05/12/2025
Sketchbook page dedicated to medieval pilgrim badges of a specifically...anatomical nature. Nobody seems quite sure what the original intention was behind these designs, whether devotional or satiral, but either way I love them. I mean, look at them!
I went for a long walk for my birthday earlier this year (40 days for 40 years) and a dear friend gifted me a pin version of one of these on my return which made me a very happy hiker indeed. I don't know that I could have been said to be on a "pilgrimage" - I certainly wasn't following a saint's road or heading for a holy place. Except, if the wilder places, the frog-bejewelled bogs, the rushing rains and rivers, birds and sky and valley and pass might be considered holy in a secular sort of way. Then maybe I was?
Meanwhile, for more Medieval whimsy do please check my story highlight "Advent '25" and if you can, buy a piece to support the Bristol Care Leavers Christmas Dinner. Thank you!