St Armel

Pilgrim badge of St Armel, probably from the shrine of St Armel at Westminster Abbey. This openwork badge has a lozenge-shaped beaded frame. Inside the frame is a kneeling knight wearing a chasuble (part of a priest’s clothing) and holding a cross-staff in his left hand. He leads a snake-like dragon by a leash in his right hand. St Armel was a Welsh saint who had travelled from Wales to Brittany in the 6th century. He pacified a dangerous dragon with sacred water and commanded it to throw itself from the top of a mountain into a river. St Armel’s popularity grew in England after Henry VII, who had Welsh ancestry, became King of England and Wales in 1485. Henry VII was particularly devoted to St Armel and included a statue of him in his funerary chapel in Westminster Abbey.