Welcome
The Religious and Profane Medieval Badges Foundation is a non-profit organisation, set up in 1992 by the collector H.J.E. van Beuningen.
Its purpose is to effect a breakthrough where unfamilarity with the phenomenon ‘badges’ is concerned, and to safeguard continuity of research into the subject.
The Foundation initiates research and publications and encourages exhibitions and conferences.
The collector H.J.E. van Beuningen is the source of inspiration and stimulator behind the research on and publication of the late medieval badge. The Collection Family Van Beuningen includes about 4000 documented badges and parts of badges. Thus it is the largest and most representative collection of medieval badges worldwide.
Badges are small lead-tin brooches dating from the late twelfth to the middle of the sixteenth century, that due to excavation or earthmoving projects can come to light after lying in the earth for hundreds of years. Many thousands of badges have been unearthed during the last thirty years through the use of metaldetectors. Their inexhaustible variety of representation and theme afford an unique insight into popular culture in the late Middle Ages.
 |  |