A number of
cross symbols were developed for the purpose of the emerging system of
heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...
, which appeared in Western Europe in about 1200. This tradition is partly in the use of the
Christian cross an emblem from the 11th century, and increasingly during the age of the
Crusades. Many cross variants were developed in the classical tradition of heraldry during the late medieval and early modern periods. Heraldic crosses are inherited in modern iconographic traditions and are used in numerous
national flag
A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours ...
s.
History
The
Christian cross emblem (
Latin cross or
Greek cross) was used from the 5th century, deriving from a
T-shape
Many shapes have metaphorical names, i.e., their names are metaphors: these shapes are named after a most common object that has it. For example, "U-shape" is a shape that resembles the letter U, a bell-shaped curve has the shape of the vertical ...
representing the
gibbet (''
stauros'', ''crux'') of the
crucifixion of Jesus in use from at least the 2nd century. The
globus cruciger
The ''globus cruciger'' ( for, , Latin, cross-bearing orb), also known as "the orb and cross", is an orb surmounted by a cross. It has been a Christian symbol of authority since the Middle Ages, used on coins, in iconography, and with a sceptre ...
and the
staurogram
The staurogram (⳨), also monogrammatic cross or ''tau-rho'', is a ligature composed of a superposition of the Greek letters tau (Τ) and rho (Ρ).
Early occurrence and significance
The symbol is of pre-Christian origin. It is found on cop ...
is used in Byzantine coins and seals during the
Heraclian period (6th century). Under the
Heraclian dynasty (7th century), coins also depict simply crosses
potent,
patty, or
pommy.
The cross was used as a
field sign by the Christian troops during the
Crusades. In 1188, Kings
Henry II of England and
Philip II of France agreed to launch the
Third Crusade together, and that Henry would use a white cross and Philip a red cross. The red-on-white cross came to be used by the
Knights Templar
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
, and the white-on-red one by the
Knights Hospitaller (also white-on-black); the
Teutonic Order used a black-on white version. Early cross or spiral-like shield decorations, not necessarily with Christian symbolism, are already found on depictions of shields of the 11th century.
Heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...
emerged in western Europe at the start of the 13th century out of earlier traditions. The basic variants of the red-on-white (termed the
Cross of Saint George) and the white-on-red crusaders' cross were continued independently in the
flag
A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...
s of various states in the 13th and 14th century, including the Duchy of
Genoa, the Electorate of
Trier, the Bishopric of
Constance
Constance may refer to:
Places
*Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English
*Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada
* Constance, Kentucky
* Constance, Minnesota
* Constance (Portugal)
* Mount Constance, Washington State
People
* Consta ...
and the Kingdoms of
England and
Georgia, which last two had special devotions to St George. on one hand; and
Savoy
Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps.
Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south.
Savo ...
, the
war flag of the
Holy Roman Empire and (possibly from the latter)
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and
Denmark on the other.
The cross appears as heraldic charge in the oldest
rolls of arms, from about 1250. A roll of arms of the 13th century (the reign of
Henry III of England) lists the coats of arms of various noblemen distinguished by crosses of different tinctures:
*''
Le Conte de Norffolk, d'or a ung crois de goulez'' (viz. red on gold);
*''
Piers de Sauvoye, goules ung crois d'argent'' (white on red): this is
attributed, Peter's funerary monument displays an
eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
on his shield;
*''
Robert de Veer d'argent a la crois de goulz'' (red on white).
Glover's Roll
A roll of arms (or armorial) is a collection of coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing the arms.
The oldest extant armorials date to the mid-13th centur ...
(British Museum Add MS 29796), a 16th-century copy of a roll of arms of the 1250s has depictions of various heraldic crosses, including
the ''or a cross gules'' of the
earl of Norfolk,
''gules, a cross argent'' of
Peter of Savoy,
''argent a cross gules'' of
Robert de Veer,
''gules a cross flory
vair'' of Guillaume de Forz, Comte d'Aumale,
''gules a cross fleury argent'' of Guillaume Vescy,
''gules a cross saltire engrele'' of Fulke de Escherdestone,
''argent a cross fleury azure'' of
John Lexington
Sir John Lexington (or Lexinton or Lessington; also de Lexington) (died 1257) was a baron and royal official in 13th century England. He has been described as having been Lord Chancellor, but other scholars believe he merely held the royal seals w ...
,
''azure three crosses or'' of William de Sarren,
''or a cross gules, five scallops argent'' of Ralph Bigod,
''gules a cross fourchy argent'' of Gilbert de Vale,
''argent a cross fleury sable'' of John Lamplowe,
''or a cross saltire gules, a chief gules'' of
Robert de Brus,
''gules a cross saltire argent'' of
Robert de Neville
Robert de Neville, 2nd Baron Neville of Raby (c. 1223–1282), was a medieval English nobleman.
Background
The Neville family in England go back to at least the 11th century, and the historian Horace Round speculated that they were part of th ...
, ''or a cross voided gules'' of Hamond (Robert) de Crevecoeur,
and ''azure a cross or, four lions rampant or'' of Baudouin Dakeney. In addition, the Glover Roll has ''semy of crosses crosslet'' as a tincture in several coats of arms.
The desire to distinguish one's coat of arms from others led to a period of substantial innovation in producing variants of the basic Christian cross by the early 14th century (in England, the reign of
Edward II
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...
).
The great number of variants of crosses, and the deep history of such variants (going back to the 14th century or earlier) results in confusing and often contradictory terminology.
In the
heraldry of the Holy Roman Empire, the cross is comparatively rare in the coats of arms of noble families, presumably because the plain heraldic cross was seen as an
imperial symbol (for the same reason, the eagle was rarely used as a charge because it
represented the empire), but in the 14th century the plain cross is used in the seals and flags of several
prince-bishoprics, including
Trier,
Constance
Constance may refer to:
Places
*Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English
*Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada
* Constance, Kentucky
* Constance, Minnesota
* Constance (Portugal)
* Mount Constance, Washington State
People
* Consta ...
and
Cologne.
Looking back on the Crusades as the foundational period of knighthood, the badge of the cross became strongly associated with the idealized Christian
knight of romance, as expressed by Spenser (''
Faerie Queene'' book 1, canto 1):
The black-on-white cross worn by the
Teutonic Knights was granted by
Innocent III in 1205. The coat of arms representing the grand master (''Deutschmeisterwappen'') is shown with a golden
cross fleury or
cross potent superimposed on the black cross, with the
imperial eagle as a central inescutcheon. The golden cross fleury overlaid on the black cross becomes widely used in the 15th century. A legendary account attributes its introduction to
Louis IX of France
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...
, who on 20 August 1250 granted the master of the order this cross as a variation of the
Jerusalem cross, with the
fleur-de-lis symbol attached to each arm. While this legendary account cannot be traced back further than the early modern period (Christoph Hartknoch, 1684) there is some evidence that the design does indeed date to the mid 13th century. The black cross patty was later used for military decoration and insignia by the
Kingdom of Prussia and gave rise to the cross patty in the German ''
Reichskriegsflagge'' and the
Iron Cross and
Pour le Mérite orders.
The
Nordic cross is an 18th-century innovation derived from cross flags adapted as swallow-tailed (or triple-tailed)
pennon
A pennon, also known as a pennant or pendant, is a long narrow flag which is larger at the hoist than at the fly. It can have several shapes, such as triangular, tapering (square tail) or triangular swallowtail (forked tail), etc. In maritime ...
s
used as
civil ensigns; the first official introduction of such a flag was in a regulation of 11 June 1748 describing the Danish civil ensign (''Koffardiflaget'') for merchant ships. The Danish design was adopted for the flags of
Norway (civil ensign 1821) and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
(1906), both derived from a common ensign used during the
Union between Sweden and Norway 1818–1844,
Iceland (1915) and
Finland (1917).
Ordinary cross
The blazon ''Cross'' without any addition signifies a
heraldic ordinary, a pale and a fess of equal widths conjoined, the width being typically one-fifth of the shield (or one third of the shield when charges are placed on the cross).
[James Parker]
''A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry'' (1894)
The four arms should be of equal length (forming a
Greek cross), as far as possible within the shape of the
shield
A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...
, and they meet in the center (fesse-point) of the shield, except when it is abased (lowered) in the presence of a
chief
Chief may refer to:
Title or rank
Military and law enforcement
* Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force
* Chief of police, the head of a police department
* Chief of the boa ...
. The plain ''cross of gules in a field argent'' is termed
Saint George's Cross.
[
The ordinary cross may further be modify in its ''flection'' (i.e. modification of its edges as ''engrailed'' (''engreslée''), ''embattled'' (''bretessée''), ''indented'' (''denchée''), ''invected'' (''cannelée''), ''wavy'', (''ondée''), ''raguly'' (''écotée''), ''dancetty'' or ''dantelly'' (''denché'', ''émanchée''), and so on. French heraldic terminology is even more diverse, with many synonyms leading to some confusion.]["we are met with the difficulty of many synonyms occurring, for practically the same form is often much varied by incorrect drawing, and much confusion has arisen from blunders of heraldic writers in misreading or misunderstanding the terms employed." Parker (1894).]
File:Blason famille fr de Savoie.svg, Gules a cross argent (Savoy
Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps.
Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south.
Savo ...
)
File:Horizontaal gedeeld kruis.svg, Or a cross per fess gules and azure
File:Blason ville fr Dinard (Ille-et-Vilaine).svg, Vert a cross ermine, in each quarter a pale gules ( Dinard)
File:Sable croix engrelée d'or.svg, Sable a cross engrailed or
File:Kryzius 02 Sachmatinis.png, Or 'tenné''">tenné.html" ;"title="'tenné">'tenné''a cross chequy gules and sable
File:Blason de la famille du Peloux de Saint Romain.svg">Argent a saltire engrailed azure
File:Arms of John Michael Allen-Petrie.svg, Azure a saltire embattled parted or (Rouge Croix Pursuivant">John Allen-Petrie
John Michael Allen-Petrie OBE (born 5 July 1980) is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Born in Canada, he was appointed Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary in 2013, and Windsor Herald of Arms in Ordinary in 2019. He wa ...
)
File:Breedvoetig kruis met afgevlakte voeten.svg">Or a throughout sable
The ordinary cross may also be varied in its tincture, it may be ''party'', or ''chequy, compony, counter-compony, fretty, trellised, vair maçonnée'' and so on. It may also be of two tinctures, e.g. party per fesse, per pale, or per cross (equivalent to quarterly), mostly in connection with the partition of the field (i.e. counter-charged).
The term quarter-pierced (quarterly pierced) is used when the center of the cross has a separate tincture. Some heraldists have used quarter-voided or square-pierced for cases where the center of the cross is given the tincture of the field, or alternatively ''chequy of nine panes'' (French ''équipollée''). A Quadrate (heraldry)">cross quadrate has a square at the intersection point.
File:Rond doorboord kruis.svg, Argent a cross azure pierced of the field
File:Vierkant doorboord kruis.svg, Argent a cross vert quarter pierced of the field
File:BullerArms.PNG, Sable on a cross argent quarter pierced of the field four eagles displayed of the first (Buller baronets, Buller)
File:ArmsOfBonnellofPurleigh.tif, Argent a cross gules quarterly pierced nine crosses crosslet, three, three, and three counterchanged (the first quarter ermine for distinction) ( (Mary Ann Harvey Bonnell 1841)
The cross voided (also ''une fausse croix'') has the same tincture of the field with only a narrow border outlining the limbs. This is equivalent to superimposing one cross upon another (''croix chargée'', or ''remplie'') when the second cross is of the tincture of the field.[
File:Cross voided wiki.jpg, Argent a cross voided sable
File:Traliekruis.svg, Or a cross triple parted vert
File:Opstina Nova Crnja mali.png, A cross triple parted fretted in the municipal coat of arms of Nova Crnja (Serbia)
File:Hjelmeland komm.svg, A saltire triple parted fretted in the municipal coat of arms of Hjelmeland (Norway)
A voided cross might also be blazoned as fimbriated. Fimbriated crosses are more common in vexillology, e.g. the fimbriated crosses in the national flags of the United Kingdom, of Norway and of Iceland. The German '' Balkenkreuz'', introduced originally as identification for German Luftstreitkräfte in 1918 and later used as a vehicle emblem by the Wehrmacht, if used heraldically might be blazoned as a cross double fimbriated, or as a voided cross superimposed by a second cross. The " Bundeswehr cross" is a variant of the ''Balkenkreuz'' using a cross patty.
]
Named variants
Equal limbs
Unequal limbs
Additional charges
In some cases, a separate name is given to the ensemble of a heraldic cross with four additional charges in the angles.
Flags
Flags with crosses are recorded from the later Middle Ages, e.g. in the early 14th century the ''insignia cruxata comunis'' of the city of Genoa, the red-on-white cross that would later become known as St George's Cross, and the white-on-red cross of the '' Reichssturmfahne'' used as the war flag of the Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
possibly from the early 13th century.
Crosses on flags become more widespread in the Age of Sail
The Age of Sail is a period that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid- 15th) to the mid- 19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the introduction of naval ...
, as maritime flags, and from this tradition develop into national flag
A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours ...
s in the 18th to 19th century, the British Union flag (as naval flag) was introduced in 1606, after the Union of the Crowns. The Nordic cross is a modern cross variant used on rectangular flags only, introduced for rectangular civil ensigns for Denmark in 1748. This is to be distinguished from the (rare) heraldic charge of a horizontal Latin cross, known as the "Cross of Saint Philipp".
Several national flags are based on late medieval war flags, including the white-on-red crosses of the flag of Denmark
The national flag of Denmark ( da, Dannebrog, ) is red with a white Nordic cross, which means that the cross extends to the edges of the flag and the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side.
A banner with a white-on-red cross is ...
and the flag of Switzerland. The elongated Nordic cross originates in the 18th century due to the rectangular shape of maritime flags.
The Red Cross flag originates in 1906 as a colour-switched version of the flag of Switzerland.
Further reading
*
See also
* St. Andrew's Cross
References
External links
*
{{Heraldry
Christian symbols
Heraldic charges