Meet the Middle Ages
BackPetrus de Dacia
"My, sweet, I cannot say how much I suffer by living so far away from you" That is what the Dominican friar Peter de Dacia wrote to Christine of Stommeln towards the end of the 13th century.
Peter de Dacia was born somewhere on the island of Gotland in 1235. His father was a peasant. Peter was a thoughtful little boy, much drawn to the preaching friars who visited Gotland. At some point during the 1250 ´s, he went to the Dominican friary in Visby and asked if he could be a novice. He was taken in and educated at the friary. Peter turned out to be a promising novice, and was given the opportunity to study. In 1266, he was sent to the University of Köln (Cologne in English).
At the same time, in the village of Stommeln, not far from Köln, there lived a pious girl named Christine Bruso. Since the age of ten, she had had visions of Christ. A year or so after his arrival in Köln, Peter met Christine. He was deeply touched by her piety and, during his three years in Köln, he met her twelve times. In 1269, Peter left for Paris to finish his studies. During Peter ´s time in Paris, he and Christine started to write letters to one another. When Peter was on his way back to Sweden, he and Christine met again.
After Peter ´s return to Sweden, the correspondence with Christine continued. Peter started to write a book about her life. He wanted to have her canonised. He worked on the book, whilst at the same time teaching in friaries here and there in Sweden. In the winter of 1279-1280, Peter stayed in Kalmar. For some time, he also lived in Skänninge in Östergötland.
The book about Christine is considered to be the first really Swedish book. It describes the visions of Christine and other strange happenings. It also contains the correspondence with Peter. In the book, the wording of the letters has been changed to be more acceptable. For example, the sentence at the beginning of this text was changed into "It will not torment us to be physically separated since the one we love (God) is infinite."
Ever since the days of Peter and Christine, people have been asking themselves whether the two were lovers, or just united by their ardent faith. We will never know, but it is clear that the bond between them was very strong.
Peter died around 1290. Christine survived him by some 20 years.