Transport and Travel in the Frankish Realms

People travelled through the Frankish realms on foot, with animals, in carts and by boat. Their journeys included moving supplies, visiting relatives or religious places, serving a ruler and joining a campaign. Distance was only one difficulty: travellers needed food, places to stop and workable crossings, while status affected what assistance they could obtain.

On this page5 sections

Roads, rivers and crossings

Older roads continued to connect some towns and regions, while local routes linked fields, households and estates. Rivers offered transport for goods and people but required landing places and suitable vessels. Dorestad’s position at a Rhine junction illustrates how a port could connect inland journeys with the North Sea.

Crossings could be especially important. Einhard describes Charlemagne’s wooden bridge at Mainz and reports that it burned in 813. A proposed stone replacement was not completed during the king’s life. The account distinguishes an existing installation, its loss and an unrealized plan.

Carts and the work of transport

Carts moved equipment and provisions that could not readily be carried by an individual. They required animals, drivers, maintenance and routes that could accommodate their load. De Villis’s lists of tools, boards and animals reveal some of the resources that royal properties were expected to maintain.

The summons to Abbot Fulrad gives a particularly concrete example. His military contingent was to bring carts with woodworking and digging tools, food for three months and clothing for a longer period. The journey began with preparations in the territory supplying the force, not merely with the departure of armed men.

Travellers with different resources

Royal and ecclesiastical envoys could seek audiences and receive support through institutional connections. Gregory describes travelling to Metz and then to Chalon on an embassy. His status as a bishop distinguished that journey from the movement of a person without official business or influential patrons.

Pilgrimage also depended on means and contacts. Einhard describes Charlemagne’s visits to Rome, accompanied by royal purposes and resources. These visits are evidence for one ruler’s travel, not a model of ordinary pilgrimage accommodation or cost.

Provision and conduct on the way

Travellers needed food for themselves and fodder for animals. A large company could place substantial demands on communities along its route. Charlemagne directed Fulrad’s men to take only specified resources and required leaders to remain with their followers to restrain misconduct.

This instruction shows concern about the effect of organized travel on residents. It does not establish that passing forces always obeyed or that every traveller had a right to demand supplies.

Terrain and danger

The rear-guard attack in the Pyrenees in 778 shows how a narrow route and a long baggage column could create vulnerability. Einhard attributes the attackers’ advantage partly to terrain and lighter equipment. Its military setting should not be treated as a typical experience of ordinary journeys.

Weather, damaged crossings, river conditions and political conflict could also alter plans. The practical history of travel lies in these preparations and constraints, while the organization of official messages and the commercial networks using routes belong to related subjects.

For the wider setting, see Daily Life in the Frankish Realms.