Skänninge

Skänninge was an important meeting place for the roadways through Östergötland, with an east-west and north-south orientation. The east-west route was the ancient king´s road through the region – the Royal Route. The north-south road was the Eastern Hollow Way, which linked the forested areas in the south to the mining district north of the Östergötland plain. There was a ford over the Skena river where these roads intersected, and a market place was established there, probably before the 11th century.

The hollow way, which passes the ruins of St. Ingrid´s convent, is part of the Royal Route. In 1637, a French traveller on the main road in Östergötland, tells us that he could not reach the rye ears on the road side from horse back, because the hollow way which he was following, was so deep.
Skänninge was an important town, as witnessed by the establishment of two Dominican convents there in the 13th century, one female and one male. Ingrid Elovsdotter (ängel) is said to have founded the Dominican convent for women, on premises belonging to her brother. Prior to the convent there was a very lavish secular building on the site, with a private church attached to it. Ingrid of Skänninge was never canonized, but beatified and enshrined. Her shrine became a pilgrim´s destination, like the shrine of St. Birgitta in Vadstena, her niece´s daughter. In the Protestant Reformation, Ingrid´s relics were “saved” in Vadstena, where they now are supposed to be preserved, after various adventures, in St. Birgitta´s shrine in the Abbey church.

St. Catherine´s leprosy asylum was founded in 1208 and is the oldest on the Swedish mainland. Its chapel ruins are very conspicuous from the main road. The lepers had to be kept apart from other people to prevent contagion. There were about 19 000 such asylums in Europe by the 1250´s.

Skänninge reached its high point in the era of Earl Birger and the immigration of German merchants. In 1251, it was stated that townsmen from Lübeck who wanted to move to Skänninge were to be regarded as Swedes. Swedish legislation was valid for everybody, irrespective of their origin.

From Skänninge, the Royal Route continued south of Lake Tåkern towards Alvastra – which is the oldest direction – or north of Lake Tåkern towards Vadstena, in the late Middle Ages.