THE TRUE CROSS [based on Chronica_Majora, Capture of the True Cross at Hattin] An extract from Armies and Enemies of the Crusades 1096-1291 by Ian Heath

29.      THE TRUE CROSS

This was a holy relic often used by the Franks as a battle standard after 1099, such as at the First and Third Battles of Ramla (1101 and 1105), the Battle of Sarmin (1115), Hab (1119), Yihneh (1123), Bosra (1147), Ascalon (1153), Montgisard (1177), and Hattin (1187) where it was finally lost to the Saracens. It was always carried by a cleric, often the Patriarch of Jerusalem himself but otherwise an archbishop, bishop or abbot. Its bearer at Hattin, the Bishop of Acre, wore the armour of a knight.

29a is based on an illustration in the Chronica Majora depicting the capture of the Cross at Hattin: Imad ad-Din, who was present at the battle, describes it as cased in gold and adorned with pearls and precious stones, Fulcher of Chartres likewise recording it to have been ‘partly covered by gold and silver’. 29b is an alternative rendering of the Cross, as it appears in a History of Outremer ms. executed in Rome in 1295.

Other similar ‘standards’ were also in existence, Roger of Antioch, for example, having a large jewelled cross with him at Ager Sanguinus in 1119.