A History of Central Eastern Europe

Coat-of-Arms of the Slovenská republika
The double cross on the Arms of Slovakia is correctly identified as the Cross of Lorraine.
The one appearing on the Hungarian Arms is the Apostolic Cross. The Cross of Lorraine
was presented to ZWENTIBOLD OF LORRAINE by his godfather SVATOPLUK I MOJMÍR,
KING OF GREATER MORAVIA. ZWENTIBOLD is the Frankish transcription of SVATOPLUK.
ZWENTIBOLD, KING OF LOTHARINGIA between 895 and 900, was the son of the Roman
EMPEROR ARNULF OF CARINTHIA. The Lorraine cross symbolizes 3 important Saints:
BENEDICT, CONSTANTINE and METHODIUS.
Modeled on the Arms of Modern Hungary (see page 13b) they were first used by the
Slovak National Council in 1848. The green in the Hungarian Arms was changed to blue
first, to distinguish the two and, second, to “better represent the pan-Slav idea.”
What this pan-Slav idea actually is was not elaborated upon, but at least we know that the
color blue has something to do with it while green does not (sort of an “anti-Slav idea” –
using purple is a good compromise as it represents the “Cole-Slav idea”).
Depending on one’s point-of-view, this adaptation of the Hungarian Arms could indicate
an affinity to the Hungarian nation or, alternatively, to foster a connection to the
KINGDOM OF GREATER MORAVIA which would be a first step in taking over much of the
Hungarian territory that lies south of the Republic.
32b