Austrian knot

French General Félix Douay wearing *nœuds hongrois* on his sleeves, c1870.

kepi (no more in use) of a French commissaire de police, with the cruciform pattern *nœud hongrois* on the top. 1986

An Austrian knot (or Hungarian knot), alternatively warrior's knot or vitézkötés, is an elaborate design of twisted cord or

officers; the major exception is the hussars, in which Austrian knots are worn by all ranks. British cadet under officers

wear Austrian knots as part of their rank insignia.

History

Of Hungarian origin, the vitézkötés (in English "warrior's knot") evolved as an indicator of rank among hussars of the Hungarian army, and became part of the Hungarian noble attire since the 16th century. Later, as other nations added hussars to their armies, they started to use the knot as well. The reason for this was that hussar regiments were often established by Hungarian nobles and some retained the name of their founder; for example the Ladislas Ignace de Bercheny.

In the Austrian (later

Austro-Hungarian) army of the 18th century epaulettes

were widely perceived as foreign (due to their French origin) and thus unacceptable. In the hussar regiments ranks came to be denoted by braided gold cords on the sleeve, with the number of gold cords representing the seniority of the officer. Other branches of the Austrian Army used a system of waist-sashes and collar stars to distinguish commissioned rank.

Austrian knots soon appeared as part of the distinctive uniform of hussar regiments in the armies of other European nations but did not gain wider popularity until the last decades of the nineteenth century. First the French army, then the Dutch,

full-dress tunics^[4]

until this order of uniform ceased to be generally worn after 1914.

Along with most other elaborate and conspicuous indicators of rank, Austrian knots fell into disuse during the

tirailleurs

continued to wear Austrian knots in gold braid on the sleeves of their colourful full-dress uniforms until 1939. They are still worn on some parade uniforms in France, where they are called nœuds hongrois ("Hungarian knots").