Down the Rabbit Hole
I enjoy fleshing out my persona within the SCA. It is an ongoing process that I add to and edit as time goes on. One aspect is where my persona is from and where I may have traveled. His Excellency Ulric von Der Insel has posed the question:
Where did your — persona — always want to go? To see what?
This got my brain working. I’ve ironed out my home town, general story, and local trading towns. This particular question though is making me think and go a bit deeper into my persona. Where would I have traveled during my lifetime? Where would I have wanted to go or visit? What was the reality of living where I say I did?
I think in order to get a better, clearer answer I’ll have to dig a bit. Certainly religion played a large part in the life of people and pilgrimages were a common reason for travel. I’ll be doing a bit of research to find my answer and I’ll be addressing the common factors and likely locations in this post and continue in a second post, if needed.
My France
This map is the clearest one I could find of France during my persona’s time period. I’m doing a bit of overlaying with google maps to orient myself and incorporate rivers into my picture. Some rivers are marked on the map above but I have a hard time seeing them.
Home
Map of France c.1035 with home (green), local towns (blue), nearest major city (red), and potential points of interest (yellow).1
According to the story that I’ve fabricated I was born and lived a portion of my life in a town called Croix Mare (green dot on the map above) approximately 28.3km or 17.5 miles (following modern day roads) north west of Rouen.2
Jumièges Abbey, as painted by John Sell Cotman in 18186
Croix Mare (also referred to as Croixmare) is first mentioned sometime in the 7th century, as claimed by the town history site. It was well enough established to be mentioned in the history of Jumièges Abbey, a Benedictine monastery, some 24km (15 miles) away. I haven’t found the primary source that this is referring to but I haven’t given up.3
It wouldn’t be surprising for the town to be mentioned by the abbey accounts as the main sources of income were their crops, livestock, and (more importantly) weaving. In the registers a large amount of people in the town recorded their livelihoods as weavers. The abbey in it’s heyday had over a thousand monks that needed robes. That alone would keep a number of weavers busy throughout the year.
Travel
There are a few opinions about travel times during the middle ages. I have one book on hand that mentions travel times in the 13th century:
Some estimate of the average distance covered in a day by [a thirteenth-century English] household can be gained from the countess of Leicester’s account in February; when the household was at Wallingford, it moved on to Odiham by way of Reading, spending one night there. The journey on each of these days was just over fifteen miles, the normal pace of such a move in midwinter. But in June, when the countess had to hurry across country with her household to the greater safety of Dover castle, she consistently traveled thirty miles a day. This may reasonably be considered as fast as such a large company could move, and the sustained rate of speed hints at the urgency that drove them on.
All thirteenth-century travelers did not of course belong to large retinues, and small groups with good horses traveled much faster. The merchant could do between thirty-five and forty miles a day, traveling only in daylight hours, if his merchandise was light and easily carried on one horse. Freight services, such as commonly transported wine in England or traveled the alpine passes with goods from Italy for the fairs of Champagne, were among the slowest of all traffic. Fastest of all was the messenger, for he also traveled at night and often requisitioned extra horses along his route. He might cover as much as fifty-five to sixty miles a day. (pp. 156-7)5
Many opinions tend to hover around these types of figures. Taking that into account there are a few towns that would have been within a day’s reach. Jumièges Abby was about 15 miles away but there were a few other towns that were a bit closer that are worth mentioning.
Local Towns
La Maison des Templiers, 12th et 13th centuries – Photo by Urban
The town of Caudebec-en-Caux (blue dot, west of the green one) situated on the Seine River a little over 16km (approx. 10 miles) away was, and still is, an active trading town. The town was also home to Templar knights in the 12th and 13th Centuries. Combined with it’s perfect location on the river, it would be the ideal places to get a barge or boat to points further south, such as Paris.
The town of Ivetot or Ivethot (modern day Yvetot, just north of Caudebec-en-Caux) is found only about 9km (6 miles) west and was another well established town during my period. Given the proximity of this particular town, I believe that it makes it highly likely that my persona would know it well and perhaps even travel there on a regular basis.
River Travel
I think its also worth mentioning the proximity of a smaller navigable river located closer than the mighty Seine. The river Saffimbec (bis a little under 4km or 2.3 miles east, near Limséy. While on the narrow side, I believe that it may have been possible for ta horse drawn barge to navigate it quite easily. The Saffimbec is a tributary of the river Austreberthe and joins it in the town of Pavilly. That, in turn, joins the river Seine in the town of Duclair. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that this would be a very serviceable trade route to Paris.
Paris over land is 160km or nearly 100 miles on today’s roads. Let’s say the roads were clear and the wagon not too heavy. According to the a fore mentioned accounts it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that you might cover 20 miles or 32km in a day. A trip to Paris from Croixmare would take you 4 days. I’m fairly certain that traveling by boat or barge down river would get you there in half the time. Even if the Saffimbec was not navigable with Caudbec-en-Caux only about a half day’s ride and access to the Seine River would still cut you travel time to Paris and points south in half.
Break Time
This post is already long and there’s still a good page and a half of notes to go. That being said, I’m not going to try to post it all here. That would be silly. Instead I’m going to be satisfied that I have established viable local towns and routes to major destinations. I’ll post again next week about places my persona would want to travel to beyond the limit of a day’s ride in a wagon.
I’m really looking forward to this. This post has been a great deal of fun and a great trip down a rabbit hole heretofore unexplored. Here’s to the next adventure!
1“Medieval France Maps Home Page.” www.pitt.edu. April 18, 2019. pitt.edu, Web. April 18, 2019. Site
2“Rouen, France to 76190 Croix-Mare, France – Google Maps.” Google Maps. April 18, 2019. Google, Web. April 18, 2019. Google Map
3“Histoire de Croixmare – Croix mare.”http://www.croixmare.fr/. April 18, 2019. Croix Mare, Web. April 18, 2019. Site
4Cyprian Alston. (2019) “Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) – Abbey of Jumièges”. Retrieved April 18, 2019, from Catholic Encyclopedia
5“Mistress, Maids and Men: Baronial Life in the Thirteenth Century.” Google Books. April 18, 2019. Phoenix, Web. April 18, 2019. Site.
6“Jumièges Abbey.” John Sell Cotman. 1818. Wikipedia, Web. April 19, 2019. Site
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