Medieval Badges - (Middle Ages) by Ann Marie Rasmussen (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The sheer number of surviving badges and the diverse and wide-ranging contexts both religious and secular that they evoke suggest that badges were ubiquitous, woven tightly into the fabric of ordinary, late medieval life. Who made badges and out of what materials? Who bought, gifted, and wore badges, and why? Most intriguing of all, what might they have meant, and what can they tell about thought, belief, and practice in the late medieval world? This book seeks answers to those questions"--

Book Synopsis

Mass-produced of tin-lead alloys and cheap to make and purchase, medieval badges were brooch-like objects displaying familiar images. Circulating widely throughout Europe in the High and late Middle Ages, badges were usually small, around four-by-four centimeters, though examples as tiny as two centimeters and a few as large as ten centimeters have been found. About 75 percent of surviving badges are closely associated with specific charismatic or holy sites, and when sewn or pinned onto clothing or a hat, they would have marked their wearers as having successfully completed a pilgrimage. Many others, however, were artifacts of secular life; some were political devices--a swan, a stag, a rose--that would have denoted membership in a civic organization or an elite family, and others--a garland, a pair of clasped hands, a crowned heart--that would have been tokens of love or friendship. A good number are enigmatic and even obscene. The popularity of badges seems to have grown steadily from the last decades of the twelfth century before waning at the very end of the fifteenth century. Some 20,000 badges survive today, though historians estimate that as many as two million were produced in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries alone. Archaeologists and hobbyists alike continue to make new finds, often along muddy riverbanks in northern Europe.

Interdisciplinary in approach, and sumptuously illustrated with more than 115 color and black-and-white images, Medieval Badges introduces badges in all their variety and uses. Ann Marie Rasmussen considers all medieval badges, whether they originated in religious or secular contexts, and highlights the different ways badges could confer meaning and identity on their wearers. Drawing on evidence from England, France, the Low Countries, Germany, and Scandinavia, this book provides information about the manufacture, preservation, and scholarly study of these artifacts. From chapters exploring badges and pilgrimage, to the complexities of the political use of badges, to the ways the visual meaning-making strategies of badges were especially well-suited to the unique features of medieval cities, this book offers an expansive introduction of these medieval objects for a wide readership.

Review Quotes

"[A] welcome synthesis of the literature on medieval badges for the purpose of facilitating interdisciplinary research. It is also an unusual book, daring even, for employing the modes of historical fiction and scholarly exposition together in an academic monograph."-- "Speculum"

"This captivating book introduces us to late-medieval badges: small, shiny, usually cheap and mass-produced objects worn on hats or clothing...Badges are ostensibly the subject of Rasmussen's study, but they become tour guides on an extraordinary journey through the many cultures of late-medieval Northern Europe."-- "Seminar"

"[A]n authoritative general introduction to the design, imagery, production, functions, and many uses of religious and secular badges during the Middle Ages, especially in northwestern Europe during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries...Rasmussen has produced a welcome, readable introduction to medieval badges, which are a fascinating window into religion, social life, and popular imagery."-- "The Medieval Review"

"Ann Marie Rasmussen offers a new approach to her subject, combining archaeological and literary sources in a way that has not been done before. Her understanding of the nature of medieval badges is profound and well argued."-- "Michael Andersen, National Museum of Denmark"

"The book offers a through introduction to medieval badges that is both a solid work of scholarship and a joy to read."-- "Jennifer Lee, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis"

About the Author

Ann Marie Rasmussen is the Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker Professor of German Literary Studies at the University of Waterloo, Canada.