Editing Crescent (section)

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Les Heures de Paris de Rene d'Anjou01 detail.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|Miniature]] of Madonna on the crescent ([[Rohan Master]], ''Hours'' of [[René of Anjou]], 15th century)]]
[[File:Golden_Horde_flag_1339.svg|thumb|Flag of the [[Golden Horde]] as shown in [[Angelino Dulcert]]'s 1339 map]]
[[File:City Flag of Portsmouth.svg|thumb|The City Flag of [[Portsmouth]], derived from the Medieval arms of [[Isaac Komnenos of Cyprus]].]]
[[File:Flag_of_Azov.svg|thumb|Flag of the town of [[Azak]] today]]
[[File:Coat_of_arms_of_the_Mamluk_Sultan_of_Egypt.svg|thumb|right|Coat of Arms of the [[Mamluks of Egypt]] in [[Mecia de Viladestes]] map (1413)]]
[[File:Drogheda_crest.svg|thumb|Town [[Coat of arms|arms]] of [[Drogheda]], [[Ireland]]]]

The crescent remained in use as an emblem in the Sasanian Empire, used as a [[Mah|Zoroastrian]] regal or astrological symbol. In the [[Crusades]] it came to be associated with the [[Orient]] (the [[Byzantine Empire]], the [[Levant]] and [[Outremer]] in general) and was widely used (often alongside a [[star and crescent|star]]) in [[Crusader seals]] and [[Crusader coins|coins]]. It was used as a [[heraldic charge]] by the later 13th century. [[Isaac Komnenos of Cyprus]], the claimant to the [[Byzantine Empire]] who ruled Cyprus until overthrown by the crusading King [[Richard I of England]], used arms with "a crescent of gold on a shade of azure, with a blazing star of eight points". Later, King Richard granted the same as the coat of arms of the city of [[Portsmouth]], in recognition of the significant involvement of soldiers, sailors, and vessels from Portsmouth in the conquest of Cyprus.{{sfn|Quail|1994|pp=14–18}} This remains [[Portsmouth]]'s coat of arms up to the present.

[[Anna Notaras]], daughter of the last ''[[megas doux]]'' of the Byzantine Empire [[Loukas Notaras]], after the fall of Constantinople and her emigration to Italy, made a seal with her coat of arms which included "two lions holding above the crescent a cross or a sword".<ref>Tipaldos, G. E., ''[[Great Greek Encyclopedia]]'', Vol. XII, page 292, Athens, 1930</ref>

From its use in the Sasanian Empire, the crescent also found its way into Islamic iconography after the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]]. [[Umar]] is said to have hung two crescent-shaped ornaments captured from the Sasanian capital of [[Ctesiphon]] in the [[Kaaba]].<ref>Oleg Grabar, "Umayyad Dome," ''Ars orientalis'' (1959), p. 50, cited after Berger (2012:164).</ref>
The crescent also became the symbol of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]].{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} The crescent appears to have been adopted as an emblem on [[Islamic flags|military flags]] by the Islamic armies from at least the 13th century, although the scholarly consensus holds that the widespread use of the crescent in Islam develops later, during the 14th to 15th century.<ref>Pamela Berger,  ''The Crescent on the Temple: The Dome of the Rock as Image of the Ancient Jewish Sanctuary'' (2012), [https://books.google.com/books?id=JekyAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 p. 164f]</ref>
The use of such flags is reflected in the 14th-century ''[[Libro del Conoscimiento]]'' and the [[Catalan Atlas]].
Examples include the flags attributed to [[Gabes]], [[Kingdom of Tlemcen|Tlemcen]], [[Hafsid dynasty|Tunis]] and [[Buda]],<ref>Znamierowski ''Flags through the ages: A guide to the world of flags, banners, standards and ensigns'', (2000) section 'the Muslim crescent', cited by Ivan Sache, [http://www.allstates-flag.com/fotw/flags/tn-hist.html#14th FOTW] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322065301/http://www.allstates-flag.com/fotw/flags/tn-hist.html |date=2016-03-22 }},  11 March 2001</ref>  [[Nubia]]/[[Dongola]] (documented by [[Angelino Dulcert]] in 1339) and the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluks of Egypt]].<ref>"After king Nasr ad din had fled to Cairo in 1397 to beg assistance against his cousin, the King of Nubia is depicted with a yellow flag with a white crescent but also with a yellow shield with a white crescent. At the same time the yellow crescented flag waves over all the Mameluk Empire. The flag of the Sultan of Egypt is yellow with three white crescents.  From this we may conclude that any autonomy of the Nubian king was over at the time." Hubert de Vries, [http://www.hubert-herald.nl/SudanI.htm Muslim Nubia (hubert-herald.nl)].</ref>

The Roman Catholic fashion of depicting [[Madonna (art)|Madonna]] standing or sitting on a crescent develops in the 15th century.