Interview with Dr. Carolin Rinn

INTERVIEW WITH DR. CAROLIN RINN: PILGRIM BADGES FROM AACHEN AND CANTERBURY

Aachen Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral were well-known medieval pilgrimage sites. Aachen Cathedral was built under the orders of Charlemagne in the late eighth century and he was buried there in 814. In addition to Charlemagne’s tomb, this site famously houses four holy relics: the tunic Mary wore when giving birth to Christ, Christ's swaddling clothes, the beheading cloth of John the Baptist, and Christ’s loincloth. Canterbury Cathedral is famous for being the site of the martyrdom of archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170, whose shrine became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in medieval Europe. 

To learn more about the medieval badges from these famous sites, Ann Marie Rasmussen met virtually with Dr. Carolin Rinn to discuss her dissertation, “Between Memory and Mediation of Salvation: Visuality and Mediality of the Medieval Pilgrim Badges from Aachen and Canterbury.” Carolin shared her experience studying medieval badges as an art historian and the findings and implications of her research. 

AMR: Your dissertation explores the visuality and mediality of pilgrim badges from Aachen and Canterbury. Could you tell us how these worked at the sites?

CR: The visuality – the iconography of the saints, the legends, the cathedral, and the design of these pilgrim badges – in Aachen and Canterbury is different. [In Aachen] you have Mary as the patron of the cathedral. You also have Charlemagne and some very important relics that are housed there. In Canterbury, visuality is centred around Thomas Becket and his spectacular martyrdom. Becket’s likeness to the suffering and sacrifice of Christ was a very big topic. The mediality of the badges from the two sites is also different. In Canterbury, there were both badges and ampullas. The ampullas contained the blood of Thomas Becket mixed with water, so they said. [This so-called “Canterbury water”] could heal diseases and cause miracles, which we know from the famous miracle records from that time. Buying an ampulla with this special substance was one reason pilgrims went to Canterbury. There are relationships between this substance and the images [on the ampullas], the front and the back of the badges, the frame, and so on. In Aachen, there was no substance. There are relics from Christ, John, and Mary at the site, but nothing pilgrims could take with them. Only the badges.  

AMR: Could you tell us about the mirrors on some of the Aachen badges?

Pewter badge, square frame intended to hold a mirror surmounted by tunic on rod supported on either side by posts topped with deorated diamond, eyelets, Aachen, Germany, 1475-1524, found in Nieuwlande, the Netherlands, 45 x 29 mm. The Van Beuningen Family Collection, inv. 0674 (Kunera 00430). Photograph courtesy of The Van Beuningen Family Collection.

CR: Oh, yes. Special badges from Aachen had these little mirrors built in. When the relics were shown to the pilgrims from the church tower, which has happened every seventh year, basically from the Middle Ages until now, we know that the pilgrims were massed far below. We know that mirrors were raised up to probably “see” the relic and its power, which was collected in the mirror. Many Aachen pilgrim badges bought by pilgrims included both a mirror and an image of the tunic Mary wore when giving birth to Christ, which was the top relic.

Another element commonly found on the Aachen badges that I found very interesting is the face of Christ. It's very big and very dominant. So I wondered, what's that about? You could say it’s the Vera Icon, but the Vera Icon was a relic in Rome, and therefore not specific to Aachen. There were relics of Christ in Aachen, but none related to the Vera Icon. At first, this made no sense to me, but then, what came into my mind was that this face of Christ – which is basically staring at you – might be a preview of seeing God at the end of time. There are these famous words in the Bible by the Apostle Paul who says, ‘You can see God only like in a dark mirror, but not clearly until the last judgement.’ This is a new finding from my dissertation.

AMR: But then you shall see face to face. [see 1 Corinthians 13.12]

CR: Yes, face to face. These words were very important for thinking about how devotion and prayer worked in the Middle Ages, especially during the fifteenth century: you never get to the point you want to get to, but you always have to try. I don’t think that every pilgrim would have thought about this impact, but well-educated pilgrims must have known these discussions and theories. This shows that pilgrim badges could also be used as devotional objects and as objects that led pilgrims to their way to salvation even after the pilgrimage. 

AMR: It is really interesting that you thought about this adult face of Christ. By the fifteenth century it’s on small objects everywhere. It’s obvious they’re not from Rome, but you see this face again and again. That's really interesting. There was no face relic of any kind at Aachen. 

CR: The interesting thing is that the badge also shows the theme of salvation: you have the tunic, which signifies Christ's birth in the beginning, and then you have this face of God in the end. I think the example of the face of Christ and the badge from Aachen shows that there's so much more to learn. It’s worthwhile to integrate badges into art historian research. They were important visual objects, and sometimes they are as tricky as big paintings to analyze. 

AMR: Of all the badges you've seen so far, which one is your favorite and why?

CR: My favorite is still the ampulla from Canterbury with Thomas Becket, which I saw at the British Museum. It's just so beautiful. On the front side, there’s Thomas Becket, and on the right and the left sides, there are soldiers with their swords. On the back, you see the murder within a seal-shaped frame.

AMR: Their swords are raised. It's like the minute before the swords fall, right? 

Front of pewter ampulla, three knights assassinate Saint Thomas Becket, 1170-1200, England, object reference: 1921,0216.62. Photograph courtesy of © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

Back of pewter ampulla, pointed oval panel with the martyrdom, inscribed + OPTIM EGROR MEDIC FIT TOMA BONOR [Thomas is the best doctor for the worthy sick]. Photograph courtesy of © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

CR: Yes! It's just so beautiful. I think it also works as a devotional object because of image on the back, which was worn near the heart. Having a badge near the heart of the pilgrim plays with this idea that you could impress good images into your heart with prayers during devotions. 

AMR: There’s a very famous piece from Amsterdam, a homemade altar that has had two pilgrim badges nailed onto it. It’s clear in this case that the badges have been repurposed into a devotional object. But in other cases, it's not possible to prove it, but it makes sense. 

CR: Yes, it's not possible to prove it, but I think as an art historian, if you're dealing with medieval art, you can’t prove many things, but you can show they could be possible. In this case, in that region around Canterbury at that time, we know that there were these ideas of impressing your soul with good images and seeing Thomas Becket as a good role model. Not everybody knew this, probably. The monks of Canterbury did at least. And I think it's possible that there were viewers who had these ideas in the back of their mind.

AMR: Oh, absolutely. By the fifteenth century people are beginning to argue about symbols and signs and their efficacy. Badges are made to work within these complex representational systems. The more you bring to them, the more they can say to you – just as you say, they can work on different levels. 

CR: I think the idea of pilgrim badges as cheap mass products has led some scholars to think badges are not complex. Not every badge has these complexities, but some do. This is important because pilgrim badges were a medium for everybody. On every level of thinking or living in the Middle Ages, low or high, you can gain something from the pilgrim badges. I think that's fascinating.

Carolin Rinn studied art history, classical archaeology, and philosophy at the University of Giessen (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen). After an internship at the British Museum, Carolin returned to the University of Giessen to complete a PhD in Medieval Studies. Under the supervision of Markus Späth and Silke Tammen, she wrote a dissertation entitled, “Zwischen Erinnerung und Heilsvermittlung: Visualität und Medialität der mittelalterlichen Pilgerzeichen aus Aachen und Canterbury.” She presently works with the archeological excavation company SPAU, where she offers her historical expertise to guide visitors through various sites, which she views as a pilgrimage of sorts. She continues her research with medieval badges through her work with the Pilgerzeichendatenbank, an online database of pilgrim badges. 

Edited by Hannah Gardiner and Dr. Ann Marie Rasmussen. The interview took place on July 19, 2021. This post was originally published on the Medieval Badges blog on September 6, 2021.

Badges Across Europe: Rostock, Part Two

GEOGRAPHY LESSON 2: WHERE THE ROSTOCK PILGRIMS WENT

The twenty-nine pilgrim badges found in Rostock testify to journeys to different holy sites. Medieval pilgrims purchased religious badges at the sites they visited and then brought the objects home with them. Dr. Ansorge uses the badges found in Rostock as evidence to see where and how far the Rostock pilgrims travelled. 

Some Rostock pilgrims ventured far to visit holy sites of outstanding importance in medieval Christendom. Santiago de Compostela in Spain, whose badges were mentioned in the previous blog (Part One), is about 2500 kilometers from Rostock. Also found were single badges from Rome (about 1700 kilometers distant), and from Canterbury where Saint Thomas Becket was revered (about 1000 kilometers distant). A single badge was found from Saint-Josse-sur-Mer in northern France (Picardy) (about 1000 kilometers southwest), which may have been a waystation on the pilgrim road to either Santiago or Canterbury and another was found from Einsiedeln (Switzerland) (about 1000 kilometers south), which may have been a waystation on the way to Rome.

The Becket badge from Canterbury is one of only two such badges found in northern Germany. The other was found in the Hansa city of Wismar and can be dated to the 1260s. The Becket shrine at Canterbury was the most important pilgrimage site in England and it was not old; Becket was murdered in 1170 and made a saint in 1173. The quintessential Englishness of Becket’s popularity and its being wrapped up in the specifics of English politics make one wonder whether the Becket badges found in Rostock and Wismar might in fact have been discarded there by English traders and merchants, who frequented Hanseatic League cities.

Pewter badge, Becket head front and back, Canterbury, United Kingdom, 1260-1270, found in Rostock, Germany. Photograph courtesy of photographer: Dr. Jörg Ansorge, Horst (Germany).

Roughly half of the Rostock badges are from the large, old pilgrim sites on or near the Rhine or Meuse rivers. Aachen, Cologne, and Maastricht, for example, were linked together as an established pilgrim route. Besides being relatively close to one another, the great shrines of these cities were ancient, traditional holy sites. Clearly Rostock pilgrims wished to partake in this venerable divinity. To the frequent finds can be added two more sites southwest of Rostock: Stromberg and Steinfeld. These sites are in middle distance range, between 600 and 700 kilometers west or southwest of Rostock and it is likely that Rostock pilgrims visited two or more of them on one trip. 

Some Rostock badge finds testify to journeys to local shrines which could have been completed round trip in about a week. These are represented by badges from now obscure or vanished holy sites at Kenz (about 60 kilometers east northeast of Rostock), Güstrow (about 40 kilometers south), and Sternberg (another 30 kilometers southwest of Güstrow). Also present are badges from the great holy site of Wilsnack, which is less than 200 kilometers southwest of Rostock, and from Königslutter, another 150 kilometers southwest of Wilsnack, both established way-stations on middle and long distance pilgrim journeys. 

Pewter badge, Virgin Mary and Child, Kenz (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Germany, found in Rostock, Germany. Photograph courtesy of photographer: Dr. Jörg Ansorge, Horst (Germany).

Pewter badge, Virgin Mary and Child, Aachen (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Germany, found in Rostock, Germany. This badge was found in the Mühlendamm excavation site shown in the previous blog post, Geography Lesson 1. Photograph courtesy of photographer: Dr. Jörg Ansorge, Horst (Germany).

There is a badge from a holy site dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary that is about 300 kilometers east of Rostock in what is now Poland on the mountain, Góra Chełmska (German, Gollenberg, Mount Gollen), east of the town of Koszalin. Easily accessible from the Baltic, it seems likely that Rostock pilgrims would have travelled there by sea. 

And finally, there are two badges that have not yet been identified, probably because they came from small, local holy sites that vanished when the territories around Rostock adopted Lutheranism in the Reformation. Using his skills as an archaeologist-dectective, Dr. Ansorge continues to seek the home and saintly identity of these badges.  

Identifiable by their imagery as coming from specific holy sites, the surviving pilgrim badges found in Rostock can be ordered according to the distance between holy site and find site. They show people from Rostock travelling near and far on what were once well-established roads and pilgrim routes, not all of which are still known today.

Written by Dr. Ann Marie Rasmussen. This post was originally published on the Medieval Badges blog on March 1, 2021.

Works Cited

Ansorge, Jörg. “‘pelgrimmatze in de ere des almechteghen godes’: Pilgerzeichen und Schriftquellen zum mittelalterlichen Wallfahrtswesen in Rostock,” in Verknüpfungen des neuen Glaubens. Die Rostocker Reformationsgeschichte in ihren translokalen Bezügen, edited by Heinrich Holze and Kristen Skottki. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck-Ruprecht, 2019, pp. 29–83.