Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation
5-2012
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
History
Committee Chair
Beattie, Blake R.
Author's Keywords
Late medieval; Badges; Pilgrimage; Erotic; Tokens; Black Death
Subject
Plague--History--Europe; Black Death--Social aspects--Europe; Erotica--Europe--History; Idols and images--Europe--History; Superstition--Europe--History
Abstract
This thesis examines a large corpus of enigmatic pilgrimage badges dating from roughly 1350-1500 CE. The badges were brought to light during archaeological excavations of water sites throughout the Schelde Estuary in the Netherlands, the riverbanks of the Seine in France, and the Thames in England. A small selection of the iconography of the corpus includes: ambulant vulvas on stilts, winged and crowned pudenda pilgrims complete with pilgrims' staffs and rosaries, couples having sex, and ambulant winged phalli. The few scholars who have attempted their study have labeled the badges as erotic, obscene, rude, naughty, and pornographic. The advanced study of the tokens provides a contrasting interpretation. Ultimately, this thesis argues that the bawdy badges functioned as apotropaic, or protective devices, meant to safeguard their owners from the threat of the evil eye, which during the worst outbreaks of the Bubonic Plague, was thought capable of transmitting the disease.
Recommended Citation
Gimbel, Lena Mackenzie 1976-, "Bawdy badges and the Black Death : late medieval apotropaic devices against the spread of the plague." (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 497.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/497
