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Various cultural practices converged to bring about the pilgrim badge. Pilgrims had long sought natural souvenirs from their destination to commemorate their trip and bring home some of the site's sanctity. The earliest and still iconic pilgrim 'badge' was the scallop shell worn by pilgrims to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela.
William Lambarde, in his 1570 book, Perambulation of Kent, describes how the Rood was created by an English carpenter taken prisoner by the French in order to ransom himself. According to various reports, the Rood was able to move, shed tears, foam at the mouth, turn and nod its head, and make various facial expressions.
Usually medieval Christian pilgrim badges were metal pin badges - most famously the shell symbol showing the wearer had been to the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostela in Spain. These were stuck in hats or into clothing and hardworking pilgrims could assemble quite a collection, as mentioned by Chaucer in his 'Canterbury Tales'.
Probably the finest example of a beggars badge is held at the National Museum in Edinburgh. It is a royal bedesmen badge inscribed "Pass and Re-Pass". This badge provides a strong link between bedesmen and beggars. A comprehensive survey of northern Irish badges is found in Seaby and Paterson. [8]
For example, in America, police officers' badges refer to their personal metal emblem whereas their woven emblems on uniforms identify members of a particular unit. A real or metal cockle shell, the emblem of James the Great, sewn onto the hat or clothes, identified a medieval pilgrim to his shrine at Santiago de Compostela.
The Jerusalem Pilgrim's Cross (Latin: Signum Sacri Itineris Hierosolymitani) is an honour of the Holy See awarded in the name of the Pope as a recognition of merit to pilgrims to the Holy Land. [ 1 ] The decoration is worn on the left side of the chest.
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Way of St. James pilgrims with pilgrim's staffs (1568) The coat of Arms of Bever, Switzerland, featuring a pilgrim with a staff. A pilgrim's staff or palmer's staff is a walking stick used by Christian pilgrims during their pilgrimages, like the Way of St. James to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela in Spain or the Via Francigena to Rome.