Badge (etymology unknown, either from Lat. bajulo, 'I carry,' or connected with badger), a figure or emblem used, with or without a motto, as the distinctive cognisance of a family. Family badges, which originated in the infancy of heraldry, and continued in favour down to the 15th century or later, were sometimes taken from a bearing in the family coat, and sometimes bore allusion to the owner's name, estate, or office. While the banner, shield, and jupon of the knight displayed his armorial coat, and the crest surmounted his helmet, the badge glittered on his standard and penoncelle, and on the sleeve, breast, or back of his retainer, and occasionally helped to decorate his armorial seal. Devices, otherwise analogous to badges, differed from them as belonging to individuals, not families. The fleur-de-lis, as the badge of the kings of France, dates as far back as the reign of Louis VII. (1137-1180). Of the English royal badges, which have varied much, a few may be enumerated. A star between the horns of a crescent appears on the great seals of Richard I., John, and Henry III., and a castle (allusive to his descent from the house of Castile) on that of Edward II. An ostrich feather was used by Edward III.; and the same cognisance was borne argent by the Black Prince, and ermine by John of Gaunt. None of the sovereigns of the house of Plantagenet were in the habit of using the planta genista, commonly known as the badge of that house; but a livery collar of broom pods with a white hart pendant appears in the portrait of Richard II. at Wilton. Of the famous rival cognisances of the houses of York and Lancaster, the red rose was first adopted by Henry IV. and the white by Edward IV. The Tudor sovereigns used the red and white roses variously united, per pale, quarterly, and one within the other. The thistle, as the badge of Scotland, seems to have been first used by James III.; and on the union of the crowns, the rose and thistle were used dimidiated and crowned. The royal badges of the United Kingdom as now in use (settled by sign-manual in 1801) are—a white rose within a red, crowned, for England; a thistle proper, crowned, for Scotland; a harp or, stringed argent, and a trefoil vert, for Ireland; and, on a mount vert, a dragon passant, wings expanded, and endorsed gules, for Wales. Among the best known badges of the English nobility are the crescent of the Percies, the buckle of the Pelhams, the bear and ragged staff of the Earls of Warwick, and certain intertwined cords known as knots, the forms of which have sometimes been suggested by the initial letter of the name or title of the bearer. In the Wake and
It has been the usage of the Highland clans to appropriate certain plants, chiefly native, as their badges, common heath being the badge of the Macdonalds, bell-heather of the Macdougals, holly of the Mackenzies and Macleans, box of the Macintoshes and Macphersons, fern of the Clisholms, fir clubmoss or wild myrtle of the Campbells, &c.
The term badge is also applied to the distinctive decoration of an order of knighthood. Badges of this description are noticed in the separate articles relating to the different knightly orders; those of baronets in the article BARONET.
Marks of distinction used in party warfare, and devices adopted by clubs or associations, are sometimes in loose popular language called badges. Cockades are the subject of a separate article. See also DEVICE, CREST, HERALDRY.