Cross of Lorraine
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- This article is about a symbol. For the film, see The Cross of Lorraine.
The Cross of Lorraine is a heraldic cross. The "double cross" consists of a vertical line crossed by two smaller horizontal bars. The lower bar is as close to the bottom of the vertical as the upper bar is to the top. In the ancient version, both bars were of the same length. In 20th century use it is displayed as "graded", where the lower bar is longer than the upper, thus resembling a patriarchal cross, the crossbars of which, however, are both near the top.
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[edit] Symbol in France
The Cross of Lorraine is part of the heraldic arms of Lorraine in eastern France. It was originally held to be a symbol of Joan of Arc, renowned for her perseverance against foreign invaders of France (in her case, the English). Between 1871 and 1918 (and again between 1940-1944), 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 World War II, the cross was adopted as the official symbol of the Free French Forces (French: Forces Françaises Libres, or FFL) under Charles de Gaulle.
The vice-amiral Émile Muselier suggested the adoption of the Cross of Lorraine as symbol of the Free French, both to recall the perseverance of Joan of Arc (whose symbol it had been), and as an answer to the Hakenkreuz.
In his general order number 2 of 3 July 1940, vice-admiral Émile Muselier, then chief of the naval and air forces of the Free French for only two days, created the bow flag displaying the French colours with a red cross of Lorraine, and a cocarde also featuring the cross of Lorraine.
Appropriately, de Gaulle is memorialised by a 43 meter high Cross of Lorraine at his home village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises.
The cross was also carried on the fuselages of aircraft flying on behalf of the Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres (FAFL) from 1940 to 1943 to distinguish them from the aircraft of the Vichy French air force, which continued to sport the traditional French air force (Armée de l'Air) roundels, dating from World War I.
The Cross of Lorraine was later adopted by Gaullist movements such as the Rally for the Republic.
[edit] European heraldry
The flag of Slovakia and the Slovak coat of arms both include the cross of Lorraine. In Slovakia, the cross of Lorraine as a symbol of Lorraine is considered to have arisen when the Great Moravian king Svatopluk I "passed" it to Zwentibold of Lorraine, the godchild of Svatopluk and son of the emperor Arnulf of Carinthia.
The Hungarian coat of arms also depicts a double cross, which is often attributed to Byzantine influence on Pannonia and Great Moravia, early precursors to present-day Hungary and Slovakia.
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.
The double cross is one of the national symbols in Belarus. The Belarusian version of the cross symbolises the Cross of Euphrosyne of Polatsk, an important religious artefact. 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.
[edit] Other uses
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. [1] [2]
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. Ironically, in World War II, the German 79th Infantry Division used the cross 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 wear rings with the cross of Lorraine.
The cross is used as the symbol of the 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.
Exxon corporate logo uses a modified version of the cross of Lorraine, which Isaac Asimov made use of in one of his mysteries.
[edit] Miscellaneous
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 (previously known as the Dukes of Anjou). This cross is related to the Crusader's cross, the standard of Joan of Arc, and the six globes of the Medici family.
The Lorraine cross was carried to the Crusades by the original Knights Templar, granted to them for their use by the Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Hermetic alchemists of the Renaissance used the emblem as a symbol of earth and spirit by combining the square earth cross with the cross of Christ. When drawn symmetrically, it symbolised the hermetic maxim, "As above, so below".
The Lorraine Cross is used in Freemasonry as a degree symbol.
In the Catholic Church, the equal-armed Lorraine Cross denotes the office of Cardinal.
The "Cross of Lorraine" symbol appears in Unicode as U+2628 (☨) or U+2021 (‡) and in HTML as ‡ (‡).
The Cross of Lorraine was noted as a symbol of the Free French in the award-winning 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.
The electronic music band Psychic TV, more specifically Genesis P-Orridge, produced a "sigil" which is very similar to the Cross of Lorraine. Psychic TV logo
Controversial noise musician and one-time LaVeyan Satanist Boyd Rice has also adopted the Cross of Lorraine as a symbol, explicitly because of its hermetic associations. [1]
The band Marilyn Manson have adopted a slightly different version of the Lorraine Cross as a logo originally emerging in the album "Holy Wood", and then for Marilyn Manson's art movement The Celebritarian Corporation, referring to the symbol as the Double Cross, to connotate betrayal. The Double Cross is more symmetrical than the Cross of Lorraine and actually could be interpreted as a Christian cross merged with a Cross of St. Peter (sometimes connected with Satanism) to represent the dichotomy of good and evil as does Marilyn's pseudonym, rather than an actual Cross of Lorraine.
The Cross of Lorraine is the faction symbol used by the Hungarians in Medieval Total War.
[edit] See also
- Patriarchal cross
- Coat of Arms of Slovakia (describes the meaning of the cross and how the patriarchal cross probably became the cross of Lorraine)
- Coat of Arms of Hungary
- Kotwica, the symbol of the Polish Secret State
- Free French Forces, who used the Cross of Lorraine as their symbol.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Cross of Lorraine – a symbol of the anti-TB "crusade". TB Alert. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.
- ^ History of the Double-Barred Cross. Alberta Lung Association. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.
[edit] External links
