The Tönder lace-traders enjoy the privilege of offering their wares for sale all over Denmark without a license (concession), a privilege extended to no other industry.
The early perfection of Bridget herself in this employment, if we may credit the chronicle of the Abbess Margaretha, 1440-46, may be ascribed to a miraculous origin.
When, at the age of twelve, she was employed at her knitted lace-work, a fear came over her that she should not finish her work creditably to herself, and in her anxiety she raised her heart above. As her aunt came into the chamber she beheld an unknown maiden sitting opposite to her niece, and aiding her in her task; she vanished immediately, and when the aunt asked Bridget who had helped her she know nothing about it, and assured her relation she had seen no one.
All were astonished at the fineness and perfection of the work, and kept the lace as of miraculous origin.
Wadstena Past and Present (Förr och Nu).
The letter is dated March 20th, 1544.