It has recently been suggested by Malcolm Jones that this remarkable badge may in fact be an early proto-protestant attack on the Catholic church. Although very un-Christian to modern minds, processions were held in which a crowned statue of the Virgin Mary surrounded by a rayed mandorla would be paraded through the streets on her feast days. This type of idolatry goddess worship was anathema to the emerging Protestants who themselves held similar mock processions in protest. This early salvo in the war that was to tear the Church apart may well have inspired the creator of this badge.

Original found in Brugge.

Late 14th – early 15th centuries.

40x48mm.