Pilgrim badge depicting St George and the dragon

This medieval badge is made of lead. It shows St George killing the dragon, watched by the lady Una, whom he is rescuing.
Hundreds of pilgrim badges like this have been found in Britain. These personal objects vividly bring to life the faith of medieval Christians. Going on pilgrimage was an important part of Christian belief in medieval Europe. Pilgrims often travelled hundreds, even thousands, of miles to visit a saint's shrine. Some pilgrims just wished to be close to the remains of their favourite saint. Others hoped to find miraculous cures or were seeking forgiveness for sins. But pilgrimages could also be a form of holiday.
Pilgrim badges were mass-produced in moulds and were cheap so everyone could afford them. People wore them attached to clothes and hats or around the neck to show where they had been on pilgrimage. They thought the badges brought them good luck, or would cure illness. Most pilgrimage souvenirs are found in or near rivers, because people thought it brought good luck if they threw them into water.
The souvenirs usually show a saint, their symbol, or a scene from their life. This helps us to identify the shrine from which a badge came. This badge was probably a souvenir of a pilgrimage to Windsor. The Royal Chapel there contained relics of St George and was the centre for an important order of knights, the Order of the Garter. The cult of St George was particularly popular at the end of the fifteenth century.
St George was probably born in the late 3rd century AD in Cappadocia, Asia Minor, now in Turkey. He was a Christian soldier in the Roman army. He refused to make a sacrifice to the Roman gods, and was executed on the orders of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. He became venerated as a Christian saint and martyr. He was made patron saint of England in 1222.