Announcing publication of Ann Marie Rasmussen’s Medieval Badges: Their Wearers and Their Worlds (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021). 

Medieval badges are small, brooch-like objects featuring an image or symbol that was widely familiar in the High and late Middle Ages (ca. 1150-1500 C.E.). Largely mass-produced from tin-lead alloys, over 20,000 medieval badges have survived into our times. In this book, I consider all medieval badges, whether they originated in religious or secular contexts, and highlight the different ways badges could confer meaning and identity on their wearers. Interdisciplinary in approach, and sumptuously illustrated with more than 115 color and black-and-white images, Medieval Badges introduces badges in all their variety and uses.  

"The book offers a thorough introduction to medieval badges that is both a solid work of scholarship and a joy to read."—Jennifer Lee, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis  

“Ann Marie Rasmussen offers a new approach to her subject, combining archaeological and literary sources in a way that has not been done before. Her understanding of the nature of medieval badges is profound and well argued.”— Michael Andersen, National Museum of Denmark