Cross pattée

Form

Arms that narrow at the centre and splay out towards the ends.

When it is documented

A later conventional way of drawing the crosses of several crusading orders, whose actual shapes varied.

Context

The Templars wore a red cross on white and the Teutonic Order a black cross on white. The Atlas shows both in this conventional splayed form; that drawing choice is not a claim about their original shape.

Links in the Atlas

• Conventional way of drawing the cross of Knights Templar (Order)

  Red cross on white; the exact shape varied.

• Conventional way of drawing the cross of Teutonic Order (Order)

  Black cross on white; shown in a conventional splayed form.

Sources and how they were checked

• Colours and the conventional nature of the form.

  Atlas order entries (editorial draft): Knights Templar, Teutonic Order — image captions · Atlas editorial text; no outside source re-checked in rc.4

Not yet known or sourced

• Needs a heraldic source for the history of the pattée form and for each order’s early crosses.