How far, how fast?

[writemedieval]

One of the problems that writers often encounter when they set their stories in pre-industrial worlds is the question of how long it takes to travel from place to place. If you had to ride on horseback, how long would it take you to cross an entire kingdom or a continent? Fortunately for writers, some medieval historians have wondered about that

Comments

[saetter]

What a wonderful blog! I've only dug into a few entries, but I plan on reading each one thoroughly.

On topic, I have a book by Norbert Ohler on this subject that is a fasinating read: The Medieval Traveller. I'm going to look into your cited texts as well.

Yes, I should've majored in history. I read these types of books for fun. :) And research for my novels...

[writemedieval]

Thanks, and you're welcome!

Also, thank you for reminding me about Ohler's book. I had been meaning to look that one up as well.

[writemedieval]

As it turns out, Ohler has a short chapter on the speed of travel. It includes the following information in a table.

Traveller / Speed m.p.h. / Daily distance in miles

Traveller on foot ... 2-4 ... 15-25

Runner ... 6-7 ... 30-40

Horse galloping ... 12-15 ... --

'Average traveller' going slowly with followers and baggage (e.g. merchants) ... -- ... 20-30 miles a day

Able-bodied rider, in a hurry ... -- ... 30-40

Mounted couriers with change of horses ... -- ... 30-50

Papal express messengers, 14th c., on level ground ... 60 miles a day

The same, in the mountains ... 30 miles a day

Express messengers in France and Spain, 14th c. ... 95-125 miles a day.

Ohler doesn't cite his sources for this information, even in the original German edition of the book, but it looks about right. Even the last item is plausible, given that the messengers probably changed horses. Nowadays there are endurance riders who can complete 100 mile races in 10 to 12 hours, but they and their horses are at the top of their field.

[ex_l_clause]

In other words, speed depended on weather conditions, how much baggage you were carrying, and how much of a hurry you were in.

And how big your traveling party is, really. Even without baggage and camp paraphernalia, it takes hours to organize a thousand people for the day's travel, and more hours to reorganize them at the destination. Thus major armies consistently traveled slower (both on a per-day basis and in terms of the average over several days) than the numbers displayed here for individual travelers or (relatively) small groups.

[writemedieval]

Good point.