Jerusalem cross
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The Jerusalem cross (also Jerusalem cross ) is a common or Greek cross , in which a smaller Greek cross is arranged in each of the four quadrants . In some representations, the large central cross is replaced by a crossed cross (cross with crossbar). The five crosses of the Jerusalem cross are interpreted as the five wounds of Christ . In older heraldic works it is also referred to as the "hierosolymitanic cross".
history
The Jerusalem cross was first used as a coat of arms by the crusader Godfried von Bouillon in 1099 . He was since 1089 Duke of Lower Lorraine (the about the southeast of present-day Belgium, part of northeastern France and the northern Rhineland included) and one of the leaders of the First Crusade , and founded the Kingdom of Jerusalem , was wearing as his regent the title Defender of the Holy Sepulcher (the He did not yet have the title of king). He made the coat of arms of the Duchy of Bouillon , the Belgian crutch cross with four additional Greek crosses , the symbol and national coat of arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. There it was used in gold on silver until 1291.
In the 14th century, the red cross became the flag of Georgia under King Giorgi V the Radiant until the 15th century . The mostly noble pilgrims to Jerusalem who were knighted at the Holy Sepulcher also chose it as their emblem in the 14th century, similar to the canons of the Holy Sepulcher.
In the 19th century the Jerusalem cross (in its original golden form) became the symbol of Wingolf . In 1898, after his trip to Palestine, Kaiser Wilhelm II founded an order called the Jerusalem Cross . In the Weimar Republic (based on the Wingolf) the Protestant Church in Germany took over the Jerusalem cross as a church flag, as many communities refused to flag the republican black, red and gold. Today the Jerusalem Cross is used as the logo of the German Evangelical Church Congress and the German Association of the Holy Land . Since January 2004, a red Jerusalem cross has been the flag of Georgia again .
In the city of Jerusalem itself, the Jerusalem cross is at least as present as the city's coat of arms . The city's churches in particular like to use this subject, as they were mostly built by the Crusaders. The Jerusalem cross can also be found in the Crusader fortress in Akko . Nowadays it is also a popular symbol on souvenirs of the city of Jerusalem (key rings etc.). But outside of Jerusalem, too, the cross can be found in many churches in the whole area of the then Kingdom of Jerusalem, especially in Maronite churches and monasteries in Lebanon.
Variants of the Jerusalem Cross
Jerusalem Cross , from: Antonio Manno: Vocabolario Araldico Ufficiale , Rome, 1907
Variant of the Jerusalem cross in a square position
Coat of arms of the Latin Empire with nimbed crosses (these also with four Greek crosses each)
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Uses of the Jerusalem Cross
Historical examples
Jerusalem cross at a monastery in Sidon, Lebanon
Coat of arms of Charles V
Coat of arms of Joseph II.
Testoon (silver, 6.02 g) of Maria Stuart . First period, Type III, dated 1556
Coat of arms of the House of Gonzaga , 1575
Coat of arms of the King of the Two Sicilies , 1816–1861
Coat of arms of Alfonso XIII. of Spain . (1931 variant)
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Contemporary examples
Flag of Georgia with Jerusalem cross in red
Cross of the Order of Knights from the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in red
Logo of the German Evangelical Church Congress
Coat of arms of the Christian student union Göttingen Wingolf
Book cover of a Norwegian Bible
literature
- Michael F. Feldkamp : From the Jerusalem pilgrim to the grave knight. History of the Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher (= Propylaea of the Christian Occident, Volume 1), Heimbach / Eifel 2016, ISBN 978-3-86417-055-3 , pp. 61–66.
