(slideshow) Pilgrim badges, the souvenirs of medieval Christianity

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A pilgrim badge of St. Thomas Becket from Canterbury Cathedral

This pewter badge of the head of St. Thomas Becket is a souvenir of the reliquary that held his skull in Canterbury Cathedral. Dating back to the 14th century, it would have been worn by a pilgrim who had been on a Canterbury pilgrimage -- like the storytellers in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Becket, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in 1170 in a dispute with King Henry II over the rights of the Church and a shrine was created for him at Canterbury.

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