St Leger

Pilgrim badge from the shrine of St Leger (also known as Leodegar, Leodegarius or Lutgar) at Autun in France. St Leger had been Bishop of Autun and advisor to King Childric II in the 7th century before the king was murdered. In 676 St Leger was captured during the siege of Autun. His captors blinded him by drilling into his eyes with an auger and cut out his tongue. He was banished to a monastery in Fécamp and was later beheaded after being wrongly accused of involvement in the king’s murder. This thin, copper alloy, lozenge-shaped badge has been stamped with a design depicting St Leger within a circular frame. The saint is shown wearing a bishop’s vestments and mitre, and holding a crosier across his body in his left hand. In his right hand he holds an auger or drill, which is a reference to his blinding. This flat badge would have been sewn onto a pilgrim’s clothes or hat, or stitched onto the pages of a prayer book.