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Saint George's Cross (or the Cross of Saint George) is a red cross on a white background. It was originally the ensign of the Republic of Genoa and was used successively by crusaders and then adopted by England. It became associated with Saint George, the "warrior saint" often depicted as a crusader from the late Middle Ages. The cross has appeared on many flags, emblems, standards, and coats of arms, such as that of the Swabian League in the pre-Reformation Holy Roman Empire, and it was introduced as the emblem of several countries and cities which have or had St George as a patron saint, notably the Republic of Genoa, the Duchy of Milan, the Kingdom of England, and Georgia in the Caucasus. The cross is also found, for various reasons, on the provincial flags of Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel (the three provinces of Aragón in Spain) and Barcelona. It is used extensively across Northern Italy and is the symbol of Bologna, Padua, Genoa, Reggio Emilia, Mantua, Vercelli, Alessandria, and most notably of Milan, where it is often called the "Cross of St Ambrose". ==Origins and medieval use== Saint George became widely venerated as a "warrior saint" during the Third Crusade. There was a legend that he had miraculously assisted Godfrey of Bouillon; also that Richard the Lionheart had placed himself under his protection.〔William Woo Seymour, ''The Cross in Tradition, History and Art'', 1898, (p. 387 )〕 According to legend, the crusaders received miraculous help at the siege of Antioch on 28 June 1098 from a great army on white horses, clothed in white and bearing white banners, led by St George, St Demetrius, and St Mercurius. However, there was no association of the red cross with St George before the end of the crusades.〔Perrin, ''British Flags'' (1922), (p. 20 ): "they imagined that they had seen a great army on white horses, clothed in white and bearing white banners in their hands, issue from the neighbouring mountains and come to their assistance. The leaders of this ghostly army, recognised by their names written on their banners, were St George, St Demetrius, and St Mercurius. If at this time the red cross had become the distinctive sign of St George one or other of these writers would surely have mentioned it, but all agree that the banners were white."〕 The ''red'' cross in particular was associated with the Knights Templar, from the time of the Second Crusade (1145),〔Barber, ''The New Knighthood'', p. 66: "According to William of Tyre it was under Eugenius III that the Templars received the right to wear the characteristic red cross upon their tunics, symbolising their willingness to suffer martyrdom in the defence of the Holy Land." (WT, 12.7, p. 554. James of Vitry, 'Historia Hierosolimatana', ed. J. ars, ''Gesta Dei per Francos'', vol I (ii), Hanover, 1611, p. 1083, interprets this as a sign of martyrdom.)〕 but in 1188 red and white crosses were chosen to identify the French and English troops in the "Kings' Crusade" of Philip II of France and Henry II of England, respectively. Together with the Jerusalem Cross, the plain "George's Cross" became a recognizable symbol of the crusader from about 1190, and in the 13th century it came to be used as a standard or emblem by numerous leaders or polities who wanted to associate themselves with the crusades. The red-on-white combination was chosen by Genoa and Aragon, among others. Saint George was depicted as a crusader knight during this time, but the red cross had no particular association with him. A crusader-era fresco in the crypt of Trani cathedral shows Saint George wearing a white cross on a red surcoat. The white-on-red version was chosen as the ''Reichsbanner'' ("imperial banner") by the German crusaders in the 12th century, and Emperor Frederick II used it in his European campaigns of the 1250s after he had returned from the crusades. It continued to be used as the ''Reichssturmfahne'' ("imperial war flag") of the Holy Roman Empire, eventually giving rise to the flag of Savoy and the present-day flags of Switzerland and Denmark). The association with the Saint of the red-on-white cross probably arises in Genoa, which had adopted these tinctures for their flag and George as their patron saint in the 12th century. A ''vexillum beati Georgii'' is mentioned in the Genovese annals for the year 1198, referring to a red flag with a depiction of St George and the dragon. An illumination of this flag is shown in the annals for the year 1227. The Genoese flag with the red cross was used alongside this "George's flag", from at least 1218, and was known as the '' insignia cruxata comunis Janue'' ("cross ensign of the commune of Janua"). The flag showing the saint himself was the city's principal war flag, but the flag showing the plain cross was used alongside it in the 1240s.〔Aldo Ziggioto, "Genova", in ''Vexilla Italica'' 1, XX (1993); Aldo Ziggioto, "Le Bandiere degli Stati Italiani", in ''Armi Antiche'' 1994, cited after (Pier Paolo Lugli, 18 July 2000 ) on ''Flags of the World''.〕 The cross ceased to be a symbol directly associated with the "taking of the cross", the resolve to fight in a crusade, after the failure of the crusades in the 14th century. With the development of systematic heraldry, there was great demand for variations of the cross symbol and associated terminology. Juliana Berners reports that there were ''Crossis innumerabull born dayli''. The term "St. George's cross" was at first associated with any plain Greek cross touching the edges of the field (not necessarily red on white).〔William Woo Seymour, ''The Cross in Tradition, History and Art'', 1898, (p. 363 )〕 Thomas Fuller in 1647 spoke of "the plain or S. George's cross" as "the mother of all the others" (that is, the other heraldic crosses).〔Fuller, ''A Supplement tu the Historie of the Holy Warre'' (Book V), 1647, chapter 4.〕 It became fashionable in the 15th century, with the full development of classical heraldry, to attribute fictional coats of arms to saints and other historical characters from the pre-heraldic ages. The widespread attribution to Saint George of the red cross on a white field in western art dates to the early 15th century, but the association may have been established by the early 14th century of the red cross used as '' insignia cruxata comunis'' by the city of Genoa and its patron saint George. In any case, Edward III of England chose Saint George as the patron saint of his Order of the Garter in 1348, and also took to using a red-on-white cross in the hoist of his Royal Standard. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「St George's Cross」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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