pilgrim badge

This late medieval pilgrim badge depicts the Virgin Mary, crowned and seated with the infant Christ standing on her lap. The Christ Child may be holding the Orb of Sovereignty, often a symbol used to represent the world. There were many shrines dedicated to the Virgin Mary across Europe during the Middle Ages. This example probably came from the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk.

The shrine was one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Europe, attracting commoners and kings. It is believed King Richard I (1157-1199) was the first royal to go on a pilgrimage to the shrine. It became a traditional place for English royalty to visit, including Henry III (1207-1272), Edward I (1239-1307), and Henry VIII (1491-1547) who visited the shrine during his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), to pray for a son.

The shrine housed holy relics including a sacred statue of the Virgin Mary and a phial (flask) of her milk. It was believed that the statue of the Virgin at Walsingham was unrivalled in its miracle working abilities. Accounts suggest that people wounded in body, mind and soul were healed. In 1513, Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) the philosopher and Christian scholar, wrote that the water from the Walsingham spring was "efficacious (effective) in curing pains”. Pilgrims visiting Our Lady of Walsingham would have bought and worn pilgrim badges like this, in order to carry the healing properties with them.