After the graduation from CEU, doctor Magdolna Szilágyi talks about her dissertation about road systems in Western Hungary during the Arpad period. While the stereotypes say that medieval people lived in isolated societies and traveled a little, the research proved that the long journeys to the pilgrim locations, annual fairs, and other destinations were common. The doctor also claims that the road systems were not homogenous, describing eight main categories of the routes from her research and their hierarchy. She focuses on the county of Vas, the border territory with both the old Roman roads and medieval paths.

From this episode, you may also learn what the illegal routes were and how they appeared, what was the difference between “ecclesiastical,” “corpse,” and “king” road, and why salt was transported only on the Roman roads. In the conclusions, Magdolna Szilágyi gives the insight into recent innovations in medieval archaeology and the international digital projects on roads and communication in Central Europe. 

Past Perfect! is CEU Medieval Radio’s show on medieval and early modern history and culture, where Christopher Mielke casually discusses with his guests various issues from the crusades to archeo-zoology to medieval urine sampling. The discussions are made with the aim to popularize medieval and early modern studies with the help of experts such as early musicians, historians, philologists and archeologists.

This episode was first recorded and broadcast in 2013.