Boulevards, towers, Cossacks, Pharmacies, fashion stores, Balconies, lions at the gates
And flocks of jackdaws on the crosses.
"Eugene Onegin". A. S. Pushkin
We have already talked about crosses here, since this symbol was used by the knights-crusaders, the story of which is still ahead! However, this topic is so deep and diverse that it is simply impossible to tell everything about the crosses in one material. It is important to note that warriors with the image of a cross on shields and on clothes appeared long before the actual crusaders and were not called crusaders at all. After all, the cross is a very ancient symbol for people, and they began to use it back in time immemorial, when Christianity did not exist yet. Those, the most ancient crosses, too, were all sorts - both straight and widening at the ends, and with curved crossbars … The latter were called suasti, - from this word the word "swastika" came to us - and came to us from North India, where a long time ago the tribes of the ancient Aryans lived. For them, the ancient swastika meant the union of the heavenly power of fire and wind with the altar - the place where these forces merge with the forces of the earth. That is why the altars of the Aryans were decorated with swastikas and were considered a sacred place, protected by this symbol from all evil. Then the Aryans left these lands and went to Europe, but they passed on their culture and even ornaments to many other peoples, and they also began to decorate their armor and weapons with the image of a cross with curved or bent ends.
Greek warriors. Reconstruction on the Corinthian vase of the 7th century BC NS.
This is confirmed by archaeological finds, for example, the image on a Corinthian vase of the 7th century. BC e., found in Etruria. On it, one of the warriors has just such a cross on the shield. By the way, the swastika mark is on the chest and the largest statue of Buddha Vairochana, completed in 2002 in the Chinese province of Zhaocun. Its height is 128 m, and together with the pedestal - 208 m. To clearly imagine the size of this sculpture, it is enough to compare it with the statue of Christ the Savior in Rio de Janeiro (38 m), the American Statue of Liberty (45 m) and our Volgograd statue "The Motherland Calls!" (85 m). So it is the image of the swastika (although in European countries it is associated with German fascism in the mass consciousness) that is today the largest cult symbol in the whole world! Moreover, this sign was well known in Russia as well. The swastika, along with a two-headed eagle, devoid of the attributes of tsarist power, was depicted on paper notes of the Provisional Government of Russia in 1917-1918. A bank note in denomination of 1000 rubles entered circulation already on June 10, and a ticket for 250 rubles - from September 8, 1917. In addition, it was used on the sleeve patches and flags of the Red Army soldiers of the South-Eastern Front during the Civil War! Recommended this emblem back in 1918 by military expert V. I. Shorin, a former colonel in the tsarist army and a great connoisseur of the military traditions of the ancient Slavs. Subsequently, namely in 1938, he was repressed and shot as an "enemy of the people" and who knows, maybe this very fact of his biography was blamed on him?
1000 ruble banknote 1917
The swastika finally disappeared from Soviet symbols only in 1923, and soon after that Hitler proposed at the Nazi party congress a draft party red banner with a black swastika inside a white circle. However, even earlier, during the suppression of revolutionary uprisings in Germany in 1918, a white swastika with curved ends (that is, as if inscribed in a circle) was worn on their steel helmets by the soldiers of Field Marshal Ludendorff and … maybe it was then that he first saw it, and only then, having become interested in this sign, he found a much more "worthy" use for it. By the way, the Chinese associated the swastika sign (Lei-Wen, or "the seal of the Buddha's heart") with infinity: for them it meant the number ten thousand. "Su asti!", Or "Be good!" - this is the translation of "swastika" from ancient Sanskrit.
In Russia, the cross with bends even had its own Russian name - Kolovrat. It is interesting that the image of left- and right-handed kolovrat and straight crosses adorn the Kiev Cathedral of St. Sophia, built during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, so there is no doubt about the antiquity of this sign on the territory of Russia.
Our neighbors, for example, Latvians, also did not shy away from the swastikas. In the Latvian ornament there is, for example, an oblique swastika with rays in a clockwise direction. It was called "perconcrusts" - "Perun's cross", i.e. symbolized lightning. Moreover, its popularity in this country is evidenced by the fact that since 1919 it was the swastika that became the onboard tactical sign of Latvian aviation. The Finns also used it in this capacity, but only in blue, not black, and they had it not oblique, but straight.
By the way, the Christian cross also resembled the ancient Egyptian ankh sign, in which two symbols were combined at once: the cross, as a symbol of life, and a circle, as a symbol of infinity. For the Egyptians, it was an emblem of prosperity, happiness, eternal vitality, eternal wisdom, and even immortality.
At the same time, the image of the cross, which became a symbol of Christianity and the main symbol of this religion, did not become such at once. In the beginning, the sign of Christians was the image of a fish. Why fish? Yes, simply because the Greek letters with which this word was written: iota, chi, theta, upsilon and sigma are the first letters of the words Iesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter, which means “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”.
This symbol was used among early Christians in the 1st-2nd centuries. AD This symbol was brought to Europe from Alexandria (Egypt), which at that time was a crowded seaport. That is why the ichthys symbol was first used by sailors to denote a god so close to them. But among the legionnaires of the Roman emperor Constantine (307 - 337) on the shields there was already an image of an oblique cross (Greek letter "xi" or "chi") combined with the letter "ro" - the first two letters of the name of Christ. On his order, this emblem was painted on the shields after he had a dream that in the upcoming battle he would win in his name! As noted by the Christian apologist of the 4th century Lactantius, this happened on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD, after the victory in which Constantine became emperor, and chiro himself became the official emblem of the Roman Empire. Archaeologists have found evidence that this sign was depicted on the helmet and on the shield of Constantine, as well as on the shields of his soldiers. Chiro was also minted on coins and medallions that were in circulation under Constantine, and by 350 A. D. his images began to appear on Christian sarcophagi and on frescoes.
Mosaic with the image of the Emperor Justinian, to the left of which there is a warrior with the image of Hiro on a shield. Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna.
The Vikings - pirates of the northern seas, for several centuries instilling fear in Europe with their devastating raids, at first, being pagans, decorated their shields with a variety of patterns and images. It could be multi-colored stripes, and a checkerboard, and frightening dragons from Scandinavian myths. However, when Christianity began to spread among them, the symbols on their weapons changed. Now more and more often they began to place an image of a cross on shields - drawn or riveted from metal strips. It even appeared on the sails of their drakkars, so that now, having seen such a ship, it was possible to find out from afar whether Christians or pagans were sailing on it, as before worshiping Odin and Thor.
1. Greek cross; 2. Double cross, also called patriarchal, archbishop and Hungarian; 3. Lorraine Cross - the emblem of the Duchy of Lorraine, mid-15th century; 4. Papal cross - not found on the coats of arms of the popes, but got its name by analogy with the patriarchal cross in the 15th century; 5. Cross of the Kingdom of Jerusalem - the red Jerusalem cross was a symbol of the Order of St. Spirit, founded in 1496; 6. Cross from the coat of arms of the Manfredi family - a rare form of the cross; 7. Cross with ball ends; 8. Toe cross, the crossbeams of which end with stylized images of crow's feet; 9. Anchor cross; 10. One of the varieties of the anchor cross; 11. Maltese cross - eight-pointed cross of the Knights Templar; 12. Lily cross with lily-shaped endings. Belonged to the Spanish knightly order of Calatrava, founded in 1158; 13. Symbol of the Spanish knightly order of Alcantara; 14. Cross of St. Jacob - a symbol of the Spanish knightly order of Saint Jacob, founded by King Ramiro II of Aragon; 15. Cross of St. Anthony. The blue cross on black cloaks was worn by members of the Order of St. Anthony, founded in 1095 by the Cross of St. Antonia was also one of the emblems of the Knights Templar; 16. Martyr's Cross of St. Paul; 17. Wedge cross; 18. Wicker cross; 19. Cross in a halo - a Celtic image of a cross that was popular in Ireland in the Middle Ages; 20. The simple black cross of St. Mary of Teutonic is the most famous image of the cross; 21. Faceted cross; 22. Rare cross with crosshairs in the form of bird's heads; 23. Knot cross; 24. An oblique cross, depending on the color, could symbolize different saints: gold - the first British Great Martyr St. Alban, white or blue - St. Andrew, black - St. Osmund, red - St. Patrick; 25. Fork-shaped cross; 26. Toe cross of the most common form; 27. Supporting, or arched cross; 28. Shadow (outline) Maltese cross; 29. Christmas tree cross. This form of the cross was very popular in Finland; 30. Eight-pointed Orthodox, or Russian cross.
As time went on, the cross, as a symbol of the Christian religion, in a sense, became very common. For example, on the flags and pennants of the English nobility, the red straight cross of St. George was obligatory near the pole, and only after him was placed this or that image, chosen by him as an emblem. During the war with Napoleon, the red cross with widening ends even adorned the banner of the Bug Cossacks, who certainly had nothing to do with the crusaders. But on the banner of the warriors of the Petersburg militia (as well as many other people's militias of the Russian Empire) in 1812, an Orthodox, eight-pointed cross was depicted, even remotely not similar to Western European crosses.
Flag of the Duke of Suffolk. Rice. And Shepsa
It would be wrong to say that there was some special tradition in the image of the cross in the Middle Ages. Everyone at that time painted the cross differently; one image of the cross, common to all, simply did not exist. So, the standard of the Norman Duke William (or, as it was called in French, - Guillaume) was decorated with a gold cross with T-shaped ends, and almost the same cross later appeared on the banner of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 13th century, and today it is present on the state flag of Georgia. But on the flag of the Teutonic Order, there was not only a gold Jerusalem cross with a black outline, but also the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire. The banner of France during the time of Charles VII carried the image of golden lilies and a simple white cross, but for some reason the personal banner of King Charles VIII had such a cross not in the upper, but in its lower part. But the battle flag of France - the famous oriflamma - did not have an image of a cross at all, but represented the simplest red cloth with flaming ends. There was no cross on the banner of the heroine of the French people Jeanne D'Arc - instead of it the blessing God and a dove carrying an olive branch in its beak were embroidered on it.
By 1066, there were practically no non-Christians in Europe (except for the Iberian Peninsula, captured by the Moors and the pagan Baltic states), and the image of the cross became quite common. Therefore, it is not surprising that when the Duke Guillaume set off to conquer England in the same year, the image of a cross was also adorned on the shields of his soldiers.
Saint Stephen in armor and with a cross on a shield.
We know about this for certain and, first of all, because the conquest of England was completed, as a huge embroidered cloth 75 m long and 70 cm wide was made, on which all the events associated with the famous battle of Hastings were depicted with eight colors of woolen threads. In it, the knights from Normandy defeated the army of King Harold, after which Duke Guillaume became king in England. In addition to ships, buildings, people and animals, this embroidery, which later received the name "Bayesian Carpet", shows 67 shields that we see from the front, and 66 - from behind. For some reason, the crosses on them are for some reason shown with curved or even wriggling ends. And in total they are on 22 shields, both oval - Breton and Norman, pointed at the bottom, like an inverted raindrop. There are shields without emblems, while others have a dragon painted on them. At Guillaume himself, the cross on the shield has trefoil-shaped ends, but this is the only such cross in all Bayesian embroidery!
Heraldic banners with crosses of the 16th century.
It is obvious that already at that time the cross on the shield had a certain meaning (although it is not clear why both the British and the Normans have crosses with wriggling ends) and was popular in the military environment. However, something else is also known, namely that many shields of that time were still depicted as mythical creatures and simply patterns. So the image of the cross on the shield, most likely, was not anything so special at that time, and no one called the soldiers who had crosses on their shields as crusaders!
The warriors of Russia, who for many years had shields of the Norman (or, as they are also called, the Norman type), also had images of a cross on them, but, of course, Orthodox. The image of the so-called "prosperous cross" and the cross piercing the crescent moon lying at its base was very popular. However, it is known, for example, the image of a "winged" clawed bird paw, that is, a paw with an eagle's wing attached to it and without any hint of a cross! A lion standing on its hind legs was an equally popular motif on the shields of Russian soldiers and why it hardly needs explaining.
Russian warrior with a winding cross on his shield. Modern renovation. Museum of the Zolotarevskoe settlement. S. Zolotarevka of the Penza region.
Here we have already noted the fact that the cross is not only a European symbol, since, for example, the ancient ancestor of the “real” Christian cross, the ankh, was not of Egyptian origin, but the swastika sign from India. The cross was also well known in Japan, where its image was associated not only with the spread of Christianity (there were so many Christians in Japan in the 16th - 17th centuries that it was even banned there on pain of crucifixion!), But also with local symbols. The same sign of the swastika in Japan was the emblem of the Tsugaru clan, which dominated the far north of the island of Honshu. Moreover, the red Tsugaru swastika was depicted on the helmets and breastplate of ashigaru warriors (recruited from peasants), and on large Nobori flags, and exactly the same, but gold - on the sashimono - back flags that replaced in Japan the drawings on European knightly shields!
But the image of a straight cross in a circle in Japan meant … horse bits, that is, the subject is highly prosaic and utilitarian! Such an emblem belonged to the Shimazu family - the rulers of the lands in the south of Kyushu - Satsuma, Osumi and Hyugi, and they placed it in the same way on the sashimono flags that developed behind their backs, and on the large Nobori flags, and decorated them with their armor, clothes and weapon. As for Christian symbols, such as crosses, images of St. Iago and communion bowls, they were also known in Japan, where they decorated the flags of Christian rebels in the province of Shimabara in 1638. However, after the defeat of the uprising, all this symbolism was strictly prohibited! Surprisingly, one flag, miraculously preserved to this day and painted by hand, depicts a sacrament cup, in which the cross of St. Anthony is placed, and it is drawn in such a way that it is very similar to the ankh sign! At the bottom of it are two angels praying, and at the top is a motto in Latin, which says something about a sacrament, although it is impossible to make out more precisely.
However, the peculiarity of Japanese culture was such that even where the eye of a European could see the cross, the Japanese saw (as, for example, in the case of the bit!) Something completely different. For example, if you look at the standard of Niva Nagahide, a participant in numerous battles at the end of the 16th century, then it clearly shows a red oblique cross with pointed ends on a white field. However, the Japanese saw in this only the image of two crossed red boards!
Moreover, crosses on shields were also depicted in Japan, but only these were easel shields made of boards, with a support behind, in the manner of European mantelets, which ashigaru warriors used to create rows of field fortifications from them and already because of them to shoot at the enemy with bows and muskets. Each such shield usually depicted a mon - the coat of arms of the clan to which this ashigaru belonged, and if these were "horse bits" Shimazu or mon Nagahide, then, yes - on them one could quite see "crosses" as well as on the banners sashimono and nobori!
And the mon suzerain was also depicted on the maca - the fence of the commander's headquarters on the battlefield, which looked like a screen, but only made of fabric. Long cloths of maku surrounded it like walls, so that the commander himself was not visible from the outside and, by the way, the presence of these very maku did not guarantee that he was there. But after the battle was won, the victorious commander, of course, settled there and arranged a review of the severed heads that his soldiers brought him. Of course, these heads were not supposed to belong to ordinary soldiers. Those just piled up for general accounting and that's it. But for the head of the glorified enemy it was quite possible to count on a reward!
It is interesting that the sign of the cross was known not only in Europe and Asia, but also on the territory of the American continent, and a number of Indian tribes of Mesoamerica, for example, the Indians of Yucatan, revered it long before the birth of Jesus Christ. Accordingly, they often depicted him and even carved him out of stone, which the Spanish chroniclers reported with undisguised surprise! So, among the gods worshiped by the ancient Maya, there is the sun god (Ah Kin or Kinich Ahab - Lord-face or Sun Eye), whose symbol was a four-petalled flower. Palenque has the "Temple of the Cross" and even the "Temple of the Leaf Cross". This means that in the V-VIII century. on a completely different continent - in South America - people also worshiped the cross as a symbol of the Sun, when Christianity had long existed in Europe!
Among the Northern Indians - the Indians of the Great Plains, the cross was associated with the four cardinal points, each of which had its own patron spirits and also its own color, and the north was always designated in white and it is clear why! A simple X-shaped cross in the representation of the Indians personified a man, his strength and masculinity, and if a small circle was added to this sign at the top, then a woman! The upright cross symbolized endurance and was a combination of the sign of the earth (vertical line) and the sky (horizontal). Later, continuing to believe in their Manita, the Indians very widely used crosses made of silver as breast adornments. At the same time, their dimensions were very large, so that they were clearly visible from a distance. The four-part division, as well as the very image of the cross, the Indians of the prairies also applied to their shields, believing that in this way they strengthen their protective power and in this superstition, as you can see, they were no different from the Europeans!
Dakota Indian shield depicting a pointed cross symbol of the four cardinal points (Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada).
The image of the swastika was also known to the Indians of North America, and in particular to the Hopi Indians. With it, they associated the wanderings of the clans, of which their tribe consisted in the lands of the North American and South American continents, and believed that the swastika, which rotates counterclockwise, that is, to the left, symbolized the Earth, and the one to the right - the Sun.
Among the Navajo Indians, the cross in the sand painting symbolized the world, the four cardinal points and the four elements of the universe. At the same time, the horizontal line meant feminine energy, and the vertical - masculine. The figures depicted in conjunction with the cross represent the human world.
That is, the emblem on the shield, be it a European cross or a black rectangle of a Sioux Indian, had its main purpose to show who exactly is in front of you, the enemy! However, the shields of the Indians were also made by women, and in this case the goal was still the same: to reflect the spiritual essence of the owner of the shield. Shields carrying false information were burned, and their owners were punished, up to expulsion from the tribe! Moreover, the Sioux Indians had a special "symbol of knowledge", again in the form of a shield, with the image of four healing arrows containing the doctrine of people. In their opinion, every story and situation should be viewed from four sides: from the side of wisdom, innocence, foresight and intuition. These four arrows were connected in his center and, thus forming a cross, thus they said that any thing is revealed from different sides, but, ultimately, unites in itself all directions of knowledge. So the shield showed people how to find out more about themselves, their brothers, about the Earth, and about the entire Universe!
