Maltese Cross (symbol)

The Maltese cross is the cross symbol associated with the Order of St. John since 1567, with the traditional Knights Hospitaller and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and by extension with the island of Malta. The cross is a white eight-pointed cross having the form of four "V"-shaped elements, each joining the others at its vertex, leaving the other two tips spread outward symmetrically. This is placed on a red background or worn on a black mantle. The term is often wrongly applied to all forms of eight-pointed crosses irrespective of colour or background.

The geometric shape of an eight-pointed cross is found in antiquity, and especially as decorative element in Byzantine culture from about the 6th century. The association with Amalfi may go back to the 11th century, as the design is allegedly found on coins minted by the Duchy of Amalfi at that time. However, there is no historically known and accepted visual evidence that the 8-point Maltese Cross was in use by the Knights of Malta, at any of their predecessor locations, before it appears on the coins of Malta in 1567. Claims by Amalfi that it first appears on their coins in the 11th century is only a reference to a then common style of the 8-point cross pattee. Therefore, Amalfi's claim to the Maltese Cross is through extension from the founder of the order, who was sent out from there to the Holy Land in the late-11th century. The term "Amalfi Cross" only developed after the 8-point cross was introduced on Malta in 1567.

The Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades used a plain Latin cross. The association of the "Maltese Cross" with the order dates to the late-15th century, it is possibly first mentioned in 1489 in a regulation requiring the knights of Malta to wear "the white cross with eight points". However, these 8-points do not signify that the shape required was that of the four-arrowhead form of 1567, or anything near it, as there are many variants of an 8-point cross.

The association with Malta arose after the Knights Hospitaller moved from Rhodes to Malta in 1530. The first evidence for use of the Maltese Cross on Malta appears on the 2 Tarì and 4 Tarì Copper coins of the Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette (Grand Master 1557–1568). The 2 and 4 Tarì Copper coins are dated 1567. This provides a date for the introduction of the Maltese Cross.

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