The sign of the wheel was a gesture that became common after the Great Black Deaths killed 80% of the population of Europe. In response to the despair of the Deaths, a man called Henri appeared in Avignon, France, preaching patience and a better world. When he claimed he was the Second Son of God, the King of France and the Pope both ordered that Henri be tortured and broken on the wheel.
The King and the Pope died the day after Henri's execution in a freak accident, which confirmed in the minds of many that Henri had indeed been the Second Son of God. The people of France, and later the rump French Kingdom of Versailles, commemorated Henri by making the sign of the wheel, tracing a circle above their hearts instead of the sign of the cross. The people of the Germanies made the sign in the opposite direction, which just proved their stupidity in the minds of the French.
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