Before there were fancy carriages with nice, round wheels, how were the nobility and royalty transported in Medieval Britain and Europe? I don't think they had enclosed carriages in the time of King Richard the Lionhearted -- did they? What I've been able to find so far is that the members of the upper class were transported in enclosures that were on poles, one on each side, and the poles were carried by four or more men. Is that correct? If so -- what were the "carriages" called? Thank you.
Litters, including those carried by people or between two horses. Most people traveled by horse or on foot. Palanquins, after the word came via the Portuguese from India. Sedan chair I think is a term that came later, too.
Transportation by horseback was the most common. Suspension systems were not in use at the time so riding in wagons would have been extremely uncomfortable, although I'm sure it was done.
Carriages existed, though they were somewhat different in construction. The first ones used chains for suspension and went by a variety of names (Wikipedia lists car, currus, char, and chariot).
I don't know the answer, but I would expect male nobles to be riding a horse. After all, they were the leaders of their fief's military contribution to the king or overlord.
the medieval period is quite long and the modes of transportation varied over time. Also bear in mind that the individual wealth of the noble involved could dictate their means of travel. In England it was not uncommon for many of the lords to be wealthier than the king so a duke, for example, might be riding in a coach and the king might be on horseback.
They would ride. Certainly in the early medieval period, in Western Europe, roads weren't in a state were you could easily use a carriage. Wikipedia suggests that the litter appeared around the 16th century.
Query: I get they may not have been designed for carriages and perhaps not kept in a good state of repair but didn't the Romans build a large network of roads that continued to exist for centuries after their empire collapsed?
That is true. But they were designed mainly to get foot soldiers and cavalry from one place to another easily. They weren't really designed for wheeled traffic. The Romans did pave city streets, though. And women did ride horses. I think it was mostly side-saddle, though.
