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 as royal regalia.

The cross represents Christ's dominion over the orb of the world, literally held in the hand of an earthly ruler. In the iconography of Western art, when Christ himself holds the globe, he is called ''Salvator Mundi'' (Latin for 'Saviour of the World'). For instance, the 16th-century Infant Jesus of Prague statue holds a ''globus cruciger'' in this manner.

History

Holding the world in one's hand, or, more ominously, under one's foot, has been a symbol since antiquity. To citizens of the Roman Empire, the plain spherical globe held by the god Jupiter represented the world or the universe, as the dominion held by the Emperor. A 2nd-century coin from the reign of Emperor Hadrian shows the Roman goddess Salus with her foot upon a ''globus'', and a 4th-century coin from the reign of Emperor Constantine I shows him with a ''globus'' in hand. The ''orbis terrarum'' was central to the iconography of the Tetrarchy, in which it represented the Tetrarchs' restoration of security to the Roman world. Constantine I claimed to have had a vision of symbol of Christ above the sun, with the words "In this sign, you shall conquer" (Latin: "'' In hoc signo vinces''"), before the Battle of Milvian Bridge in AD 312. This symbol is usually assumed to be the "Chi-Rho (X-P)" symbol, but some think it was a cross. Consequently, his soldiers painted this symbol on their shields and then defeated their foe, Maxentius.With the growth of Christianity in the 5th century, the orb (in Latin works ''orbis terrarum'', the 'world of the lands', whence "orb" derives) was surmounted with a cross, hence ''globus cruciger'', symbolizing the Christian God's dominion of the world. The Emperor held the world in his hand to show that he ruled it on behalf of God. To non-Christians already familiar with the pagan globe, the surmounting of a cross indicating the victory of Christianity over the world. In medieval iconography, the size of an object relative to those of nearby objects indicated its relative importance; therefore the orb was small and the one who held it was large to emphasize the nature of their relationship. Although the globe symbolized the whole Earth, many Christian rulers, some of them not even sovereign, who reigned over small territories of the Earth, used it symbolically.

The first known depiction in art of the symbol was probably in the early 5th century AD, possibly as early as AD 395, namely on the reverse side of the coinage of Emperor Arcadius, yet most certainly by AD 423 on the reverse side of the coinage of Emperor Theodosius II.

The ''globus cruciger'' was associated with powerful rulers and angels; it adorned portrayals of both emperors and kings, and also archangels. It remained popular throughout the Middle Ages in coinage, iconography, and royal regalia. The papacy, which in the Middle Ages rivaled the Holy Roman Emperor in temporal power, also used the symbol on top of the Papal tiara, which consisted of a triple crown; the Pope did not use a separate orb as a symbol. The ''globus cruciger'' (made up of a monde and cross) was generally featured as the finial of European royal crowns, whether on physical crowns or merely in royal heraldry, for example, in Denmark, the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and Yugoslavia. It is still depicted not only in the arms of European polities for which a monarchy survives, yet also, since the end of communism in 1991, in the arms of some eastern European polities, despite the termination of their historical monarchies. Even in the modern era in the United Kingdom, the Sovereign's Orb symbolizes both the state and Church of England under the protection and domain of the monarchy.

Gallery

Image:Barbarossa.jpg, Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa
Image:Goldene-bulle 1c-480x475.jpg, The Golden Bull of 1356 by the Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Image:Charles II (Chronica Hungarorum).jpg, Charles II of Naples and Hungary
Image:Mary (Chronica Hungarorum).jpg, Mary of Hungary
Image:Wenceslaus (Chronica Hungarorum).jpg, Wenceslaus III of Bohemia
Image:Dürer karl der grosse.jpg, Charlemagne, by Albrecht Dürer
Image:Albrecht Dürer 082.jpg, Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, by Albrecht Dürer
Image:Gerard van Honthorst 006.jpg, Frederick V holding the orb
Image:Elizabeth I in coronation robes.jpg, Elizabeth I of England in coronation robes and the orb and sceptre
Image:Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom 1952-12-13.jpg, Primary Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, with Sovereign's Orb at upper left (in late 1952 before the coronation of Elizabeth II), the only ''globus cruciger'' in use as coronation regalia.
Image:Rijksappel.jpg, Dutch ''globus cruciger'', part of the Regalia of the Netherlands
File:Crown, sceptre, orb & key of the King of Sweden 2014.jpg, Regalia of Sweden with the orb.
Image:Russian regalia.jpg, Regalia of Russia
Image:Crown, Sword and Globus Cruciger of Hungary2.jpg, Holy Crown, Sword and ''Globus Cruciger'' of Hungary
Image:Uppland_vapen.svg, Coat of arms of Uppland
Image:Coat of Arms of Vologda (Vologda oblast) (1780).png, Coat of arms of Vologda
Image:Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg, Orb and sceptre in the coat of arms of Montenegro; several other coats of arms use them in the same manner
Image:O_Salvador_do_Mundo,_a_vida_de_Jesus_Cristo.png, Chromolithograph of Jesus as a child, holding an orb and a crown of thorns.
Image:Harris-Tweed 1.jpg, The Harris Tweed orb

Use as an alchemical symbol

The ''globus cruciger'' was used as the alchemical symbol (♁) for antimony. It was also used as an alchemical symbol for ''Lupus metallorum'' “the grey wolf” supposedly used to purify alloyed metals into pure gold. ''Lupus metallorum'' or stibnite, used to purify gold, as the sulphur in the antimony sulphide bonds to the metals alloyed with the gold, and these form a slag which can be removed. The gold remains dissolved in the metallic antimony which can be boiled off to leave the purified gold.

See also

* '' The Ball and the Cross''
* Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch
* Monde (crown)
* Earth symbol
* Celestial spheres
* T and O map
* '' Apfelgroschen'', coin depicting the orb and cross of the Holy Roman Empire

References

* Leslie Brubaker, ''Dictionary of the Middle Ages'', vol 5, pg. 564,

Picture of the 10th century Orb, Scepter and Crown insignia of the Holy Roman Empire
*

External links

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Christian iconography
Christian symbols
Cross symbols
Formal insignia
Latin religious words and phrases
Regalia
Religious symbols
Heraldic charges
Byzantine regalia
Spherical objects