Knotwork art is a historical artstyle from early medieval times. The only and simple rule is to to maintain a steady order of the strand interweaving, up - down - up - down...
Although ornamentations of simple knotted and interweaved strands can be found all over the world, the Knotwork styles from northern europe seem to be the most intricate aproach to this kind of ornamentation, even incorporating zoomorphs into the abstratct knots. For the untrained eye most of these styles seem to be one and the same, usually refered to as Celtic Knot. It is, no doubt the commonly best known and widest spread of those styles, but actually the so called Celtic Style is only one of a variety of styles based on the same principle and originating roughly from the same even older style (Germanic Animal Style II, 6th century) like the scandinavian styles for example.
The following designs show how I tried to Illustrate 5 of those styles in a distinct way, for a better understanding of their differences and characteristics.
Celtic Style
(British Isles, 8th - 10th century)
Style references from the Illuminated Manuscripts such as the Lindisfarne Gospel or the Book of Kells
Urnes Style
(Scandinavia, late 11th century)
Style reference from the Urnes Stave Church carvings in Ornes, Norway
Ringerike Style
(Scandinavia, early 11th Century)
Style references from various archeological findings such as the Söderala weathervane, the Vang Stone or the Heggen weathervane
Mammen Style
(Scandinavia, late 10th century)
Style references from the Cammin reliquary casket, the Mammen axe or the Bamberg reliquary casket
Jelling Style
(Scandinavia, early 10th century)
Style references from various archeological findings such as the Gorm cup or the Varby pendant
