In proportion, too, as the roads were neglected, the bridges of the earlier period got out of repair, fell in altogether, or were destroyed in the social disorders3 of the time. So the medi?val ages found the means of internal communication by land probably worse in Britain than in any other country in western Europe.
The State having failed to acquit4 itself of its obligations, the Church took up the work as a religious duty. The keeping of roads in repair came to be considered, as Jusserand says in "English Wayfaring5 Life in the Middle Ages," "a pious6 and meritorious7 work before God, of the same sort as visiting the sick and caring for the poor." Travellers were regarded as unfortunate people whose progress on their toilsome journeys it was Christian8 charity to assist. In these circumstances the religious houses of the period took over the task of making or repairing both roads and bridges, the faithful being encouraged to assist in the good work, either through gifts or with personal labour, by the concession9 to them of special indulgencies. Jusserand tells, for instance, how Richard de Kellawe, Bishop10 of Durham, 1311-1316, remitted11 part of the penalties on the sins of those who did good work in helping12 to make smooth the way of the wanderer, his episcopal register {12}containing frequent entries of 40-day indulgencies granted to contributors to the road-repair funds. There were benefactors13, also, who left to the monasteries14 lands and houses the proceeds of which were to be applied15 to the same public purpose; while in proportion as the monasteries thus increased the extent of their own landed possessions they became still more interested in the making and repairing of roads in the neighbourhoods in which the lands they had acquired were situated16.
In those days, in fact, people bequeathed not only land, or money, but even live stock for the repair of roads just as they left gifts for ecclesiastical purposes, or as people to-day make bequests17 to charitable institutions. The practice continued until, at least, the middle of the sixteenth century, since in the Sixth Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission there will be found (page 422) the last will and testament18, dated May 16, 1558, of John Davye, in which the testator says:—
"I leve and bequeithe a cowpell of oxson that I boughte the laste yere to the building of Moulde Church where I dwell; And I bequieth a bullocke that I boughte of the Royde unto the mendynge of the hye waie betwixte my howse and the Molld."
Bequests of money or lands were also made for the construction or the maintenance of bridges, or for the freeing of bridges from toll19 so that the poor could cross without payment; and one of the duties of the bishops20, when making their visitations, was to enquire21 whether or not the funds thus left were being applied to the purposes the donors22 intended.
On the Continent of Europe a religious order was founded, in the twelfth century, for the building of bridges. It spread over several countries and built some notable bridges—such, for instance, as that over the Rhone at Avignon; though there is no trace, Jusserand tells us, of these Bridge Friars having extended their operations to this country. It was, however, from them that laymen23 learned the art of bridge-building, and in Britain, as in Continental24 countries, bridges came to be considered as pious works, to be put under the special charge of a patron saint. To this end it was customary to build a chapel25 alongside an important bridge—as in the case of the old London Bridge that replaced the original wooden structure by Peter Colechurch, "priest and chaplain," itself {13}having had a chapel dedicated26 to Saint Thomas of Canterbury. Sovereigns or great landowners gave generous gifts for the endowment of such bridges. Although, too, there was no special order of bridge-building friars in England, guilds28 and lay brotherhoods29, animated30 by the religious spirit, were formed in the reign27 of Richard II. (1377-1399) for the repair of roads and bridges, just as, in turn, the ordinary trading guilds which were the forerunners31 of the corporate32 bodies set up in towns undertook to "maintain and keep in good reparacion" bridges which had become "ruinous," and, also, to attend to the "foul33 and dangerous highways, the charge whereof the town was not able to maintain."[2]
It became customary, also, for hermits34 to take up their habitation in cells along the main thoroughfares, and to occupy themselves with looking after the roads, trusting to the alms of passers-by for a little worldly recompense. In one instance, at least, a hermit35 was allowed to put up a toll-bar—the first on record in this country—and collect compulsory36 payments from persons using the roads he mended. This was in 1364, when Edward III. made a decree authorising "our well-beloved William Phelippe the hermit" to set up a toll-bar on the lower slope of Highgate Hill, on the north side of London, and levy37 tolls38 for the repair of the "Hollow Way" from "our people passing between Heghgate and Smethfelde."
Jusserand sums up the situation at this period by saying that "The roads in England would have been entirely39 impassable ... if the nobility and the clergy40, that is to say, the whole of the landed proprietors41, had not had an immediate42 and daily interest in possessing passable roads."
There came, however, a period of decline in religious fervour. The laity43 grew less disposed to give or to bequeath money, {14}land or cattle for road-repair purposes, however much the offer of indulgences in return therefor might be increased from days to months or even to years; and the clergy, in turn, became more remiss44 in acquitting45 themselves of the obligations they had assumed as road-repairers. They accepted the benefactions, and they granted the indulgences; but they showed increasing laxity in carrying out their responsibilities. The roadside hermits, also, gathered in so much in the way of contributions, voluntary or compulsory, from passers-by that they ate and drank more than hermits ought to do, grew fat and lazy, and too often left the roads to look after themselves.
What, therefore, with neglected roads and dilapidated bridges, the general conditions of travel went from bad to worse. Church Councils, says Denton, were summoned and adjourned46 because bishops feared to encounter the danger of travelling along such roads. Oratories47 were licensed48 in private houses, and chapels49 of ease were built, because roads were so bad, especially in winter, that the people could not get to their parish churches. The charter, 47 Edward III., 1373, by which the city of Bristol was constituted a county, states that this was done in order to save the burgesses from travelling to Gloucester and Ilchester, "distant thirty miles of road, deep, especially in winter time, and dangerous to passengers." On many different occasions, too, the members of the House of Commons, assembled for a new session, could transact50 no business because the Peers had been detained by the state of the roads and the difficulty of travelling, and Parliament was, therefore, adjourned.
The general conditions grew still worse with the impoverishment51 of the monasteries by which the main part of the work had—however negligently—been done since the end of the Roman régime. As will be shown later on, various statutes52 had gradually imposed more and more the care of the roads on the laity, and it was upon them that the full responsibility fell with the eventual53 dissolution, first of the lesser54, and next of the greater, monasteries by Henry VIII.
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1
prosaic
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| adj.单调的，无趣的 | |
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2
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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3
disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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4
acquit
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| vt.宣判无罪；(oneself)使(自己)表现出 | |
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5
wayfaring
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| adj.旅行的n.徒步旅行 | |
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6
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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7
meritorious
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| adj.值得赞赏的 | |
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8
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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9
concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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10
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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11
remitted
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| v.免除（债务），宽恕( remit的过去式和过去分词 )；使某事缓和；寄回，传送 | |
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12
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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13
benefactors
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| n.捐助者，施主( benefactor的名词复数 )；恩人 | |
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14
monasteries
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| 修道院( monastery的名词复数 ) | |
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15
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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16
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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17
bequests
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| n.遗赠( bequest的名词复数 )；遗产，遗赠物 | |
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18
testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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19
toll
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| n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟) | |
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20
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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21
enquire
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| v.打听，询问；调查，查问 | |
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22
donors
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| n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者 | |
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23
laymen
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| 门外汉，外行人( layman的名词复数 )； 普通教徒（有别于神职人员） | |
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24
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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27
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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28
guilds
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| 行会，同业公会，协会( guild的名词复数 ) | |
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29
brotherhoods
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| 兄弟关系( brotherhood的名词复数 )； （总称）同行； （宗教性的）兄弟会； 同业公会 | |
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30
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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31
forerunners
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| n.先驱( forerunner的名词复数 )；开路人；先兆；前兆 | |
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32
corporate
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| adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的 | |
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33
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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34
hermits
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| （尤指早期基督教的）隐居修道士，隐士，遁世者( hermit的名词复数 ) | |
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35
hermit
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| n.隐士，修道者；隐居 | |
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36
compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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37
levy
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| n.征收税或其他款项，征收额 | |
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38
tolls
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| （缓慢而有规律的）钟声( toll的名词复数 )； 通行费； 损耗； （战争、灾难等造成的）毁坏 | |
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39
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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40
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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41
proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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42
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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43
laity
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| n.俗人；门外汉 | |
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44
remiss
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| adj.不小心的，马虎 | |
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45
acquitting
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| 宣判…无罪( acquit的现在分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现 | |
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46
adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
oratories
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| n.演讲术( oratory的名词复数 )；（用长词或正式词语的）词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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48
licensed
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| adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词) | |
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49
chapels
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| n.小教堂， （医院、监狱等的）附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 )；（在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的）礼拜仪式 | |
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50
transact
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| v.处理；做交易；谈判 | |
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51
impoverishment
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| n.贫穷，穷困；贫化 | |
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52
statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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53
eventual
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| adj.最后的，结局的，最终的 | |
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54
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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