Four Days Before They Reached Stegeborg, They Came To A Town Called
Wadstena, In Which St Bridget Was Born, And Where She Had Founded A
Nunnery, Together With Chaplains Of The Same Order.
At this place the
northern kings and princes have built a most magnificent church covered
with copper, in which they counted sixty-two altars.
The nuns and chaplains
received the strangers with great kindness; and, after resting two days,
they set out to wait on the chevalier Giovanne Franco, who relieved them in
a manner that did honour to his generosity, and did every thing in his
power to comfort them in their distressed situation. A fortnight after
their arrival at his residence, a plenary indulgence was given at the
church of St Bridget, in Wadstena, to which people from Denmark, Norway,
and Sweden, and even from Germany, Holland, and Scotland, came to partake;
some of whom came from a distance of more than 600 miles. They went to the
indulgence at Wadstena along with Giovanne Franco, in order to inquire if
there were any ships bound for Germany or England, there being always a
great concourse of people on such occasions. The chevalier was five days on
the road, and had more than 100 horses in his train. At Wadstena they took
leave of their beneficent countryman, who furnished them amply with money
and clothes for their journey, and ordered his son Matthew, a very amiable
young man, to accompany them eight days journey on their way to Lodese, on
the river Gotha; and where he lodged them in his own house for some time,
till the ship in which they were to embark was ready to sail The chevalier
Franco lent them his own horses all the way from his castle of Stegeborg;
and, as Quirini was ill of a fever, he mounted him on a horse which had a
wonderfully easy pace.
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