Crosses in heraldry

A number of cross symbols were developed for the purpose of the emerging system of heraldry, 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.

The globus cruciger and the staurogram 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 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 flags of various states in the 13th and 14th century, including the Duchy of Genoa, the Electorate of Trier, the Bishopric of Constance and the Kingdoms of England and Georgia, which last two had special devotions to St George on one hand;[3] and Savoy, the war flag of the Holy Roman Empire and (possibly from the latter) Switzerland and Denmark on the other.

[citation needed] 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).

[5] 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):[6] And on his brest a bloodie crosse he bore, The deare remembrance of his dying Lord, For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore, And dead, as living ever, his ador'd: Upon his shield the like was also scor'd.

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 Nordic cross is an 18th-century innovation derived from cross flags adapted as swallow-tailed (or triple-tailed) pennons 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.

[9] The ordinary formed when the cross' arms are oblique, passing through the top corners of the shield, is referred to as a saltire.

[10] 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).

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).

The cross voided (also une fausse croix) has the same tincture of the field with only a narrow border outlining the limbs.

An example is the South African Postal Association[12] With arms which narrow towards the center, and are indented at the ends, also known as the eight-pointed cross (with no curved lines).

[16] A cross pommy (croix pommée) has a round knob at the end of each arm, as in the coat of Penwith District Council,[17] England.

Historically borne by Hurston (Cheshire, England) c. 1490 and others[21] A form of cross which resembles four hazel filberts in their husks or cases, joined together at the great end.

The four smaller crosses are said to symbolize either the four books of the Gospel or the four directions in which the Word of Christ spread from Jerusalem.

Also found in the coat of arms of the Papal Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Vatican City (matriculated in Scotland as "Argent; a Jerusalem cross cantoned between four crosses couped, gules"—Scots Public Register, volume 75, page 112)—to be seen at various EOHSJ websites; also in the Canadian coat of Robert Gerald Guest (Canadian Public Register Volume III, page 85).

The Serbian cross variant (Само Слога Србина Спашава - Only Unity Saves The Serbs) with four "firesteel" shapes develops in the early modern Illyrian Armorials.

The elongated Nordic cross originates in the 18th century due to the rectangular shape of maritime flags.