The Cross of Lorraine
also known as the de Gaulle Cross and Gaullist Cross
An emblem of importance for thousands of years; and no less so today
The Cross of Lorraine
The Cross of Lorraine
The Lorraine Cross differs slightly from the Patriarchal Cross, in that the Lorraine has two horizontal beams of equal length. The upper beam is as close to the top as the lower beam is to the bottom. The Patriarchal Cross is similar to the Latin Cross with a smaller crossbeam above the main one. On this cross, both beams are usually near the top. Occasionally, the shorter crossbeam of the Patriarchal cross is slanted, near the bottom.
The Cross of Lorraine originates from the Patriarchal Cross and confusingly, either name is used for either cross form.
Lorraine
Lorraine. Sounds like it comes from a girls' name? Wrong.
Over a thousand years ago, the French King Lothaire gave his name to a province in the north east of the country. The name 'Lothaire' evolved over the years to 'Lorraine'. The region has shrunk and now borders with Belgium, Luxemburg and Germany.
So that's where 'Lorraine' comes from. For this particular cross design, we must go back much further.
Perhaps this cross was first used in ancient Samaria (now Jordan) as an ideogram for rulership, since it depicted a shepherd's crook. With this ruler/shepherd image in mind, it was adopted for use as a Patriarchal Cross (also known as an Archiepiscopal Cross), which is the heraldic emblem of an archbishop. 'Patriarch' is the title of a bishop who is second to the pope and has the highest rank in the hierarchy of jurisdiction. This particular cross form was the arms of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who granted its use to the Knights Templar for use in addition to their Cross Pattée.
Alex Roman tells us that...
The two-tiered Cross signified higher authority, Metropolitanical and Patriarchal. That it was granted to a religious Order of Knights was quite remarkable. On their flags and shields, the Templar two-tiered Cross would have simply been two horizontal bars of equal lengthy going from end to end. However, the particular two-tiered Cross the Templars bore, as indicated by the ones the commanders wore around their necks (and which Templar orders today wear such as the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem), show that the second tier was not above the main 'arm-bar' of the Cross, but below which is where the feet of Christ would have been nailed, the 'sub-padenum' (foot-rest) that is prominent in Eastern Crosses, especially the Russian Orthodox Calvary Cross.
The sub-padenum is a reference to the words of Psalm 99 (Septuagint version) "Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship the foot-stool of His feet, for He is holy." (verse 5). (See also Suppedaneum Cross)
For the Templars, the red cross represented at once their mission to protect the pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and self-sacrifice in imitation of the One crucified on it. A number of their grand masters had the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on their coats of arms or seals and this also represented for them the 'Temple of Jerusalem' (prefigured in the Old Testament by the Temple of Solomon near where they had their HQ).
Their beauceant Templar banner with the red cross was holy to them and they always posted a guard of ten soldiers around it at all times. When it was unfurled before a battle, it struck fear in their enemies and the Templars would not leave the battlefield for as long as their cross-flag flew above them. At the Battle of Hattin, 80 captured Templars were led to a cross or to their cross-flag and were told to spit at it. When they didn't, they were beheaded and so it was with the entire number of Templars then and after other battles.
The Duke of Lorraine, Godefroy de Boullion, used this cross for his standard when he took part in the capture of Jerusalem. The heraldry was then passed on to his successors.
In the 15th century, the Duke of Anjou inherited it after the Battle of Nancy, following the defeat of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.
A Cross of Lorraine
superimposed on the French flag as the banner for the Free French Forces in WWII
The Lorraine region, because of its location, has hosted many wars and battles. Twice it was annexed by Germany and when Hitler took control of the region in the Second World War, General de Gaulle chose the Croix de Lorraine (Cross of Lorraine) as a symbol of resistance against the German advance. There were several French Resistance groups, and de Gaulle's was called the Forces Francaises Libres (Free French Forces). The cross then also became known as the Free French Cross, de Gaulle Cross or the Gaullist Cross.
A Cross of Lorraine on a Free French Forces campaign medal
There was much fighting in the area during WWI. It was here, on 15th September 1918, in a heavily bombed area of Lorraine, that an orphaned five-day old German Shepherd puppy was rescued. The dog later became the famous star of Warner movies and known as the brave 'Rin Tin Tin'. It is said the only life Rin Tin Tin actually saved was that of Warner Bros. which was facing bankruptcy. But there's no doubt the canine film star helped promote the idea that our four-legged friends would risk their lives to save their two-legged masters (see Purple Cross Award). For this, he was world famous over several generations.
But on the infamous side, Lorraine saw poison gas used extensively in WWI to choke soldiers to death.
Slightly prior to that, in 1902, doctors met in Berlin at the International Tuberculosis Congress and delegates decided that because tuberculosis was so rampant they should declare war on this devastating disease.
Someone suggested that in order to do so effectively, it would be necessary to have a 'battle standard'. The representative from Lorraine suggested that they should take as a symbol the doubled-barred Red Cross of Lorraine, since many victories for the French in battle fields of old were attributed to carrying this Red Cross into the fight.
At present the International Union Against Tuberculosis (IUATLD), with its headquarters in Paris, has branches in over 100 countries - all identified by the Cross of Lorraine. (See Medical Crosses for more about this double-barred red cross.)
Poison gas in WWI killed an estimated 91,198 soldiers1. A dreadful waste of young lives, and yet today, governments around the world prepare for their own future battles against economic competitors by building new and more effective chemical and biological weapons. Purely for defence, of course. (See Black Death Cross and Crenel Cross.)
1: Spartacus - http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWgas.htm
