Katharinenrad
A Katharinenrad or Roue de Ste-Catherine is an eight-spoke comb wheel that has eight knife blades or hooks instead of teeth. It is also commonly referred to as a straightening wheel . It is named after St. Catherine of Alexandria and goes back to the fact that Catherine, on the orders of the Roman Emperor Maxentius , argued with fifty of the most learned pagan philosophers about the Christian faith, refuting them all and turning them into Christians. She was then supposed to be judged with the wheel, allegedly destroyed it by a miracle and was then beheaded.
The Katharinenrad is a common figure in heraldry and is used more often in family or local coats of arms .
In the early Gothic architectural style , a wheel-shaped window with profiled or pillar-shaped spokes is also called Katharinenrad.
In addition, "The Katharinenrad" is the title of a 1959 novel by Jean Stafford .
