Pilgrim Reindeer in Pisa, 1348 a free multimedia novel by Thomas A. DuBois, University of Wisconsin-Madison

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 1. Part I Setting Out 15. Royal Audiences [August 31, 1347]

These few chapters were fun to plan in that Bávlos begins now to interact more with historical figures. Bishop Hemming was the first, but here he meets with Catharina, Birgitta, Magnus, and Blanche. Each of these characters was colorful in real life, and putting them together in a single plot was great fun. The humor in the portrayals of Blanche, Magnus, and Bengt seems particularly modern to me, but I hope I captured some nuances of what these people may have been like in real life. And I enjoyed imagining them musing about the lands in the far north that they believe they own, even though they know nothing about Bávlos or his culture. Magnus imagines himself, of course, as a Santa Claus figure, arriving in town in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, which in this novel we are reminded would be geldings, not bulls. Take that, Dasher.