A Study On The Development Of Traffic In England In The Middle And Late Middle Ages

The transport of England in 12 th to the end of the 15 th and the beginning of the 16 th century has made a great progress when we compared it with the Anglo-Saxon period'.Firstly,there has been a complete inland transportation system around London.The use of horses for hauling has became more and more common and houses replaced oxen.With the progress of bridge construction technology,a large number of bridges were built after the 12 th century,and,in particular,their ubiquity on major roads helped to form a dense road network.It has a long life,and the commercial and administrative functions of the roads became more obvious after the black death.The river and sea transport also have strong vitality suggest that the water navigation was capable of sustaining an economic needs of the society at that time,although the navigation of the inland water system has a certain decline in the late middle ages.Both Shipbuilding and navigation were improving.With the ship load increasing,the amount of goods can be shipped also increase.Increased navigation gave England the ability to venture far from the seas,and to move more widely.There were various reasons for the development of traffic in England in the mid and late middle ages.Medieval England is not a static world,but in a great change.Britain entered a new period of development,especially after the Norman conquest.The development of rural economy,town economy and domestic and foreign trade all put forward the desire to improve transportation.Political kingship was strengthened,the administrative center was fixed,the collection of pontage and pavage,which were all conducive to the development of traffic.Medieval England was a believer of Christianity,and pilgrims often traveled thousands of miles to perform the pilgrimage.This kind of religious pilgrimage objectively broke the regional closure.Moreover,people believed that bridge building was a pious and charitable act which was beneficial to the development and maintenance of transportation to some extent.However,the growth of individual power of peasants,especially the role of yeoman,was the fundamental reason for the development of transportation at that time.