Medieval Badges: Their Wearers and Their Worlds (2021)

Interdisciplinary in approach, and sumptuously illustrated with more than 115 color and black-and-white images, Medieval Badges: Their Wearers and Their Worlds 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 and includes fictional, research-informed scenarios imagining how medieval people might have interacted with religious and profane badges.

Recommended Bibliography Citation:

Rasmussen, Ann Marie. Medieval Badges: Their Wearers and Their Worlds. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021.