Cross and crown
The emblem of the Masonic Knights Templar, an order of Freemasonry first recorded in the 18th century: a red passion cross with a gold crown. It is not an emblem of the medieval Knights Templar.
Meaning
The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the U.S.A. sets the emblem in its statutes as “the Cross (red Passion) and Crown (gold)”, and puts a cross with a crown over its centre, backed by rays of light, on its buttons. Its motto, In Hoc Signo Vinces, “by this sign thou shalt conquer”, is written over the passion cross on its Grand Standard. The order is the highest body of the York Rite of Freemasonry: every Knight Templar is a Freemason, members profess the Christian faith, and they call one another Sir Knight. Its other emblems and the lodge’s are on the Masonic symbols pages, beginning with the square and compasses.
Origin and history
The Grand Encampment says plainly that it is not the medieval order: “There is no proof of direct connection between the ancient order and the modern order known to day as the Knights Templar.” All that is known, its history says, is that when Templary emerged in the early 1700s it was part of Freemasonry. In North America the first record of the Order of the Temple being conferred is 28 August 1769, and Paul Revere was knighted that December. The national body was founded in 1816 as the General Grand Encampment of Knights Templar.
The motto In Hoc Signo Vinces
The motto comes from the vision of Constantine in 312, which Eusebius told: the emperor saw a cross of light in the sky with the words “by this conquer”. Mackey pointed out in 1874 that Constantine’s banner bore the monogram of Christ (the Chi-Rho), not the passion cross of the modern Templar standard, and that the medieval Templars used neither cross nor motto on their standard: their banner was the black and white Beauséant.
Crosses of rank
The Grand Encampment marks rank with crosses: the red passion cross for every member, the Templar cross for officers of a state Grand Commandery, the patriarchal cross for officers of the Grand Encampment, and for its Grand Master the Cross of Salem, whose middle arm is longer than the upper and lower ones. The medieval order’s own emblem was the red Templar cross on a white mantle.
Read next
- Next in Knights Templar symbolsTemplar crossThe red cross the Knights Templar wore on their white mantles, most often drawn as a cross pattée, with four arms that widen towards straight ends.
- Both emblems of Freemasonry; the Knights Templar are a Masonic orderSquare and compassesThe best-known emblem of Freemasonry: a builder's square and a pair of compasses joined together, often with the letter G between them.
See also
Beauséant, Two knights on one horse, The dome on the Templar seal, Agnus Dei on Templar seals.
Sources
- Constitution and Statutes of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the U.S.A. (2022), Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the U.S.A., Sections 238, 241, 307, 308
- Origin of the Knights Templar, Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the U.S.A.
- Our Templar Heritage in the United States, Ned E. Dull, Most Eminent Grand Master 1982–1985, reprinted from Knight Templar Magazine, March 2008, Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the U.S.A.
- About Us, Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the U.S.A.
- An Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences, Albert G. Mackey, Moss & Co., Philadelphia, 1874 (Cornell scan on the Internet Archive), Internet Archive, In Hoc Signo Vinces
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from crosses or triangles.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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