A two-barred cross is similar to a Latin cross but with an extra bar added. The lengths and placement of the bars (or "arms") vary, and most of the variations are interchangeably called the

cross of Lorraine The Cross of Lorraine (), known as the Cross of Anjou in the 16th century, is a heraldry, heraldic two-barred cross, consisting of a vertical line crossed by two shorter horizontal bars. In most renditions, the horizontal bars are "graded" with ...

, the patriarchal cross, the Orthodox cross or the archiepiscopal cross.

The two bars

The two bars can be placed tight together (condensed) or far apart. They can be symmetrically spaced either around the middle, or above or below the middle. One asymmetrical variation has one bar near the top and the other just below the middle. Finally the bars can be of equal length, or with one shorter than the other.

Decorations

The ends of the arms can be decorated according to different styles. A style with round or rounded ends is called treflée or botonée (from French bouton) in heraldic use. The same style is called budded, apostles' or cathedral cross in religious use. A straight and pointy style called pattée also includes

maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which develope ...

variations, and finally a pointed style called '' aiguisé''.

Heraldic use

The crosses appear in

heraldic 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 branc ...

use in the second century A.D. A balanced cross is used in the

Coat of arms of Hungary The coat of arms of Hungary () was adopted on 11 July 1990, after the end of Hungarian People's Republic, communist rule. The arms have been used before, both with and without the Holy Crown of Hungary, sometimes as part of a larger, more complex ...

as well as in several small shields within shields of Vytis. An outlined balanced cross (equal length outlined bars on equal distances) is used on

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

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 like spears or long ranged projectiles suc ...

s and

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...

s. The Cross of Lorraine came from the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

to the

Duchy of Lorraine The Duchy of Lorraine was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire which existed from the 10th century until 1766 when it was annexed by the kingdom of France. It gave its name to the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France ...

. In Hungary, Béla III was the first king to use the two-barred cross as the symbol of royal power in the late 12th century. He probably adopted it from the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, according to historian Pál Engel. A golden double cross with equal bars, known as the Cross of Jagiellons, was used by

Grand Duke of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand duke, Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crown ...

and

King of Poland Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of Royal elections in Poland, free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electab ...

Jogaila since his conversion to Christianity in 1386, as a personal insignia and was introduced in the

coat of arms of Lithuania The coat of arms of Lithuania features an armoured knight on horseback, wielding a sword and carrying a shield with a Jagiellonian cross. This emblem is known as ''Vytis'' (). Since the early 15th century, it has served as the official coat of ...

. Jogaila's wife were

Hedwig of Poland Jadwiga (; 1373 or 137417 July 1399), also known as Hedwig (from German) and in , was the first woman to be crowned as monarch of the Kingdom of Poland. She reigned from 16 October 1384 until her death. Born in Buda, she was the youngest daught ...

, the daughter of

Louis I of Hungary Louis I, also Louis the Great (; ; ) or Louis the Hungarian (; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370. He was the first child of Charles I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of ...

. In

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, the

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

, the

and several municipal symbols include a double cross, where graded bars are more common than equally long bars, and balanced distances along the vertical line are more common. The two-barred cross was also, since around the year 1140, used in Kopnik, Branibor (currently Berlin, Brandenburg) as seen on one of the five emissions of the silver bracteate of Iakša (Jaxa), a Christian state, fief of Poland ( archbishops of Gniezno), coined until its invasion and destruction by Germanic "

Wendish Crusade The Wendish Crusade () was a military campaign in 1147, one of the Northern Crusades, led primarily by the Kingdom of Germany within the Holy Roman Empire and directed against the Polabian Slavs (or "Wends"). The Wends were made up of the Slavic ...

" of 1147.

In print

In typography the double cross (U+2021 ‡) is called double dagger, double obelisk, or diesis.

In medicine and botany

The

International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, or The Union, is a century old global membership based, scientific organization headquartered in Paris with the stated goals to "improve health for people in low- and middle-income Co ...

has used a red two-barred cross as its logo since 1920, following a proposal at the 1902 Berlin International Conference on Tuberculosis. The two equally long bars are on the upper half of the cross and all six ends are '' aiguisé''. A similar but blue two-barred cross is used as the logo of the

American Lung Association The American Lung Association is a voluntary health organization whose mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease through education, advocacy and research. History 1904–1918: Founding The organization was ...

. In

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, a balanced cross (equal length bars on equal distances) is used to mark very poisonous plants.

In chess

A two-barred cross is used to symbolize

checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

Gallery

File:Coa Illustration Cross Patriarchal.svg, Patriarchal cross File:Croix de Lorraine 2.svg, Jagiellonian cross File:Coa Illustration Cross Russian.svg, Orthodox cross File:Archbishop symbol.png, Archiepiscopal cross

References

Sources

* * {{Refend Cross symbols Crosses in heraldry