Cross of
Lorraine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Cross of Lorraine
(French: Croix de Lorraine) was originally a heraldic
cross.
The two-barred cross consists of a vertical line crossed by two shorter
horizontal bars. In most renditions, the horizontal bars are "graded"
with the upper bar being the shorter, though variations with the bars of equal
length are also seen. The Lorraine name has come to signify several
cross variations, including the patriarchal cross with its bars near the top.
Design
The Cross of Lorraine consists of
one vertical and two evenly spaced horizontal bars. It is a heraldic cross,
used by the Dukes
of Lorraine. René d’Anjou (also Duke of
Lorraine 143-1453) "was a major transmitter of the Hermetic
tradition in Italy and had the cross of Lorraine as his personal sigil".[1]
This cross is related to the Crusader's cross, and the six globes of the Medici family.
History
The Lorraine cross was carried to
the Crusades
by the original Knights Templar, granted to them for their use by the Patriarch
of Jerusalem.[2][3]
Symbol
in France
In France, the Cross of Lorraine is
the symbol of the Free French Forces of World War II,
the liberation of France from Nazi Germany,
and Gaullism
and includes several variations of a two barred cross. The bars are supposed to be equally spaced[4]
as can be seen on most images relating to the Free French Forces, though variations are common.
The Cross of Lorraine is part of the
heraldic arms of Lorraine in eastern France. Between 1871 and 1918 (and again
between 1940 and 1944), the northern third of Lorraine was annexed to Germany,
along with Alsace.
During that period the Cross served as a rallying point for French ambitions to
recover its lost provinces. This historical significance lent it considerable
weight as a symbol of French patriotism. During the War, Capitaine
de corvette Thierry d'Argenlieu suggested the Cross of Lorraine as the symbol of the Free
French Forces led by Charles de Gaulle as an answer to the Nazi swastika.
The Cross was displayed on the flags
of Free French warships, and the fuselages of Free French aircraft. The medal
of the Order of Liberation bears the Cross of Lorraine.
De Gaulle himself is memorialised by
a 43 metres (141 ft) high Cross of Lorraine in his home village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises. The Cross of Lorraine was later adopted by Gaullist
political groups such as the Rally for the Republic.
New
World
French Jesuit missionaries and settlers to the
New World carried the Cross of Lorraine c. 1750-1810. The symbol was said to
have helped the missionaries to convert the native peoples they encountered,
because the two armed cross resembled existing local imagery.[5]
European
heraldry
The flag
and the coat
of arms of Slovakia both include the double cross. It
was introduced to the territory of todays Slovakia by Constantine and
Methodius, who brought christianity to Slavic empire of Great Moravia in the
9th century. In Slovakia, the double cross as a symbol of Lorraine is
considered to have arisen when the Great Moravian king Svätopluk I
"passed" it to Zwentibold
of Lorraine, the godchild of Svätopluk and son of the emperor Arnulf of Carinthia.[citation needed]
The coat of arms of Hungary depicts a double cross, which is often attributed to Byzantine
influence as King Béla III of Hungary was raised in the Byzantine Empire in the 12th century, and it was during his rule when the
double cross became a symbol of Hungary.
A golden double cross with equal
bars, known as the Cross of Jagiellons, was used by Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland
Jogaila
since his conversion to Christianity in 1386, as a personal insignia and was
introduced in the Coat
of Arms of Lithuania. Initially, the lower bar of the
cross was longer than the upper, since it originates from the Hungarian type of
the double cross. It later became the symbol of Jagiellon dynasty and is one of the national symbols of Lithuania, featured in the Order
of the Cross of Vytis and the badge of the Lithuanian Air Force.
The double-barred cross is one of
the national symbols in Belarus, both as the Jagiellon Cross and as the Cross
of St. Euphrosyne of Polatsk,
an important religious artifact. The symbol is supposed to have Byzantine
roots and is used by the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
as a symbol uniting Eastern-Byzantine and Western-Latin
church traditions. The Belarusian Cross can be found on the traditional coat of
arms of Belarus, the Pahonia.
Miscellaneous
uses
The double cross is the logo of the
Australian Clothing label, Kaas Leisure Wear.
The cross is used as an emblem by
the American
Lung Association and related organizations through
the world, and as such is familiar from their Christmas Seals
program. Its use was suggested in 1902 by Paris physician Gilbert Sersiron as a
symbol for the "crusade" against tuberculosis.[6][7]
For its defense of France in World War I,
the American 79th Infantry Division
was nicknamed the "Cross of Lorraine" Division; its insignia is the
cross. The German 79th Infantry Division
of World War II used the cross of Lorraine as its insignia because its
first attack was in the Lorraine region.
In the television series Magnum, P.I., Thomas Magnum and his Vietnam War comrades were all shown
to wear rings that bore the cross of Lorraine.
Ironically, the cross is also used
as the symbol of the fascist Norsefire
party in the film version of the graphic novel V for Vendetta.
The cross of Lorraine is also used
in the SABRE GDS (global distribution system), a computer program used
by travel agents. It was also used in the Apollo and Worldspan global distribution systems, however, the latest versions
of the Graphical
user interfaces for both systems display it as a plus sign, while the latest Graphical
user interface for Sabre displays it as a yen
symbol.
The Cross of Lorraine was noted as a
symbol of the Free French in the film Casablanca.
A ring bearing the Cross was worn by Norwegian underground agent Berger and shown
to one of the movies heroes (Victor Laszlo) as proof of loyalty.
It has also been used as a symbol for
the city Roeselare (black cross) and Ypres (red cross) in Belgium.
282 (East Ham) Squadron, Air Training Corps have the "Cross of Lorraine" on their unit crest
in honour of their previous Squadron President, Odette Hallowes
who worked for an independent French section of the Special
Operations Executive during World War II.
The Cross is also used as the symbol
for the Celebritarian Corporation/art movement, created and led by
musician/painter Marilyn Manson.
A wiki link on the subject can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Lorraine This link includes what
the cross looks like.
1 comment:
Hello, I’m trying to find out if the Cross of Lorraine would’ve been worn by any US soldiers during WW2? I have a group of photos of presumably US soldiers, which were taken in France. One of the images has a soldier with the cross on his lapel. Do you know if that would that mean he was French? Thank you.
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