Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 97 (2004), pp. 293-299 
Notes and Shorter Contributions 
A Medieval Pilgrim Badge from West Knoyle 
by Nick Griffiths 
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales paint a vivid picture of a 
group of pilgrims making a leisurely pilgrimage to 
England’s premier shrine, that of St Thomas 
Becket. The leisure, and holiday atmosphere, of the 
group are explained by their largely middle- or upper 
class status; they were pilgrims with money and time 
to spare. What of labourers and farm-hands, and the 
like, who might have little money and only a day or 
two to spare, yet who felt the same desire to visit a 
shrine, seek intercession or salvation, and perhaps 
return with a metal badge, as both souvenir of the 
trip, and amulet? (Spencer 1990, 7f.) 
Local shrines, which might be reached on foot 
in a day or two, fulfilled the needs of the less well- 
off; in Wiltshire, three such were to be found in 
Salisbury and its vicinity. These were the shrines of 
Our Lady of Salisbury, and St Osmund, both centred 
on the Cathedral, and St Edith at Wilton Abbey. 
Badges of all three cults have been recognised 
and published, most notably the Salisbury Museum 
collection (Spencer 1990). Several badges relating 
to St Osmund have been found in London, as well 
as those found in Salisbury, perhaps reflecting the 
great interest prompted by his canonisation in 1457 
- (Spencer 1990, 13f., cat. Nos. 1-7). Those of Our 
Lady of Salisbury (Spencer 1990, 33f., cat. Nos. 58- 
63) are found almost exclusively at Salisbury, a 
single example being known from Canterbury. The 
popularity of Our Lady may have been purely local. 
St Edith of Wilton, daughter of King Edgar, 
died in 984, and miracles were soon reported at her 
tomb. Her cult was well established before the 
Conquest, and Edith was one of the few English 
saints to be acknowledged by the Norman church 
(Darbyshire 2003; Stroud 1984). 
Spencer identified a badge showing the upper 
part of the figure of a nun, holding a book, as 
appropriate to St Edith (Spencer 1990, 48, cat. no. 
99 and fig. 132 : reproduced here as Figure la.) A 
similar head and shoulders, in a circular knobbed 
Fig. la Pilgrim badge of St Edith from Salisbury 
frame, found at Salisbury, was attributed to ‘Mother 
Julian’ of Norwich (Mitchiner, 1986, 178), but is 
much more likely to be another badge from St. 
Edith’s shrine (Spencer, 1990, 48). 
A more complete badge, again showing a nun 
holding a book and also a crozier, found at 
Westbury, is now in the Wiltshire Heritage 
Museum (Figure 1b); Brian Spencer suggested that 
this too could be attributed to St. Edith’s shrine. 
The crozier perhaps alludes to the story of her 
refusal to become Abbess of one of her father’s royal 
c/o WANHS, The Museum, 41 Long Street, Devizes SN10 1NS 
