Medieval France
. In the Middle Ages, boats allowed the movement of relatively large amounts of goods and troops less expensively than did land transport, which
was unwieldy and costly. Although the crown lacked access to them in the early Capetian period, France had vast coastlines with many ports. Royal fleets, notably under the Carolingians and later Capetians, played an important role in military engagements, such as the hostilities before Bouvines or in the crusades of St. Louis.
For North Sea and Atlantic travel, medieval sailors used the cog, a clinker-built ship with single mast and square sail. In the Mediterranean, galleys and carvel-built round ships (nefs) having two masts with lateen sails were common, though there was some technology transfer between north and south in the high and late Middle Ages.
The cog with a lateen sail came to be used in both areas. Shipping via the Atlantic between the Mediterranean and North Sea ports was recorded in the late 13th century. Ship technology underwent considerable evolution in the 15th century, with the addition of masts on a vessel called a carrack, which carried upward of 1,500 tons. River transport involved smaller river barges, which plied the Seine, Loire, Somme, Rhône, Garonne, Oise, Saône, and lesser arteries. While more convenient than overland transport, rivers, like roads, were plagued by toll stations.
Kathryn L.Reyerson
[See also: MEDITERRANEAN TRADE; NAVAL POWER]
Mollat, Michel. Études d’histoire maritime. Turin: Bottega d’Erasme, 1977.
Pryor, John. Commerce, Shipping and Naval Warfare in the Medieval Mediterranean. London: Variorum Reprints, 1987.
Waghenaer, Lucas. The Mariners Mirrour. London: Charlewood, 1588. Repr. Amsterdam.
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