A brief history of the French road network
Decline and Rebirth
The early Middle Ages saw much change to life and governance as a whole. Gaul was invaded so many times, each incursion seeing further plundering and destruction of the civilisation that lay before them, including the road network. It led to Gaul ceasing to exist, and the foundation of what would eventually become France.
Roman roads needed great care and maintenance, and without the continued funding from Rome, they fell into great disrepair. Many were simply abandoned - ditches were not maintained, drainage broken and clogged; bridges, being mostly made of wood, were no longer safe to use and began to deteriorate. This abandoment often led to roads disappearing entirely.
However, some of the former Roman routes did indeed survive and proved useful in times of military activity. Many battles during the 500-800 AD period took place close to these axes. Such that their usefulness was realised, some dynasties showed interest in maintaining them. One ruler, Brunehaut, went as far as developing a network of arrow-straight roads across the region traditionally known as Belgian Gaul.
The latter part of this period would see this expand further, with Charlemagne's new expansive empire seeing a new centralised government take effect. One of his priorities was to improve the experience of the traveller, and this involved the quality of infrastructure. To do this involved the reintroduction of corvée - the forced use of the local populus to carry out this jobs without pay, and tolls were made illegal.
Such was the level of non-observance of this mandate was that the order had to be re-issued, with those ignoring it again being brought to account. Yet many got away with it, such was the expanse of the Frankish empire - something that continued with Charlemange's successors over the next several decases as their infuluence of power was much less effective.
By the 11th century, power had demished and once again regional rule began to take hold through the control of feudal lords. A semi-permanent state of conflict between rulers, lawlessness led to commerce shrinking, and roads once again were simply abandoned.
Only the Champagne Fairs of northern France and the development of trade from the East and England led to certain roads gaining any importance. However as these Fairs were never in one fixed location, roads would be important for one period before new ones were formed for the next. The only fixed routes would be those used for religious pilgrimages to the south and into Spain.
The only serious interest in road matters during this period was within Paris; being the seat of power meant the king had more influence, and as such issued a mandate to the local representitive for the full reconstruction of every road, bridge and even passageway within the city and its suburbs - even neighbouring towns were asked to financially contribute if it was deemed that they would see any economic benefit from these repairs.
For the rest of France, it would still be another couple centuries until any substantial improvements would be seen in the rest of France. Only those roads and crossings that were privately operated, with a toll levied for their use, would see any form of substantive maintenance.
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