions went to her nephew, Humphrey, Earl of Stafford who took the know of rope as his own badge, and from that time it was know as the Stafford knot. Later the Earl of Stafford became Duke of Buckingham, and the family continued to use the knot.
