Charles the Bold’s Archer Bodyguard’s Badge

Description

Secular pewter badge: Livery of Archer Bodyguards of Charles the Bold

Time period: late 15th Century
Origin: Netherlands
Materials: Pewter
Product Dimensions:Width x Height; 16 x 34mm

Further details:

Charles the Bold of Burgundy employed an elite bodyguard of archers, some of them English, who accompanied him everywhere. This badge, depicting two crossed arrows and a fire-striker seems to have been used as an identifying badge by them during the 1470’s. The archers themselves would have worn expensive embroidered versions, but pewter examples, like this one, may have been worn by family and followers. The original from which this badge is copied was found in the Netherlands.