Transportation, Communication, and the Movement of Peoples in the Frankish Kingdom, ca. 500–900 C.E

Abstract

As historians and archeologists continue to debate the volume of commercial traffic in Western Europe following the disappearance of Roman imperial rule, it has become increasingly clear that an infrastructure of transportation and communication continued to facilitate travel and the movement of people in this period. This is particularly apparent in the Frankish Kingdom between the sixth and tenth centuries. Relying to a substantial degree on technology and routes inherited from the Roman past, the Franks employed this communication infrastructure for purposes dictated by entirely contemporary concerns. Recent scholarship has demonstrated conclusively that commerce was far from the only motivation for travel in the Frankish Kingdom, and that the diversity of means and motives for communication is indicative of a mobile society.