It is the High Middle Ages and I have been elected as a Bishop in England, what would be my travel arrangements and my journey be like when I go to collect my pallium in Rome?

Coincidentally I have been researching something similar! For France rather than for England, but England is just one more step along the way…

First of all, you’re right, a newly elected bishop would be expected to travel to Rome (or wherever the Pope was...usually but not necessarily always Rome) to receive a pallium from the Pope in person. It wasn’t just the physical pallium though - the pallium was the outward sign of the bishop’s authority, but the journey to Rome was also necessary so the Pope could confirm the election. That meant that every bishop would have visited Rome at least once, at least ideally, assuming they really did go to pick up their pallium/be confirmed.

Your journey depends on where in England you’re starting from, but crossing England to the Channel shouldn’t take too much time. Under extreme circumstances, Harold II marched an army all the way from the north to the south in about a week when William of Normandy invaded in 1066. At a more leisurely pace you could expect to take a couple of weeks to get to the Channel, or a couple of days if you were already in the south (say in London or Canterbury). Crossing the Channel, at least based on the example of William sailing the other way from Normandy, took only a day. So in good weather, you’d be on the continent in a couple of days, and you’d continue to Rome on foot.

Once on the continent, the best time to travel to Rome was in the summer. The trip would most likely cross the Alps, and the mountains were clear and easy to cross in the summer months. There were a few routes across the Alps, and the journey was so common that there were stations along the way to rest and refresh yourself and your horses. According to the info in Ohler, The Medieval Traveller, average travel times were:

- Travelling on foot: 15-25 miles a day depending on how fast you walked/the terrain

- Average travel on horseback (with baggage): 20-30 miles a day

- Fast travel on horseback (messengers, etc): 60 miles a day on flat land, 30 miles in the mountainous terrain

As a bishop you wouldn’t be travelling on your own. You’d have a whole retinue with you, maybe including as many as 30 or more people. At the very least you would need to bring some documentation with you, and bring along a few of the people who had elected you back home or witnessed the election, so they could vouch for you in Rome. A retinue would slow you down a bit, but it was definitely safer than travelling alone, and you’d want to make a big impression when you arrived in Rome (and elsewhere along the way). It would also be proof that you weren’t just some rando pretending to be a bishop.

With that in mind, according to Ohler, “nineteen miles a day was a good average for travellers on land” (p. 98). Labarge, Medieval Travelers, says “generally a reasonable speed for a large and elegant retinue might be fifteen to twenty miles a day…” (p. 16)

As early as the 9th century, when Charlemagne and his successors started repairing the old Roman roads and making travel safer, it was assumed that travel between northern France and Rome would take six to eight weeks. Apparently this amount of time was stable for the next few hundred years, since only remarkable exceptions were noted. We actually have a great example from a 13th-century bishop, Eudes Rigaud, who left an account of his trip from Rouen in Normandy (not quite England, but almost) to Rome. He left Rouen on December 29, 1253, and arrived in Rome on March 11, 1254. He didn’t want to wait until the spring/summer, so it was noted that his journey was a bit more difficult, taking almost 3 months (an average of 15 miles a day - still pretty fast, but not the usual average of 19 or 20 miles).

Once you were in Rome you might have to wait awhile to see the Pope, since there could be other bishops also seeking confirmation/a pallium, and there would definitely be other diplomats and ambassadors seeking an audience with the Pope. So you might have to settle in for another few weeks. There was another question recently about what travellers and pilgrims saw in medieval Rome - you're not really there for a vacation, but while you're waiting there is lots to see. You could go see all the Christian churches were saints and martyrs were buried, and if you were aware of the classical Roman sites, you could visit those as well.

Depending on what year it was, there would be other possibilities for your trip. In the 14th century (at least from 1309-1377) the Pope was in Avignon, and therefore you wouldn’t have to cross the Alps at all, which would save you a couple of weeks. Earlier in the 13th century, the Pope would probably be in Rome, but there was sometimes open warfare between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor in northern Italy, so it might be a little dangerous to get to Rome after crossing the Alps. You could also continue south to Marseille and take the sea route. According to Ohler, travelling by boat you could go about 7-8 miles per hour, so it might be faster in good weather. But there was one instance in 1241 when the Emperor captured a few dozen bishops sailing that route on their way to a church council, so it wasn’t necessarily any safer than going overland.

Once you were finished meeting with the Pope, it would take you another couple of months to get back to England. Now that you were confirmed and you had your pallium, your outward symbol of authority, you could take up your full duties.