Ragged Staff Brooch

The ragged staff device was used by the Earls of Warwick, and the badge was worn by their men throughout the fifteenth century. The original after which this was copied is one of three badges found on the Bankside site in London. All three have a cross in the middle; this may tie them specifically to Richard Beauchamp, the thirteenth earl, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1408-1410. If the badge commemorates that journey, it is firmly dated to the very early 15th century. If it was distributed by Richard Neville, the sixteenth earl, it belongs to the second half of the century, and the Wars of the Roses. In that case, whether it is Yorkist or Lancastrian depends when “Warwick the Kingmaker” gave the badges out, since he featured on both side of the dynastic conflict.