The cross moline (also cross anchory, French croix ancrée "anchor cross") is a
Christian cross, constituting a kind of
heraldic cross.
History
The name derives from its shape, which resembles a
millrind, the iron clamp of the upper
millstone, moline being the
Old French for a mill. It is very similar to one of the varieties of the "fer de moline" heraldic charge (literal French: "iron of a mill"), the forked tips of which, however, circle out slightly more, akin to the
"cross recercelee". It is borne both inverted and rebated, and sometimes "
saltirewise" (i.e. in the form of a saltire).
The cross moline is associated with St.
Benedict of Nursia. As a result, it is widely used as an emblem by the monks and nuns of the
Order of St. Benedict, which he founded.[1]
Examples
Crosses moline appear most notably in the arms of the following:
A cross cercelée, sarcelly, or recercelée is an exaggerated cross moline, and to a lesser extent similar to the
anchored cross, with its forked tips curving around both ways, like a
ram's horns. The form is also called recercelée, for example by Boutell.[2][3][4] Over time, English and French heralds reinterpreted the term (sometimes even treating the various spellings as multiple words with different meanings); because many crosses sarcelly were also depicted
voided, some writers later used the term to mean voided, applied it to animals to mean cut in half, or applied it to
bordures meaning
engrailed or
indented.[5][6]
^Henry Gough; James Parker (1894). A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry. p. 493.
^Bradley; James Augustus Henry Murray; Murray (1914). A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philosophical Society. p. 108. [entries "Sarcelled" and "Sarcelly"]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cross moline.
Brooke-Little, J P, Norroy and Ulster King of Arms, An heraldic alphabet (new and revised edition), Robson Books, London, 1985 (first edition 1975); very few illustrations
Friar, Stephen (ed) A New Dictionary of Heraldry Alphabooks, Sherborne, 1987; with very few illustration of attitudes* Greaves, Kevin, A Canadian Heraldic Primer, Heraldry Society of Canada, Ottawa, 2000, lots but not enough illustrations
Innes of Learney, Sir Thomas, Lord Lyon King of Arms Scots Heraldry (second edition)Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1956
Moncreiffe of Easter Moncreiffe, Iain, Kintyre Pursuivant of Arms, and Pottinger, Don, Herald Painter Extraordinary to the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms Simple Heraldry, Thomas Nelson and Sons, London andf Edinburgh, 1953; splendidly illustrated