DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4641#0007
thh Amm©mi&'L instil ©if jherusal!!
Exhibited in the vignette above, were appointed by the chiefs of the first Crusade, after the capture
of the city on July 15th, 1099, to be borne by the Christian king then elected. The device upon the
shield was an adaptation of that used for the same metropolis three centuries before, as it was wrought
upon the banner sent by Thomas the Patriarch, with other relics, to Charlemagne before his coronation,
in the year 800. This Gonfanon, or Standard of Jerusalem, consisted of a square piece of white silk,
to be displayed in the usual manner of a church-ensign, and on the banner was wrought a cross-
potent, between four smaller plain crosses, all red, to signify the five wounds of our Lord. On
assigning these arms to Godfrey of Bouillon and his successors, the leaders of the Crusade changed
the colour of the crosses to gold; advisedly disregarding the well-known heraldic rule, if indeed it
existed at the period, that colour shall not be placed upon colour, nor metal upon metal. An old
manuscript, cited by Andre Favine, states the reason to be, that Godfrey should have arms given
to him differing from the common rule of others; " to the end that when any should see them,
thinking them to be false, they should be moved to make inquiry wherefore so noble a king should
bear those arms, and thus become further informed of the conquest of the Holy Land." Favine quaintly
conjectures, that the real reason for thus placing the charges of gold on a field of white or silver, is to
be found in Psalm lxviii. 13,—" Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of
a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold;" since, he argues, the arms of Jerusalem
are the arms of the Catholic Church, and, in Scripture, the emblem of the Church is the dove.
The words " Deus Vult!"— God wills it!— on the scroll above the shield, formed the unanimous
response of the multitude to the address of Urban II. in favour of the Crusade, at the Council of
Exhibited in the vignette above, were appointed by the chiefs of the first Crusade, after the capture
of the city on July 15th, 1099, to be borne by the Christian king then elected. The device upon the
shield was an adaptation of that used for the same metropolis three centuries before, as it was wrought
upon the banner sent by Thomas the Patriarch, with other relics, to Charlemagne before his coronation,
in the year 800. This Gonfanon, or Standard of Jerusalem, consisted of a square piece of white silk,
to be displayed in the usual manner of a church-ensign, and on the banner was wrought a cross-
potent, between four smaller plain crosses, all red, to signify the five wounds of our Lord. On
assigning these arms to Godfrey of Bouillon and his successors, the leaders of the Crusade changed
the colour of the crosses to gold; advisedly disregarding the well-known heraldic rule, if indeed it
existed at the period, that colour shall not be placed upon colour, nor metal upon metal. An old
manuscript, cited by Andre Favine, states the reason to be, that Godfrey should have arms given
to him differing from the common rule of others; " to the end that when any should see them,
thinking them to be false, they should be moved to make inquiry wherefore so noble a king should
bear those arms, and thus become further informed of the conquest of the Holy Land." Favine quaintly
conjectures, that the real reason for thus placing the charges of gold on a field of white or silver, is to
be found in Psalm lxviii. 13,—" Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of
a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold;" since, he argues, the arms of Jerusalem
are the arms of the Catholic Church, and, in Scripture, the emblem of the Church is the dove.
The words " Deus Vult!"— God wills it!— on the scroll above the shield, formed the unanimous
response of the multitude to the address of Urban II. in favour of the Crusade, at the Council of