Pilgrim Badge Pod

A pilgrim badge is a badge typically made of base metal such as pewter or another lead alloy which was worn in the medieval period by Roman Catholic pilgrims. They travelled to sites of Christian pilgrimage, such as in England Canterbury Cathedral, the site of the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket. Their use flourished in the Middle Ages in Europe, particularly in the 14th and 15th centuries, but declined after the Protestant Reformation of the mid-16th century. Other sorts of badges were also worn by pilgrims, most famously the scallop shell associated with pilgrimages along the Way of St James to the shrine of Saint James at Santiago de Compostela in modern Spain