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The Jerusalem cross (also known as "five-fold Cross", or "cross-and-crosslets") is a heraldic cross and Christian cross variant consisting of a large
cross potent A cross potent (plural: crosses potent), also known as a crutch cross, is a form of heraldic cross with crossbars at the four ends. In French, it is known as '' croix potencée'', in German as a ''Kruckenkreuz'', all translating to "crutch cross ...
surrounded by four smaller
Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a ''crucifix'' and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...
es, one in each quadrant. It was used as the emblem and coat of arms of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establish ...
from the 1280s. There are variants to the design, also known as "Jerusalem cross", with either the four crosslets also in the form of Crosses potent, or conversely with the central cross, also in the form of a plain Greek cross. It is not to be confused with the
Lorraine cross The Cross of Lorraine (french: Croix de Lorraine, link=no), known as the Cross of Anjou in the 16th century, is a heraldic two-barred cross, consisting of a vertical line crossed by two shorter horizontal bars. In most renditions, the horizon ...
, which has also been called the "Jerusalem cross".


Origins

While the symbol of the five-fold cross appears to originate in the 11th century, its association with the
Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establish ...
dates to the second half of the 13th century. The symbolism of the five-fold cross is variously given as the
Five Wounds of Christ In Catholic tradition, the Five Holy Wounds, also known as the Five Sacred Wounds or the Five Precious Wounds, are the five piercing wounds that Jesus Christ suffered during his crucifixion. The wounds have been the focus of particular devotions ...
, Christ and the four evangelists, or Christ and the
four quarters of the world Several cosmological and mythological systems portray four corners of the world or four quarters of the world corresponding approximately to the four points of the compass (or the two solstices and two equinoxes). At the center may lie a sacred ...
. The symbolism of five crosses representing the Five Wounds is first recorded in the context of the consecration of the
St Brelade's Church St Brelade's Church is one of the twelve ancient parish churches in the island of Jersey; it is sited on the west side of the island in the parish of St Brelade, in the southwest corner of St Brelade's Bay. It is unique in the Channel Islands ...
under the patronage of Robert of Normandy (before 1035); the crosses are incised in the church's
altar stone An altar stone is a piece of natural stone containing relics in a cavity and intended to serve as the essential part of an altar for the celebration of Mass in the Catholic Church. Consecration by a bishop of the same rite was required. In the By ...
. The "cross-and-crosslets" or
Tealby pennies Tealby is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds and north-east of Market Rasen. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 593. Communi ...
minted under
Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin kin ...
during 1158–1180 have the "Jerusalem cross" on the obverse, with the four crosslets depicted as decussate (diagonal). Similar cross designs on the obverse of coins go back to at least the Anglo-Saxon period. As the arms of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establish ...
, the design is traditionally attributed to
Godfrey of Bouillon Godfrey of Bouillon (, , , ; 18 September 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a French nobleman and pre-eminent leader of the First Crusade. First ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100, he avoided the title of king, preferring that of princ ...
himself. It was not used, however, by the Christian rulers of Jerusalem during the 12th century. A simple blazon of ''or, a cross argent'' is documented by
Matthew Paris Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey ...
as the arms of
John de Brienne John of Brienne ( 1170 – 19–23 March 1237), also known as John I, was King of Jerusalem from 1210 to 1225 and Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1229 to 1237. He was the youngest son of Erard II of Brienne, a wealthy nobleman in Champagne ...
, who had been king of Jerusalem during 1210–1212, upon John's death in 1237. The emblem used on the seals of the rulers of Jerusalem during the 12th century was a simplified depiction of the city itself, showing the
tower of David The Tower of David ( he, מגדל דוד, Migdál Davíd), also known as the Citadel ( ar, القلعة, al-Qala'a), is an ancient citadel located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. The citadel that stands today dates ...
between the
Dome of the Rock The Dome of the Rock ( ar, قبة الصخرة, Qubbat aṣ-Ṣakhra) is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, a site also known to Muslims as the ''al-Haram al-Sharif'' or the Al-Aqsa Compound. Its initial ...
and the
Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...
, surrounded by the
city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
. Coins minted under
Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the N ...
(r. 1192–1197) show a cross with four dots in the four quarters, but the Jerusalem cross proper appears only on a coin minted under John II (r. 1284/5). At about the same time, the cross of Jerusalem in gold on a silver field appears as the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in early
armorial 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 ...
s such as the '' Camden Roll''. The arms of the King of Jerusalem featured gold on silver (in the case of John de Brienne, silver on gold), a metal on a metal, and thus broke the heraldic
Rule of Tincture The most basic rule of heraldic design is the rule of tincture: metal should not be put on metal, nor colour on colour ( Humphrey Llwyd, 1568). This means that the heraldic metals or and argent (gold and silver, represented by yellow and white) ...
; this was justified by the fact that Jerusalem was so holy, it was above ordinary rules. The gold and silver were also connected to Psalms 68:13, which mentions a "dove covered in silver, and her feathers with yellow gold". The
Gelre Armorial The Gelre Armorial ( nl, Wapenboek Gelre) is a medieval armorial. History The armorial was compiled before 1396 by one Claes Heinenzoon (or Heynen, fl. 1345−1414) who was a herald in the service of the Duke of Guelders and also the creat ...
(14th century) attributes to the "emperors of Constantinople" (the
Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byza ...
) a variant of the Jerusalem cross with the four crosslets inscribed in circles. Philip of Courtenay, who held the title of Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1273–1283 (even though Constantinople had been reconquered by the Byzantine Empire in 1261) used an extended form of the Jerusalem cross, where each of the four crosslets was itself surrounded by four smaller crosslets (a "Jerusalem cross of Jerusalem crosses").


Classical heraldry

In late medieval heraldry the Crusader's cross was used for various Crusader states. The 14th-century Book of All Kingdoms uses it as the flag of
Sebasteia Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is a ...
. At about the same time, the Pizzigano chart uses it as the flag of
Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
(based on the latter example, the Crusader's cross was adopted as the
flag of Georgia Flag of Georgia may refer to: *Flag of Georgia (country) The flag of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სახელმწიფო დროშა, tr), also known as the five-cross flag ( ka, ხუთჯვრიანი � ...
in 2004). Carlo Maggi, a Venetian nobleman who visited Jerusalem and was made a knight of the
Order of the Holy Sepulchre The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Equestris Sancti Sepulcri Hierosolymitani, links=yes, OESSH), also called Order of the Holy Sepulchre or Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, is a Catholic order of knighthood under ...
in the early 1570s, included the Jerusalem cross in his coat of arms. There is a historiographical tradition that
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
flew a flag with a variant of the Jerusalem cross in his campaign in the White Sea in 1693.


Modern use

A banner with a variation of the Jerusalem cross was used at the proclamation of the Revolution on Mount Pelion
Anthimos Gazis Anthimos Gazis or Gazes ( gr, Ἄνθιμος Γαζῆς, born ''Anastasios Gazalis'', ; 1758 24 June 1828) was a Greek scholar, revolutionary and politician. He was born in Milies (Thessaly) in Ottoman Greece in 1758 into a family of modest me ...
in May 1821 in the
Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...
. The papal
Order of the Holy Sepulchre The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Equestris Sancti Sepulcri Hierosolymitani, links=yes, OESSH), also called Order of the Holy Sepulchre or Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, is a Catholic order of knighthood under ...
uses the Jerusalem cross as its emblem, in red, which is also used in the arms of the Custodian of the Holy Land, head of the Franciscan friars who serve at the holy Christian sites in Jerusalem, and whose work is supported by the Order. When Albert, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), visited Jerusalem in 1862, he had a Jerusalem cross tattooed on his arm. German Emperor
Wilhelm II , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...
visited Jerusalem in 1898 and awarded the '' Jerusalem-Erinnerungskreuz'' (Jerusalem Memorial Cross) order in the shape of a Jerusalem cross to those who accompanied him at the inauguration of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem. In the early 20th century, the Jerusalem cross also came to be used as a symbol of world evangelisation in Protestantism. A derived design known as the "
Episcopal Church Service Cross The Episcopal Church Service Cross (formerly called the Episcopal Church War Cross) is a pendant cross worn as a "distinct mark" of an Episcopalian in the United States Armed Forces. The Episcopal Church suggests that Episcopalian service membe ...
" was first used during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
by the Anglican
Episcopal Church in the United States The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of ...
. The Jerusalem cross was chosen as the emblem of the
Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag The German Evangelical Church Assembly (German ''Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag'', DEKT) is an assembly of lay members of the Evangelical Church in Germany, that organises biennial events of faith, culture and political discussion. History ...
(German Evangelical Church Congress) in the 1950s, since the 1960s shown in a simplified form where the central Cross potent is replaced by a simple Greek cross. The modern
Flag of Georgia Flag of Georgia may refer to: *Flag of Georgia (country) The flag of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სახელმწიფო დროშა, tr), also known as the five-cross flag ( ka, ხუთჯვრიანი � ...
was introduced in 2004 on the basis of the flag of
Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
shown in the Pizzigano chart. The Jerusalem Cross is also the symbol of Kairos, a four day Jesuit retreat that is held for youth in high schools and parishes around the world. The four crosses are used to symbolize the motto of the retreat "Live the fourth". The
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...
character set has a character ☩, U+2629 CROSS OF JERUSALEM in the
Miscellaneous Symbols Miscellaneous Symbols is a Unicode block (U+2600–U+26FF) containing glyphs representing concepts from a variety of categories: astrological, astronomical, chess, dice, musical notation, political symbols, recycling, religious symbols, trigr ...
table. However, the glyph associated with that character according to the official Unicode character sheet is shown as a simple
cross potent A cross potent (plural: crosses potent), also known as a crutch cross, is a form of heraldic cross with crossbars at the four ends. In French, it is known as '' croix potencée'', in German as a ''Kruckenkreuz'', all translating to "crutch cross ...
, and not a Jerusalem cross.


Frequency selective surfaces

The Jerusalem cross is often used in frequency selective surface application. The Jerusalem cross is an attractive choice for the periodic element because such a choice makes the frequency selective surface less sensitive to angle of incidence.


See also

* Jerusalem cube


References


External links


Jerusalem Civil Ensign
{{Christian crosses 11th-century introductions Christian crosses Crosses in heraldry Kingdom of Jerusalem