17. Misreported Fact: Medieval People Were Homebodies Who Never Traveled
Per conventional wisdom, people in the Middle Ages seldom ventured far from where they were born. That is true, especially when it came to peasants and those who lived in the countryside. However, that was not unique to the medieval era. The same could be said for most people throughout history, both before and after the Middle Ages, until relatively recently in the modern era. That should not be taken to mean that medieval people never traveled: many of them did.
For example, pilgrimages to holy sites were quite popular back then. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales revolves around pilgrims traveling from London to Saint Becket’s shrine at Canterbury Cathedral. That was a relatively short holy quest. Other pilgrims traveled to holy sites thousands of miles away from home. Traders also roamed far and wide to buy, sell, and transport high value goods. The long distance trade economy in the Middle Ages featured among other things amber and furs from the Baltic, spices from India transported through the Middle East, and silks from China.
