Who wants to save his life, Doesn't take a saint of a cross.
I'm ready to die in battle
In the battle for the Lord Christ.
To all those whose consciences are unclean, Who is hiding in their own land
The gates of heaven are closed
And we are met by God in paradise.
(Friedrich von Hausen. Translation by V. Mikushevich)
Among the numerous publications of the VO and, accordingly, in the comments to them of those who read them, the knights-crusaders are often mentioned. However, not everyone knows exactly who they are - these same crusaders, what they did and why they put the sign of the cross on themselves. And this sign itself … What does the cross mean in the culture of different peoples, what features of its application or variants of the image do we know? And I would like to tell you about all this in more detail!
It would seem that what could be simpler than the image of the cross? I drew two straight lines so that they intersect at right angles, here's a cross for you! However, it should be noted that for all its obvious simplicity, the cross is not a simple figure at all, since there are a great many crosses. Someone calculated that around 450! So the cross in heraldry has given more options and varieties than any other heraldic figure. And the thing is that in addition to the fact that we can depict it in different ways - for example, make it straight or oblique, or draw the same swastika, of which there are a lot of options, we can also add a variety of details to it! That is, just show your imagination and get an image of a cross, connecting a variety of objects. Well, let's say, it can be all the same swords, spears, arrows and even the most ordinary … wrenches. In any of these cases, the cross at the base of this image will still be present.
For example, the mon (that is, the personal coat of arms) of Asano Nagamasa, son-in-law of the ruler of Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi, represented two crossed kite feathers (in Japanese - makah), but if you look at him from a distance, then again we will not see feathers, and an oblique cross with rounded ends!
It seems that in the case of the image of the cross, nothing original can be invented, but this is far from the case! No, the crosses were of very different shapes, in addition, they were supplemented with various details. Known, for example, are the anchor and lily cross, ball and pitchfork, clawed and faceted, and by no means only, say, oblique and straight crosses. In addition to the simplest cross of two cross-beams, a very popular cross with endings in the shape of the letter "T", which the knights of the Kingdom of Jerusalem chose as their symbol, and the cross in the shape of the letter "T" itself - the cross of St. Anthony. The anchor crosses were similar to the crosses of Alcantara and Calatrava - knightly orders in Spain, while the cross of the Order of St. Jacob (or Santiago), also Spanish, looked like a dagger with a handle and a crosshair. The cross with eight ends was chosen as the emblem of the Order of the Johannites and Templars ("Knights of the Temple" or simply "Templars"), whose order was founded on the site of the Temple of King Solomon in Jerusalem in 1118. A cross with a cross at the ends is called a crossed, and an "inverted cross" with a crossbar below is called a martyr's. It was on this cross that, according to legend, the Apostle Paul was crucified upside down!
The cross in heraldry refers to honorary heraldic figures and traditionally occupies 2/7 of the width of the coat of arms. True, only if at the same time it does not touch at least two sides of the shield, because then it is called shortened and refers to simple - secondary, heraldic figures. In the European heraldic tradition, crosses on coats of arms (as well as on banners!) Cannot intersect. If in one coat of arms there is not one cross, but several of them, then they should be spread across different fields of the coat of arms or inscribed one into the other. For example, the flag of Great Britain does not cross anywhere, there are three crosses at once: straight red - St. George (patron saint of the British) and two oblique - St. Andrew (patron saint of the Scots) and St. Patrick (patron saint of the Irish). One is white on a blue background and the other is red on white!
Sir Robert Knollys with Sir Thomas Granlison in the illustration from The Chronicle of France by St. Denis ". Around 1392 Note that those who are marching under the banner of St. George with a simple red cross, English soldiers are dressed in quilted and padded "jupones" worn over their armor; some are buttoned or laced in front. The commanders preferred to take off their helmets and replace them during the march: the first with a high hat, and the second with a headdress similar to a turban. (British Library)
It had its own symbolism and the color of the cross itself. That is, the crosses could be red, black, white, green, blue, “the color of gold” or “the color of silver,” and each time it meant something. However, as always, there were exceptions to this rule. So on the banners of the pre-Petrine rifle regiments, dressed in multi-colored caftans, crosses were of very different colors, as, incidentally, the banners themselves and there is no indication that their color meant anything, except perhaps the very function of identifying one or another regiment …
At the initial stage of the campaigns to the East, the knights-crusaders had the most different colors of crosses, but after the first two campaigns, from about 1189, the red cross became the sign of the French crusaders, the white was chosen by the British, the black - by the Germans, yellow - by the Italians, and green - Belgians. Subsequently, however, the color scheme of the crosses that served to recognize troops on the battlefield changed, and the British now sewed a red cross on their clothes, and the French from the XIV century. - White. The oblique red cross became the emblem of the Duchy of Burgundy, with which the French kings waged a difficult war for a long time, and the oblique white became the identification mark of the Scots.
Even the "white armor", which was entirely made of steel, did not abolish the fashion of wearing cash clothes over them, and crosses continued to be embroidered on them and on individual parts of the armor. For example, they were depicted on the so-called pallets or plastrons - special overhead metal plates on armor that protected the armpits.
Separate details of weapons were also decorated with images of a cross: for example, the tops of the hilts of swords, which for many decades had the appearance of a flat disc, very convenient to place any image or coat of arms on it. For example, on the pommel of the sword of Pieter de Dreux, Count of Brittany, who was captured by the Muslims in 1250, on one side was depicted the coat of arms of the Counts de Dreux - three water wineskins against the background of a chessboard, the other - a red cross on a green field with decorations from gold plated curls.
It is interesting that among the holy relics that were painted on the shields of the knights, as well as on their banners, was the shell of St. James of Campostel, very similar to the modern emblem of the Shell company. But although she was a very famous symbol, she was still inferior in popularity to the cross! In the 17th century, the lily cross adorned the cloaks of the French musketeers Louis XIII and his son Louis XIV, but on the cloaks of the cardinal's guards (first Cardinal Richelieu, and then Mazarin), the color of the cardinal's mantle, there was a simple white cross without any decorations. They were all guardsmen and musketeers at the same time, but since the publication of A. Dumas's novel "The Three Musketeers" it so happened that the guardsmen from the king's personal guard are called musketeers, and the same cardinal's musketeers are called guards, which is completely wrong. It's just that different companies were more or less privileged and were subordinate to different captains, that's all!
However, the image of the cross during the period of the Crusades, and later, already as a tribute to tradition, could decorate not only flags, but also the sails of ships. So, in 1492, a gripping red cross adorned the sails of the expedition of Christopher Columbus, who went to discover the New World. The sails of the ships of Bartolomeo Diaz, Alvaris Cabral and Vasco da Gama - Portuguese navigators of the era of the great geographical discoveries, like Columbus, who overshadowed the lands discovered by them with the sign of the cross - were also "crusading". Yes, and on the flagship Hernando Cortez, who set out to conquer Mexico, also fluttered a white and blue banner, on which a red cross was depicted, surrounded by the following inscription: “Brothers, let us follow the cross; having faith, by this sign we will conquer!
Peter I oblique cross of St. Andrew the First-Called made the emblem of the Russian Imperial Navy, and this flag has survived to the present day. But under Emperor Paul I, the eight-pointed Maltese cross, contrary to all logic, even entered the large coat of arms of the Russian Empire. That's how much this emperor respected and loved everything connected with the Maltese knightly order and knighthood in general!
