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58
Arkadiusz MICHALAK
(1170-1237). The seal can be dated to c. 1227. According to the French scholar, the
arms of Jerusalem also appear on a reliquary called la cassette de Saint-Louis which
he dates to 1236. T. Woodcock and J. M. Robinson 55 thought that the Jerusalem cross
sign was not associated with the Kingdom of Jerusalem until the mid-13 th cent., when
Hugh de Lusignan took the title. Since then the emblem also became a symbol of the
city of Jerusalem 56 .
From the end of 13 th cent. the sign was also carried by several royal dynasties on
their coats of arms. Trying to explain the Budapest’ sword riddle, we should pay
attention to the Lusignan dynasty 57 , which was one of the families using the
Jerusalem cross sign in the 14 th cent. In the late 12 th cent., through marriage and
inheritance, a cadet branch of the family came to control over the Kingdoms of
Jerusalem and of Cyprus 58 . Since the reign of Henry II (1270-1324), the last Frankish
king to rule in the mainland of Palestine 59 , the Lusignan dynasty as the nominal rulers
of Jerusalem 60 used the Jerusalem cross sign as their family coat of arms 61 (Fig. 5).
The reign of the Lusignans was dominated by plans of a new crusade to the Holy
Land and maybe in this way they wanted to stress their connection with Jerusalem
and the Kingdom of Heaven. King of Cyprus Peter I of Lusignan (1328-1369) who
was preparing a new crusade was aware of paucity of his army. He decided to
undertake a journey to Western Europe to persuade Christian sovereigns to organise a
new campaign. He visited Venice, Avignon, London, Paris, Aquitaine, Rheims,
Prague, and Vienna, and asked his hosts to aid him in preparing a crusade 62 . What is
important for our considerations is that the King of Cyprus took part in the Congress
of Cracow in 1364 63 . He met there Louis I the Great King of Hungary (1326-1382) 64 ,
who affirmed his support for a crusade and even swore his own participation in it 65 .
55 Woodcock, Robinson 1988, p. 7.
56 Pilgrim badges in a form of a Jerusalem cross were worn by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem (Bruna
1996, p. 57-58, cat. 20-21).
57 The family originated in Poitou near Lusignan in Western France in the early 10 th cent. (Smail 1982;
Riley-Smith 1999).
58 Painter 1957; Arrignon 1994; Richard 1997; Gerish 2002.
59 Edbury 1991; Molin 2006.
60 In 1243, the High Court of St-Jean-d’Acre declared Conrad, the son of Frederick II Hohenstaufen
deposed and assigned the regency to the kings of Cyprus. In 1268 the crown itself was also assigned to
them.
61 The sign very often appears on the Lusignans’ coins from this time (Malloy, Preston, Seltman 1994;
Metcalf 1996). There are however noticeable differences in the form of the cross between particular
signs. A large cross potent had a centrally placed field in a form of a square. It sometimes had an
additional oval in the centre of the field, or rays from each corner of the square. Four smaller crosses
are in most cases of a cross pattée form. Greek crosses (crosslets) appeared on the coins of Louis, Duke
of Savoy (1412/1413-1465), who married Anne of Cyprus, a princess and a heiress of Cyprus and
Jerusalem. They can also be seen on the coins of James II (the Bastard) of Cyprus (1464-1473) and his
wife Catherine Cornaro (1454-1510).
62 Burkiewicz 2007.
63 Dąbrowska 1994; Szczur 1998.
64 Zajączkowski 1929, pp. 217-228; Wyrozumski 1986, pp. 134-138; Czamańska 2002, p. 136.
65 de Machaut 1877, pp. 40-41; Housley 1984.