Short description
Medieval Pilgrim badge with monkey physician after a historical model from the late Middle Ages. Bronze, silver-plated or 925 silver. 4 x 3 cm.Productdetails...
Medieval pilgrim badge with Monkey Physician.
This Pilgrim's badge from the Middle Ages was made after a find from Salisbury / England and shows a so-called monkey doctor.There are several finds of a medieval pilgrim badges with the depiction of a monkey physician which is standing on a fish with a pestle and urinating into a mortar.
Pestles and mortars for crushing various ingredients were among the tools of the trade of medieval physicians and apothecaries, and urine examination was an integral part of medieval diagnostics.
The components depicted on the pilgrim badge, such as the mortar and pestle, are well-known medieval sexual symbols. The slippery fish on which the doctor stands also emphasizes the uncertain and shaky basis of his remedies.
Link to the original monkey physician badge...
The medieval pilgrim badge measures 4 x 3 cm.
There is a sturdy pin on the back to attach it to clothing.
You can buy this pilgrim badge in bronze or in real silver-plated.
Alternatively, also available in 925 sterling silver (Please note the delivery time).
Satirical pilgrim badges were made in the Middle Ages to show disapproval of the established order by parodying reality and making fun of hypocrisy and human behaviour in general. In this way, the image of the monkey doctor shows quite clearly what people in the 15th century thought about doctors and their customs!
The ape's ability to imitate led to the idea in the Middle Ages that it deliberately copied human actions in order to convince people that it was really one of them.
As a result, in the Middle Ages the monkey became the image of the impostor, the deceiver and the hypocrite and, in particular, the symbol of persons of low worth or lowly origin who arrogated to themselves a high position.
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