Our Lady Undercroft

Pilgrim badge from the shrine of Our Lady Undercroft at Canterbury Cathedral. The Virgin Mary is shown wearing a crown and sitting on a throne, holding a sceptre topped by a fleur-de-lys in her right hand. The infant Jesus Christ stands on her left knee and reaches across with his right hand to touch the brooch at the neck of the Virgin’s cloak. The badge is framed by an architectural canopy. In niches on either side are the figures of a king (on the left) and an archbishop (on the right). This badge is so large that it has two pins on the back to secure it. It also had six clips at the edge (four can still be seen) which would have held a backing to the badge.

Canterbury Cathedral became a popular pilgrimage destination after Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, had been murdered there by four knights of King Henry II on 29 December 1170. People were outraged at the murder of an archbishop on holy ground and Becket was made a saint. He became one of the patron saints of London. Many Londoners travelled to Canterbury to pray at the shrines there and bought badges as souvenirs of their pilgrimage.