Occitan cross

The Occitan cross (also called cross of Occitania, cross of Languedoc, cross of Toulouse;^[1] heraldically cross cleché, pommetty and voided) is a heraldic cross, today chiefly used as a symbol of Occitania.

The design was probably first used in the coat of arms of the counts of Forcalquier (in modern Provence), in the 12th century,^{[citation needed]} and by the counts of Toulouse in their capacity as Marquises of Provence, on 13th century coins and seals. It later spread to the other provinces of Occitania, namely Provence, Guyenne, Gascony, Dauphiné, Auvergne and Limousin.

A yellow Occitan cross on a blood-red background with the seven-armed golden star of the Felibritge makes up the flag of modern-day Occitania. It can also be found in the emblems of Midi-Pyrénées, Languedoc-Roussillon and Hautes-Alpes, among many others, as well as in cemeteries and at country crossroads.

The blazon of the modern emblem is gules, a cross cleché (or: pattée) pommettée voided or ("in a red field, a gold cross 'with keys' (or: 'with paws') and 'with spheres/apples', in outline"; Occitan: de golas a la crotz voidada, clechada (or patèa) e pometada d'aur),^{[citation needed]} also described as cross pattée botonnée, cross pommettée, cross toulouse,^[2] or cross fleury voided (or: in skeleton).^[3] In the Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise, it goes by the name of "Raymondine cross" (crotz ramondenca).^[4]

^ After the coat of arms of the counts of Toulouse. "The first known Cross of Toulouse is shown on Count Raimond VI's seal, dated from 1211. Then widely used all over Languedoc, the Cross of Toulouse appeared on the municipal arms of Toulouse and the provincial arms of Languedoc in the 14th century. Pierre Saliès (Archistra, December 1994) claims that the Cross of Toulouse is a modification of the Latin Cross, attributed to Count Raimond VI. In 1099, Raimond VI took part to the reconquest of Jerusalem with the Crusaders. As a Crusaders' chief, Raimond would have adapted a cross slightly different from the Latin Cross bore by the low-rank Crusaders. According to this theory, the edges of the arms of the cross were cut into two pieces and curved. To be fixed on a shield, such a cross required twelve rivets. The design would have progressively evolved towards the Cross of Toulouse." (Ivan Sache, 24 April 2003, crwflags.com)
^ Thomas Robson, The British Herald (1830), p. 336.
^ Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina Powlett Duchess of Cleveland, The Battle Abbey Roll vol. 3 (1889), p. 182.
^ La Cançon de la crosada, laisse 109 (v. 2300), Per la crotz Ramondenca que contral vent resplant, see L. Macé in: Marcus Graham Bull, Catherine Léglu (eds.), The World of Eleanor of Aquitaine: Literature and Society in Southern France Between the Eleventh and Thirteenth Centuries (2005), p. 152.

[1] After the coat of arms of the counts of Toulouse. "The first known Cross of Toulouse is shown on Count Raimond VI's seal, dated from 1211. Then widely used all over Languedoc, the Cross of Toulouse appeared on the municipal arms of Toulouse and the provincial arms of Languedoc in the 14th century. Pierre Saliès (Archistra, December 1994) claims that the Cross of Toulouse is a modification of the Latin Cross, attributed to Count Raimond VI. In 1099, Raimond VI took part to the reconquest of Jerusalem with the Crusaders. As a Crusaders' chief, Raimond would have adapted a cross slightly different from the Latin Cross bore by the low-rank Crusaders. According to this theory, the edges of the arms of the cross were cut into two pieces and curved. To be fixed on a shield, such a cross required twelve rivets. The design would have progressively evolved towards the Cross of Toulouse." (Ivan Sache, 24 April 2003, crwflags.com)

[2] Thomas Robson, The British Herald (1830), p. 336.

[3] Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina Powlett Duchess of Cleveland, The Battle Abbey Roll vol. 3 (1889), p. 182.

[4] La Cançon de la crosada, laisse 109 (v. 2300), Per la crotz Ramondenca que contral vent resplant, see L. Macé in: Marcus Graham Bull, Catherine Léglu (eds.), The World of Eleanor of Aquitaine: Literature and Society in Southern France Between the Eleventh and Thirteenth Centuries (2005), p. 152.

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