Medieval Pilgrim Badges
Lead pilgrim badges were made in large quantities from about 1350 to
1450 AD. They were brought by pilgrims as souvenirs of the different
shrines they had visited and would be worn on hats and clothing. They
were very fragile and, although many were made, few have survived.
Badge depicting the Statue of Our
Lady of Walsingham.
Badge depicting The Knight’s Gate at
Walsingham.
The mass-production and sale of the badges at the shrines served
several ends. They brought income to the shrines, reduced the purloining
of parts of the shrines as souvenirs, helped advertise the shrine, brought
a livelihood to local traders, and gave the pilgrim an eye-catching proof
that he or she had indeed visited a holy site, and was a true pilgrim.
Perhaps of greater significance, the pilgrim badge itself was considered
a secondary relic with its own powerful magic, giving saintly protection to
its owner.
The Lynn Museum’s collection is one of the finest in the country. It was
started in the late 19th century by Thomas Pung, a King’s Lynn jeweller,
who paid children to search for them in the mud of the Purfleet. The
badges were dropped into the water by pilgrims using the ferry over the
Great Ouse on their way to and from Walsingham. Many badges have
been found in rivers across the country and may have been votive
offerings of good luck for the pilgrimage’s start and end.
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land began a century after Christ’s death. In 326
Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine travelled to Palestine and
discovered the ‘True Cross’. After the capture of Jerusalem from the
Seljuk Turks in 1099, thousands of pilgrims made the journey from
Europe to the Holy Land. They travelled like modern day tourists, on
package tours, with route maps and phrase books. Pilgrim badges were
the medieval equivalent of modern souvenir felt badges sewn on the
back of rucksacks.
Late 14th century reliquary container to
contain a cockle shell.
The medieval mind believed
absolutely in the reality of heaven
and hell, and vivid pictures in
churches portrayed the horrors
which awaited sinners in purgatory.
The practice of pilgrimage and the
veneration of the saints, holy relics
and shrines, was one of the
principal ways to reach salvation,
and a place in heaven.
Pilgrims were offered indulgences which reduced the amount of time
spent in purgatory. The Church also employed pardoners to sell
indulgences to the faithful. This system was open to abuse and
travelling salesmen with fake indulgences supposedly sanctioned by the
Church sold them to the credulous for the price of a drink.
Badge from Our Lady and Child,
Doncaster, with the inscription ‘Doncacia’.
For most devout Christians in
England, a trip to Jerusalem was
beyond their means, but visits to
the shrines of Rome and Santiago
de Compostella were possible. In
England, many were content with a
pilgrimage to Canterbury,
Walsingham, Doncaster,
Westminster Abbey, Windsor or
another shrine.
Woodcut of a pilgrim, c.1490
Pilgrims wore a distinctive
‘uniform’ from the 12th
century. The male pilgrim
wore a sclavein or long
course tunic and carried a
stout wooden staff to ward off
wolves or thieves. Strapped
around the waist was a scrip
or soft leather pouch to carry
essential provisions and
money. A century later a
broad brimmed hat was
added to this ‘uniform’,
decorated with badges as
signs of a pilgrimage
accomplished. Female
pilgrims’ clothing was less
distinctive, and typical of the
country dweller; a chemise with a simple kirtle over it, a head covering
and like the men, hose and leather shoes (although the men sometimes
wore boots).
Illustration from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales depicting pilgrims.
Ampulla in the form of a ship, associated with Thomas Becket, Canterbury.
Badge associated with St Edward the Confessor, Westminster Abbey.
By the late 14th century, pilgrimage was losing much of its earlier spiritual
quality and becoming a tourist experience. Criticism of the abuses of the
Church in the form of false relics, miracles and indulgences was
increasing. Lynn’s most famous pilgrim of this period was Margery
Kemp (1373-1440). She made several pilgrimages to the Holy Land,
Assisi, Rome, Santiago de Compostella, as well as Walsingham and
Canterbury. She described her journeys in a book dictated to a priest
circa 1433, which became the first English autobiography.