T avel Technology rganisation Ill Ill Medieval Europe Papers of the 'Medieval Europe Brugge 1997' Conference Volume 8 edited by Guy De Boe & Frans Verhaeghe LA.P. Rapporten 8 Zellik 1997 I.A.P. Rapporten uitgegeven door I edited by Prof Dr. Guy De Boe T avel echnology ganisation in Medieval Europe Papers of the 'Medieval Europe Brugge 1997' Conference Volume 8 edited by Guy De Boe & Frans Verhaeghe I.A.P. Rapporten 8 Zellik 1997 Een uitgave van het Published by the Instituut voor het Archeologisch Patrimonium Institute for the Archaeological Heritage W etenschappelijke instelling van de Scientific Institution of the Vlaamse Gemeenschap Flemish Community Departement Leefmilieu en Infrastructuur Department of the Environment and Infrastructure Administratie Ruimtelijke Ordening, Huisvesting Administration of Town Planning, Housing en Monumenten en Landschappen and Monuments and Landscapes Doomveld Industrie Asse 3 nr. 11, Bus 30 B -1731 Zellik- Asse Tel: (02) 463.13.33 (+ 32 2 463 13 33) Fax: (02) 463.19.51 (+ 32 2 463 19 51) DTP: Arpuco. Seer.: M. Lauwaert & S. Van de Voorde. ISSN 1372-0007 ISBN 90-75230-09-5 D/1997 /6024/8 08 TRAVEL, TECHNOLOGY AND 0RGANISATION - VERKEERSTECHNOLOGIE EN REIZEN TRANSPORTS ET VOYAGES - VERKEHRSTECHNOLOGIE UND REISEN was organized by Karel Vlierman werd georganiseerd door Hubert De Witte fut organisee par wurde veranstaltet von Preface The medieval world is often perceived as a fairly onwards but also of wrecks dating from Early Modem closed and static society where traffic and travelling times illustrate the point. The technological develop­ was fairly limited apart from such exceptions as the ments they reflect and which can often be identified Scandinavian regions in the Viking Age and the and documented only through archaeological evidence growing international trading systems which charac­ deserve attention not only because of their significance terize the development of the economic world parti­ for trade and exchange but also because they reveal cularly from the 12th century onwards. From the late new insights related to geography and certain natural Middle Ages onwards, the European world expanded laws in order to be able to sail close to the wind and to aggressively both outwardly and inwardly and travel­ improve the operational management of speed and ling, traffic and travelling technology and organization safety. became increasingly complex and sophisticated. In addition to the actual means of transport, there is To some extent, this picture is still valid but over much more to be taken into account, notable where the past few decades, the growing interest in travelling travelling infrastructure is concerned. Waterways were infrastructure and notably the rapid development of of course of paramount importance in the Middle Ages nautical archaeology has demonstrated that things may and Early Modem period as shown by the location of well have been more complex and diversified than has many if not most urban settlements but even more by been thought hitherto. Furthermore, the continuing the often complex harbour infrastructures and the work on historical, archaeological and iconographical significant investments that went with them. This too evidence has shown that after the significant technical has been the subject of extensive archaeological losses and a degree of regression of mobility which documentation over the past decades. Several inter­ occurred in parts of Europe with the collapse of the national conferences related to what has been called Roman Empire, the medieval period introduced quite 'waterfront archaeology' illustrate the point. Related a number of innovations. Most of these constituted structures such as dams, quays, shored river-banks, essential preconditions for the further development of piers, sluices and others cannot be neglected in this trade and exchange, the development of all kinds of respect. The same goes for roads and related structures infrastructural changes related to transport and the such as bridges, etc., not to forget the many buildings emergence of the complex late medieval and early such as inns and others. Finally, we should not forget modem exchange systems and expansion. the many aspects of daily life when travelling and the Among these innovations and/or improvements, material culture available when on the road or aboard some apparently humble ones which at first sight seem a ship. Ship's inventories are of great importance in related first and foremost to comfort but had far­ this respect, not in the least because of their nature of reaching consequences. The use of anatomically and 'time capsules', offering valuable associations bet­ technically more appropriate harnesses and traction ween objects and chronological information which is systems, the stirrup, the horseshoe and others are but a not always to come by in other circumstances. few of the main examples. The same is of course also All this indicates that travel technology and organ­ true in the case of transport over water, ships, and ization rightfully belong to the spheres of interest of shipping. medieval and later archaeology, not only because of The discovery and study of many ship remains par­ the many- and occasionally fairly sensational- finds ticularly for the period from the 8th to 9th century but also because of the facts that archaeology can offer 5 new insights as to the nature and broader meanings of ment and structures are absent from the present many changes and developments. In addition, any volume. The papers have been grouped under four approach of medieval and early modem societies has headings: to take into accOlmt the development of travel techno­ - Ships, shipping and transport logy and organization because these were interactive - Ships: ship-construction, analysis and provenan- with the ways these societies and even their physical cing setting changed. - Ships 's inventories Therefore - and following the example set by the - Harbours MEDIEVAL EUROPE 1992 conference in York - the organizers of the MEDIEVAL EUROPE BRUGGE 1997 The volume of course does not do justice to the (1st through 4th October 1997) deemed it necessary to many excavations and the wealth of other types of pay attention to the subject. A special section under the research work where travel technology and organi­ heading TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIZATION­ zation constitute basic issues or are of direct or indirect TRANSPORTS ET VOYAGES- VERKEHRSTECHNOLOGIE importance. Nor does it provide a complete overview UND REISEN - VERKEERSTECHNOLOGIE EN REIZEN of the results attained and knowledge acquired. was organized by Karel V1ierman (NL, Netherlands Nevertheless, the 14 papers included in the present Institute for Ship- and Underwater Archaeology & volume provide a good idea ofthe potential of at least R.O.B. (NISA), Dronten) and Hubert De Witte (B, part of this particular field of research, emphasizing at Municipal Service for Archaeology ofBrugge). the same time the complexity of the subject. They also The present volume offers a number ofpre-printed indicate that in many ways, the archaeological study of papers presented within the framework of this section. this subject cannot and should not be divorced from Unfortunately, a number of texts were not submitted in the many other aspects of the medieval and early time to allow their inclusion in the volume and a modem worlds. This is one of the basic philosophies number of speakers could not attend the conference. of the York 1992 and Brugge 1997 international con­ This explains why the general structure of the volume ferences on medieval and later archaeology and the does not correspond in all details to the structure of the many links with papers presented in other sections and above-mentioned section ofthe Brugge conference. In in other volumes of pre-printed papers emphasize the addition, as luck would have it, only contributions point. The sections and volumes related to urbanism related to ships, shipping, waterways and harbours (section 01), trade and exchange (section 03), material were sent in time, which means that other topics such culture (section 07) and others sufficiently illustrate as transport over land and related technologies, equip- the point. Frans Verhaeghe & Guy De Boe 6 Travel, Technology and Organization in Medieval Europe- Papers of the 'Medieval Europe Brugge 1997' Conference- Volume 08 Matthew Harpster Possible Results of the Muslim Invasion on Merchant Shipping and Shipbuilding Techniques in the Mediterranean " ... commerce should be reserved for humble and banking loans, and the reluctance of money­ people ... God had made him an emperor, not a lenders to risk funding seagoing activity (Lopez naukleros." 1978, 232; Lewis 1988, 57, 58). Commercial invest­ The Emperor Theophilus, 9th century AD. ment by the wealthy, who had the excess capital to fund risky trading ventures, was rare, and there is "I prefer dying on my camel's saddle, while little evidence to suggest that they ever participated traveling on business, to being killed in the in trade (Lopez 1978, 349; Lewis 1988, 57). The Holy War ... " wealthy classes were instead influenced in their The caliph 'Umar, 7th century AD. investments by deep seated prejudice against mer­ cantilism as a way of life, and by the Byzantine state The Byzantine empire, from its inception in the itself, which encouraged its landowners to preserve early 4th century to its final downfall in the 15th, the Empire's sanctity (Lewis 1988, 56). While there remained a center for trade and industry in the east­ may have been mercantile activity on the part of the em Mediterranean for approximately ten of those naukleroi, it was fairly noncompetitive, and it only eleven centuries of its life. Spices, perfumes, jewels, occurred within Byzantine territorial waters for the and cotton arrived from India and Arabia, furs and eventual profit of the government. Essentially, the slaves were exported from the Khazars and the Black naukleroi played an almost passive role in seafaring Sea area (Lewis 1988, 57), and gold from the mines trade, merely overseeing the transportation of goods in Egypt and Nubia was imported for the production from one place to another.