Jerusalem cross
- Also called:
- five-fold cross, Crusader’s cross, or cross and crosslets
- Related Topics:
- cross
What is the Jerusalem cross and what is its historical significance?
How has the Jerusalem cross been interpreted in Christianity?
What modern political meanings have been associated with the Jerusalem cross?
Jerusalem cross, symbol in Christianity that has been used since the late Middle Ages (c. the 11th century) and is closely associated with the Crusades. The symbol consists of a large central cross, each of whose equal-length arms ends in a bar perpendicular to the arm (forming a cross potent: ☩), surrounded by four smaller, Greek crosses (✚), one in each corner formed by the central cross’s arms. The Jerusalem cross has several religious meanings. It is the emblem of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, an ancient knighthood founded during the First Crusade, which serves the Roman Catholic Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In the 21st century the symbol’s Crusader roots have led to its adoption by alt-right, white supremacist, and Christian nationalist groups.
Origin in the Crusades
The precise origins of the Jerusalem cross design are unclear. Christians in the Transcaucasian country of Georgia suggest that their ancestors used it as far back as the 10th century. A surviving manuscript from that era reportedly describes the symbol as being emblazoned on Georgia’s national flag, and a variant of the Jerusalem cross (in red on a white background) appears on the modern Georgian flag.
The symbol’s origin has commonly been associated with Godfrey of Bouillon, a leader of the First Crusade—launched in 1095 and ended in 1099—who was the first ruler (1099−1100) of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. According to a popular account, the symbol appeared on the papal banner given by Pope Urban II to the members of the First Crusade. A variant of the symbol appeared in the 12th century on coins of Henry of Champagne, king of Jerusalem (1192–97), and in the 13th century on a coin of Cyprus. In addition, the standard Jerusalem cross was used in the 13th to 14th century on coinage of Cyprus after the Crusaders were expelled from the Holy Land in 1291. The symbol also appeared in 13th-century artwork depicting the Crusades. By the 14th century, when the memory of the early Crusades was fading, the Jerusalem cross became popular in aristocratic heraldry and artwork in England, France, and Italy as a symbol of those Christian military and missionary campaigns.
In later centuries the Jerusalem cross was associated with pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Many depictions of pilgrims from the 16th and 17th centuries feature the cross prominently. Indeed, many pilgrims to Jerusalem over the centuries have had the image tattooed on their bodies. A famous example is Albert, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), who had the Jerusalem cross tattooed on his arm in Jerusalem during an 1862 tour of the Middle East.
Other Christian interpretations
Christian religious groups have given multiple symbolic meanings to the Jerusalem cross. One common interpretation of the symbol reads it as representative of Jesus’ crucifixion wounds. The large central cross symbolizes his side wound caused by the centurion’s spear, and the smaller crosses represent the wounds on Jesus’ hands and feet. Another interpretation sees the main cross as representing Jesus and the smaller crosses as representing the four Evangelists—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. A related interpretation reads the Jerusalem cross as symbolic of evangelism, the spreading of the Christian message, to the four corners of the earth. The symbol has also been interpreted as a combination of the Old Testament, represented by the large cross, and the New Testament’s four Gospels, represented by the four smaller crosses. In the 20th century the evangelical and missionary interpretation of the Jerusalem cross became influential among Protestant denominations, particularly among Episcopal congregations.
The cross is the official emblem of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, a lay institution of the Roman Catholic Church originating from knights of the First Crusade, and of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The motto of the Order is “Deus lo vult” (“God wills it”), a variant of the Latin phrase “Deus vult” (“God wills it”), which was a rallying cry of the first Crusaders that was attributed to Urban II. The Crusades were attempts by western European Christians to wrest control of the Holy Land in Palestine, and its significant sites associated with Jesus and Christianity, from Muslims by force. Within the Catholic Church today, however, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre generally supports Christianity in the Holy Land and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and concerns itself with spiritual and social matters rather than military conquest. In a 2023 meeting with leaders of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, Pope Francis remarked of the Jerusalem cross,
With its horizontal arm, it reminds you of your commitment to ensure that your dedication to the crucified and risen Christ embraces your entire life, and in charity makes you close to every brother and sister; while its vertical arm, firmly planted on the ground and pointing to heaven, reminds you of the inalienable complementarity, in your journey, between a life of prayer and service to your brothers and sisters, attentive, qualified, and well rooted in the realities in which you operate, aimed at the total good of the person.
Modern political meanings
In recent years alt-right and white supremacist groups have adopted symbolism associated with the Crusades, including the Jerusalem cross and the motto “Deus vult.” The use of the Jerusalem cross in these right-wing political contexts evokes the Crusades as a symbol of Western civilization and white European Christian hegemony in opposition to Muslims, Jews, and other religious and ethnic groups that white supremacists view as outsiders. In 2017, variants of the Jerusalem cross, along with the phrase “Deus Vult,” were flown on flags at the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In 2020 an Instagram post by Donald Trump, Jr.—son of Republican U.S. Pres. Donald Trump—showed him wielding an AR-15 rifle emblazoned with the Jerusalem cross. The timing of the post, three days after the U.S. assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, was considered by some to indicate an ideological framing of U.S. involvement in the Middle East in terms of Christian nationalism and the Crusades. Later that year, during the U.S. presidential race, Democratic primary contender Tom Steyer drew a Jerusalem cross on his hand prior to an early primary debate. He remarked in a 2020 interview with BuzzFeed News that he wore the cross regularly to remind himself to “to tell the truth no matter what the cost is.”
In 2024, two days after Donald Trump was elected to a second term as president, veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth discussed during a podcast of the Shawn Ryan Show how his chest tattoo of a Jerusalem cross—which he defended as a “Christian symbol”—had led to his disinvitation from serving on National Guard duty at Pres. Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. Days after that discussion, Trump selected Hegseth as his nominee to lead the Department of Defense. Hegseth’s tattoo of the Jerusalem cross, alongside a tattoo of the words “Deus Vult,” had led to suspicion that Hegseth supported right-wing extremism. The Associated Press reported in 2024, after Hegseth’s nomination, that in 2021 the security manager for Hegseth’s unit of the Army National Guard had expressed concern to his superiors that the tattoo might indicate an “insider threat.” According to the security manager, “Disseminated in the form of hashtags and Internet memes, Deus Vult has enjoyed popularity with members of the alt-right because of its perceived representation of the clash of civilizations between the Christian West and the Islamic world.”
In response to the controversy, a representative of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem told the Catholic newspaper Our Sunday Visitor in November 2024 that today the Jerusalem cross is less a symbol of the Crusades than of the Passion and death of Jesus and his empty tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Although insisting that the order is “non-partisan,” the representative noted that some groups have co-opted the symbol for their own conceptualization of a Christian crusade, but he insisted that the Jerusalem cross “is really meant to be not a symbol of war at all, but really a symbol of the sacrifice of Christ as well as his Gospel message of love.” Hegseth defended his tattoos during his Senate confirmation hearing in January 2025, saying, “It’s a Christian symbol.” However, concerns about his links to alt-right and Christian nationalist causes remain for some observers.