Knight-snail-goat ornament
Type:
Badges and mounts
Date:
Thirteenth to early fourteenth century
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
England
Medium:
Gilt-silver
Dimensions:
2.17 × 1.68 cm
Description:
This tiny gilt-silver object found in England in 2020 has a short rivet on the reverse, suggesting that it decorated a hat or other garment. It depicts a knight in armor, his hands pressed together as if in prayer, emerging from a snail shell perched on a kneeling goat. The curious iconography probably symbolizes cowardly behavior by knights, given that knights fighting snails in the margins of some late medieval manuscripts seem to indicate sluggishness or cowardice. Whereas many medieval badges had religious subjects, others were secular and even sexual (penises and vulvas are not uncommon). The style and parodic subject of this object suggest a date in the thirteenth or early fourteenth century.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
8,
9
Repository and Online Resources:
• See the record of this object, ID no. SWYOR-4E467E, on the Portable Antiquities Scheme website.
Image Credits:
© West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service, provided courtesy of the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, ID no. SWYOR-4E467E
