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Two flared crosses separated by whether the outer ends are notched.
Count the points. Both have arms that narrow at the centre and widen outward. A cross pattée ends in four straight edges — four points in total. A Maltese cross has each outer edge notched inward, producing two points per arm and eight in all.
Both have arms that widen outward, but the Maltese cross has notched ends giving eight points where the pattée has four straight ends.
| Cross pattée | Maltese cross | |
|---|---|---|
| Total points | Four | Eight |
| Outer edge | Straight or slightly curved | Notched inward at the centre of each arm |
| Best-known use | The underlying form of the Iron Cross | The Order of Saint John, Malta, and many fire services |
| Association | None inherent — a heraldic charge that decorations later borrowed | The Hospitaller order and, by descent, rescue services |
| Relationship (from Symbolwise's records) | Commonly confused with Maltese cross — Both have arms that widen outward, but the Maltese cross has notched ends giving eight points where the pattée has four straight ends. | Commonly confused with Cross pattée — Both have arms that widen outward, but the Maltese cross has notched ends giving eight points where the pattée has four straight ends. |
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-20
Tertiary reference. Cited for the blazon term, the conventional form of a charge and uncontested historical detail. Never cited for a claim that a charge carries a fixed symbolic meaning.
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (1909), via Project Gutenberg · retrieved 2026-08-20
The standard English-language reference, and a period one: published 1909, so it states Edwardian English practice as though universal and is occasionally sharp about continental usage. Cited for blazon terminology, the conventional depiction of charges, and — notably — for its own detailed refutation of tincture symbolism.
A bend runs from the top left of the shield to the bottom right as you look at it; a bend sinister runs the other way. The bend sinister is widely said to mark illegitimacy, and that is not quite right: the mark used in English practice was the narrower baton sinister, granted case by case rather than applied automatically. 'Bar sinister' is not a heraldic term at all — a bar is horizontal and cannot be sinister.
Look at what the arms end in. A cross patonce widens outward and splits into three splayed points at each end; a cross fleury ends in a full fleur-de-lis. In practice the two are drawn so similarly that the standard authorities themselves differ over particular coats, and this is one of the genuinely unsettled distinctions in blazon.
Size and feet. An eagle is a principal charge, drawn large with wings spread and talons showing. A martlet is small, swallow-like, and has no feet at all — tufts of feathers appear where the legs would be. The martlet is also a cadency mark: in English practice it identifies a fourth son.
Look at the front half. A griffin has an eagle's beaked head, pointed ears, feathered wings and taloned forelegs on a lion's hindquarters; a lion is a lion throughout. A wingless griffin is not an error either — the male griffin is a distinct charge drawn without wings and set about with spikes.