Mobility in the Middle Ages: Roman Roads, Santiago De Compostela, Mont-Saint-Michel, And Musical Memory
Synopsis
Ancient Roman road networks underwent a functional transformation in Medieval Europe following the empire’s collapse. They formed the infrastructure for cultural, academic, and religious mobility. These roads were shared by pilgrims, students, clerics, and merchants. Individuals travelling for diverse reasons shared routes for extended periods. This shared spatiality enabled the circulation of cultures, modes of thought, and music throughout Europe. Focusing on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela and the example of Mont-Saint-Michel, this study examines musical transmission within the context of road-based mobility during the Middle Ages. It discusses the role of ‘enforced slowness’ in deepening musical memory and explores how music was transported across these routes as both prayer and theoretical science within the framework of the quadrivium (music as one of the mathematical arts). The study argues that medieval intellectual culture was shaped through the interaction
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