THE SQUARE CROSS

MODERN TIMES

The Square Cross

As the triple cross may have been the symbol of the Abuna of Ethiopia, the square cross has been the emblem of the administrative authority of the Christian rulers of Ethiopia.  Some square crosses for example, were carved in the monolithic churches of Lalibela, probably commissioned by king Gebre Mesquel Lalibela (1189-1229) of the Zagwe dynasty.

Fotos N.N. Internet

Some square crosses of Lalibela church.

On the friezein the interior we notice rectangular crosses, generally associated with the Arian faith.

Also, some processional crosses have been preserved dating from the last years of the rule of that Dynasty.

ç  Processional cross, 12th - 13th century. From Lalibela.

(H. 22,5 cm, bronze. Museum für Völkerkunde, München)

After its eclipse in 1270 the square cross was also adopted by the Solomonic Dynasty. 

About this cross the Book of Knowledge reports about the Ardeslib of Graçiona  [1]:

“I came to a great city called Graçiona which is the head of the empire of Ardeslib (= Abessinia, from the arab: Abd-as-Salib) a word meaning “Servant of the cross.” The Ardeslib is defender of the church of Nubia and Ethiopia, and he defends Preste Juan who is Patriarch of Nubia and Abyssinia, and rules over very great lands and many cities of Christians. [.....] The Emperor Ardeslib has for his device a white flag with a black cross like this:

It may be not too far fetched to suppose that this cross continues the tradition of the former kings of Aksum and the kings of the Zagwe Dynasty.

Some sixty years later we meet the square cross in relation with Ethiopia again in the report of the Council of Constantz, held in the second decennium of the fifteenth century. [2]

In this report an Ethiopian delegation is mentioned in a text below three coats of arms. The first of it shows a square cross like this:

Per fess Azure and Argent, a cross Gules. Imperial crown.

The imperial crown makes it likeley that the coat of arms with the cross is meant to be the emblem of the then Emperor of Ethiopia Isaac (1413-‘30).

In European sources this coat of arms is first copied by Konrad Grüneberg in his “Wappenbuch” of about 1480. [3] This shows the arms with the square cross with a helmet, lambrequined Gules and Or and seven latin crosses as a crest.

This achievement was copied a hundred years later by the German Heraldist Martin Schrot. [4] Following Sebastian Münster and others [5], he locates the empire of Prester Johan again in Africa as he writes:

Diser Priester Johann / oder wie besser gesagt wird / Preto Johan / nit ein Priester / sonder ein mechtiger König inn Africa / stost mit seinem Königreich gegen nidergang der Sonnen / an der Nigriten oder Moren Land / gegen auffgang unnd mitternacht an Egypten und das Königreich Melinde : [6]

The coat of arms of  “Priester Johan”  by Martin Schrot, p. 232.

Four of the surrounding arms can be found in the report of the Council of  Constanz by Ulrich Richental. On fol. 122: The king of Central India: Azure, a chalice Or; The king of India: Azure, a balance Or; the king of Further India: Azure three birds proper. On fol 119: The King  and Lord of India: Or, three birds, wings expanded per pale Sable. The two other were added by Konrad Grüneberg.

In the time of  Schrot North-East Africa was still called “India Maior Ethiopi”.

The arms consist of a square cross and seven latin crosses as a crest. In fact this expresses the same combination of administrative and religious authority that is expressed by the 14th and 15th century triple crosses.

Nevertheless we do not know the sources of which Martin Schrot took this coat of arms but we must take into account the travels of Brother Francisco Alvares which were published in 1540 by Luis Rodrigues as Verdadeira Informação das Terras do Preste João das Indias. It is not improbable that the coat of arms is of Portuguese origin as there was an alliance between Lebna Dengel (1508-’40) and the king of Portugal.

The tinctures of the arms should have been a cross Or on a field Azure as the flag of Ethiopa was reported in 1578 to be blue with a yellow cross.[7]

The square cross as an emblem of the administrative authority of the emperors of the Solomonic Dynasty is confirmed by a portrait of the Emperor Iyasu I the Great (1682-1706). [8] He is depicted in robes strewn with square crosses, like these:

The cross of  Iyasu I the Great.

Ethiopian Processional cross

We have no pictures of Preste John or of his political symbols or coats of arms from European sources younger then the end of the 16th century. Instead there are the processional crosses which can be classified as symbols of administrative authority, be it of the church or of the emperor. As we saw before, these crosses are known in the West from the portolan of Gabriel de Vallseca and also from a map of East Africa made by Diogo Homem for Queen Mary I of England, both carried by Prester John. Specimina of these crosses, dating from the 13th century until present are in different museal collections all over the world.

As for Emperor Iyasu I the Great, we may suppose that, maybe due to the influence of the Jesuits, who converted two emperors to Catholicism in the beginning of  the 17th century, administrative authority was usurped by the king. [9] 

Modern Times

Badge of the Order of Solomon’s Seal, first type 1874.

In the second half of the 19th century a new application of the square cross was made by combining it with a hexagram or Seal of Salomon. The Seal of Salomon illustrates the claim, (or the revival of the claim) of 19th century Ethiopian rulers that they descended from king Salomon himself. [10]

The emblem of the cross and the seal of Salomon was probably invented by Emperor John IV for the Order of Salomon’s Seal which he founded in 1874. The badge of this order consisted of such an emblem, crowned by the Imperial Ethiopian Crown.

Later applications in heraldic achievements suggest that the cross-and-hexagram was considered to be the emblem of the House of Salomon.

Badge of the Collar of the Order of Solomon’s Seal, 1922

As a part of a heraldic achievement the emblem of the House of Solomon was adopted by Haile Selassie when he instituted the Collar of the Order of Solomon in 1922 ‘to be awarded to foreign Kings who had the rank according to the Emperor’. [11]

This achievement consisted of the cross enclosed supported by two Ethiopian Lions, crowned and with procession crosses, and crowned with the Imperial Ethiopian crown.

Asfa Wossen

King 1974-1975

Even when, after the deposition of Emperor Haile Selassie his son an eternal pretender was appointed at least as his lawful successor, he could not maintain his position against the violent revolutionary regime. As a result his being a candidate for a constitutional king was only a minor footnote in Ethiopian history.

Nevertheless, the heraldic achievement of Asfa Wossen is interesting because of the occurrence of a Solomon’s Seal enclosing a square cross.

The achievement of Asfa Wossen was an augmentation of this collar badge. It has been preserved on his plate in the chapel of Slot Frederiksborg in Denmark, painted on the occasion of his being granted the membership of the Order of the Elephant. It is:

Foto N.N.

Emblem: A Solomons’seal enclosing a square cross Or, in base a balance upheld by an arm issuing from the sinister.

Supporters: Two natural lions sejant affrontée guardant.

Motto: The motto in golden lettering on a ribbon Vert.

Mantle: Purpure, fringed, tasseled and lined Or, crowned with the Ethiopian Imperial crown. Above it two hovering seraphim Or.

Around the achievement are the jewels of the Order of the Elephant and the legend: ASFA WOSSEN HAILE SELASSIE PRINCEPS ÆTHIOPIÆ REGNI HERES DIE XV IANUARII AN MCMLXX

The processional cross in the head of this essay from: www.seiyaku.com/customs/crosses/ethiopian.html