Medieval Badges

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Society for Medieval Germanic Studies (SMGS)

Organizer Name

Adam Oberlin

Organizer Affiliation

Princeton Univ.

Presider Name

Claire Taylor Jones

Presider Affiliation

Univ. of Notre Dame

Paper Title 1

Visual Communication and Community Formation in the Middle Ages: Medieval Badges

Presenter 1 Name

Ann Marie Rasmussen

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Univ. of Waterloo

Paper Title 2

Pewter and Silver Badges of Our Lady of Grace: New Sources on the Holy Site of Scheut

Presenter 2 Name

Hanneke van Asperen

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Radboud Univ. Nijmegen

Paper Title 3

Badges as Signs of Identification and Partisanship

Presenter 3 Name

Torsten Hiltmann

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Westfälische Wilhelms-Univ. Münster

Start Date

10-5-2018 3:30 PM

Session Location

Schneider 1325

Description

Though largely unknown to us today, in the high and late European Middle Ages (ca. 1150-1500 C.E.) badges were an ordinary, ubiquitous part of life. Medieval badges are small, brooch-like objects featuring an image or symbol that was widely familiar in the Middle Ages. Badges were commonly sewn or pinned on hats or cloaks where they could be seen. Also made from precious (gold, silver) and ephemeral (papier-mâché, cloth) materials, 99% of surviving badges were cheaply made from tin-lead alloys. Over 20,000 medieval, tin-lead alloy badges have survived and are in European museums and private collections. The material evidence and surviving documents about badge production suggest that millions of badges were produced and circulated in the Middle Ages north of the Alps.

Adam Oberlin