became a pious work on the grounds that it saved lives in times of flood, and the
enthusiasm for construction meant that by the early 14th century France had been
provided with an impressive network of bridges. Some of them were built on difficult
sites, but construction and maintenance were hampered by a shortage of money and of
workers, and travelers were glad to be informed whether such and such a bridge were
passable at any given time.
During the Middle Ages, the orientation of the network of roads changed. In Roman
times, it had centered on Lyon, but as the Capetians gradually expanded their power all
the roads in France came to lead to Paris. Only one system of rivers led to the capital, and
the direction of the routes may have had something to do with the concentration of
travelers on land routes. Evidence shows that only if the entire journey were between
points on the same river, as on the Loire or downstream on the Rhône between Lyon and
Avignon, were travelers tempted to take a boat. It was not quicker, and if one had already
hired one’s horses it was also more expensive to pay for river travel.
Methods of travel likewise shifted between ancient and medieval times. In late
antiquity, the favorite and most prestigious conveyance was the carriage. Beginning in
the 5th century, however, more and more people rode on horseback, and by 700 mentions
of carriages are rare. By the 9th century, passenger vehicles as such had disappeared, and
for a king or warrior to ride in any type of vehicle was considered a disgrace. Only illness
or old age excused his failure to mount his steed. For nobles and warriors, this situation
continued at least into the late 15th century, when the king made ceremonial entries
riding in a carriage. On the other hand, by 1200 it was not only permitted but required
that queens and duchesses should each own two gorgeously decorated chariots, one for
their own and one for their ladies’ use on ceremonial occasions, such as entries into their
towns. Though passenger vehicles disappeared in the Carolingian period, carts and
wagons continued in use over long distances by the tenants of the great abbeys to carry
produce, like wine and lumber, either to the convent or to fairs.
The Middle Ages saw technological improvements in travel and transportation. The
shaft cart, little used in antiquity, became common. The stirrup was introduced from the
East early in the medieval period, and later we find nailed-on horseshoes, the harnessing
of horses in tandem, and an improved horse collar. Suspended carriages reached France
in the 14th century, when artists at last take sufficient interest in depicting the
undercarriage of chariots so that it is possible to prove that the pivoted front axle was in
common use. (It was known in Hallstatt times and during the Roman Empire, but how
widely it was employed is difficult to determine before the 14th century.)
Despite these advances in traction, riding on horseback remained popular and seems to
have been preferred to riding in vehicles. Improvements were made in horse breeding.
Varieties of horses were bred for specialized purposes, like the destrier, strong enough to
carry a knight in full plate armor, and the palfrey, a saddle horse with a comfortable,
ambling gait. Both types were luxuries, and many all-purpose horses continued in use as
mounts and as plow and draft horses. Throughout the Middle Ages, it was common for
pilgrims to walk, for they were believed to acquire additional merit if they performed
their pious journeys on foot and especially barefoot. Poor folk and servants were
frequently pedestrians. In southern France, in the 14th and 15th centuries, if an official
hired a horse to make a journey to transact town business, he was accompanied by a
groom on foot to care for the animal. There were foot messengers but more mounted
The Encyclopedia 1749