Editing Red (section)

=== The Middle Ages ===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
Innozenz3.jpg|Roman Catholic Popes wear red as the symbol of the blood of Christ. This is [[Pope Innocent III]], in about 1219.
File:S.George (Novgorod, mid. 14 c, GTG).jpg|Red was the traditional color of [[martyrs]]. A Russian icon of [[Saint George]] (14th c.).
File:Domschatz Halberstadt Karlsteppich.png|The color of majesty - portrait of [[Charlemagne]], King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, Netherlands (14th c.)
</gallery>
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, red was adopted as a color of majesty and authority by the [[Byzantine Empire]], and the princes of Europe. It also played an important part in the rituals of the [[Roman Catholic Church]], symbolizing the blood of Christ and the Christian martyrs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.catholic.org/clife/lcolors.php|title=Liturgical Colors|website=Catholic Online|language=en|access-date=2019-10-08|archive-date=2019-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008055940/https://www.catholic.org/clife/lcolors.php|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.catholicherald.com/Faith/What_do_liturgical_colors_mean_/|title=What do liturgical colors mean?- The Arlington Catholic Herald|last=Herald|first=Catholic|website=catholicherald.com|access-date=2019-10-08|archive-date=2019-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008055940/https://www.catholicherald.com/Faith/What_do_liturgical_colors_mean_/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In Western Europe, Emperor [[Charlemagne]] painted his palace red as a very visible symbol of his authority, and wore red shoes at his coronation.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|36–37}} Kings, princes and, beginning in 1295, Roman Catholic cardinals began to wear red colored [[Religious habit|habitus]]. When [[Abbe Suger]] rebuilt [[Saint Denis Basilica]] outside Paris in the early 12th century, he added [[stained glass]] windows colored blue cobalt glass and red glass tinted with copper. Together they flooded the basilica with a mystical light. Soon stained glass windows were being added to cathedrals all across France, England and Germany. In medieval painting red was used to attract attention to the most important figures; both [[Christ]] and the [[Virgin Mary]] were commonly painted wearing red mantles.

In western countries red is a symbol of martyrs and sacrifice, particularly because of its association with blood.<ref name=":2"/> Beginning in the Middle Ages, the Pope and Cardinals of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] wore red to symbolize the blood of Christ and the Christian martyrs. The banner of the Christian soldiers in the [[First Crusade]] was a red cross on a white field, the [[St. George's Cross]].  According to Christian tradition, [[Saint George]] was a Roman soldier who was a member of the guards of the Emperor [[Diocletian]], who refused to renounce his Christian faith and was martyred. The Saint George's Cross became the [[Flag of England]] in the 16th century, and now is part of the [[Union Flag]] of the United Kingdom, as well as the Flag of the Republic of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]].<ref name=":3"/>{{Rp|36}}