The von Knorring Family

Introduction

Knorr family

Rusteberg

Uder

Baltic families

Families today

Coat of arms

Famous K:s

 

©2010
Peter v Knorring

 

 

(Left) The oldest known family seal, that of Konrad von Rusteberg, 1307. (Middle) The funerary coat of arms of Heinrich von Knorring, forefather of the Baltic families, in the church of St Nicolaus in Tallinn, Estonia, 1676. Split shield in gold and blue, with a brown (wooden) tankard or earth pounder. (Right) The coat of arms of the Swedish noble family von Knorring at the House of Nobility in Stockholm, with a golden shield and a blue cup, 1762.

 

 

The Coat of Arms

 

The symbol on the coat of arms has long been seen as a drinking vessel or possibly an earth pounder. It has also been interpreted as a mortar or an anvil.

 

There is no obvious connection between the symbol and the namn Knorr. The word Knorr means crooked, hunched or gnarled, and was used to describe trees or short and stocky people. Other Knorr families in fact have bent branches or tree stumps in their coats of arms.

 

Could the forefathers have been millers? Looking at the earliest seals, one can see a striking resemblance to a roman millstone, as pointed out by Harald von Knorring.

 

Or were they cup bearers to the bishop of Mainz? It is after all reasonable to assume that the tradition of the drinking cup has been passed on from generation to generation. Could it have something to do with the "Knorr well" in Uder - a cup of health bringing water?

 

The shield of the coat of arms has since long been divided in two fields, gold and blue or green, but the family sociteties have now decided to return to the tradition of the golden shield, and to a medieval style cup.

 

Two newly designed versions of the coat of arms, both revivals of the oldest design and colours.