Cross of Lorraine (Cross of Anjou)

The Cross of Lorraine consists of one vertical and two evenly spaced horizontal bars. It is a heraldic cross, used by the Dukes of Lorraine (previously known as the Dukes of Anjou). This cross is related to the Crusader’s cross, the standard of Joan of Arc, and the six globes of the Medici family. The Lorraine cross was carried to the Crusades by the original Knights Templar, granted to them for their use by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Hermetic alchemists of the Renaissance used the emblem as a symbol of earth and spirit by combining the square earth cross with the cross of Christ. 
 
When drawn symmetrically, it symbolized the hermetic maxim, “As above, so below.” The Lorraine Cross is used in Freemasonry as a degree symbol. In the Catholic Church, the equal-armed Lorraine Cross denotes the office of Cardinal.
 
In 1940, the cross of Lorraine was adopted by Admiral d’Argenlieu (commander of the Free French Forces) as a symbol of the French Resistance, chosen as a symbol to stand against the Nazi Swastika. A very old form of this cross, a depiction of a shepherd’s staff, was used in ancient Sumeria as an ideogram for rulership. The Cross of Lorraine is not a “Gothic” symbol, or a symbol of Satanism.
 
Another Lorraine cross: