When discussing the Martells travelling to KL for the royal wedding, Mace Tyrell gets miffed at the notion of them “crossing his lands without asking his leave”. I get that he’s just being extra, but does he have a legal leg to stand on? Can a lord deny another lord from simply travelling across his lands?

If the Martells were using roads which are open to all (see below), then probably not. However, if the Martells were trying to use a proprietary bridge or toll road or cross someone’s fields without their permission, there the Tyrells would have more of a leg to stand on.

magicbeardpowers asks:

If an individual lord or group of lords wanted to put a proper road through their land, would they have to get the king’s or lord paramount’s permission, like they would a city charter or to build a dam?

You did see attempts by lords to exert authority over roads on their lands – usually by trying to levy tolls – but as time went on, kings successfully asserted the legal principle that main roads were considered “public thoroughfares” and under the protection of the king, and then in the later Middle Ages merged that concept with nuisance law, whereby obstructions, enclosures, or interference with public thoroughfares were considered to be injurious to the commonweal and damage to royal property, which gave the king two separate avenues for exerting authority over roads.

However, note the use of the word “public” there. Whether a road was considered a public thoroughfare could depend on certain factors: did the road lead to a town, port, or market, was the road listed as particularly belonging to the king (Fosse Way, Ermine Street, Watling Street, and the Icknield Way were called the “king’s four highways” in English law), and had it traditionally been open to the public.

But to answer your question, I would guess on principle that if the road was contained within the fiefdom of a lord and hadn’t traditionally been open to the public and it wasn’t a road that the overlord had asserted ownership over, they probably could do it without permission.

Would House Rowan of Goldengrove need the permission of House Tyrell to build a ring road like you suggested in your Economic Developments series? Or could they do it on their own while giving their liege lords a heads up about what’s happening?

I don’t know whether you need permission to build a road (as opposed to building a castle, where you definitely do), but my guess is that House Rowan would need the permission (or more likely, a license) from their liege lord to build on lands other than those of themselves and their own vassals.

So in the case of a ringroad meant to connect the Ocean Road to the Rose Road by way of Goldengrove, at the very least you’re going to need the permission of the Oakhearts of Old Oak, quite possibly the Cranes of Redlake (depending on how far south their lands go), and definitely the Caswells of Bitterbridge, and given how large those open plains are I would guess some more houses.

Hey, im currently trying my hand at an alternate history riverlands. my question is, in regards to roads, militarily, would a massive road network work for, or against the riverlands? on one hand, you get a massive boost in trade and you get the ability to have your army traveling at much faster speed through your own territory. but at the same time, you also make it much easier for enemies to invade by simply taking the road. does the cons outweight the pros in regards to Riverland Roads?

Well, keep in mind that the rivers somewhat act against the roads, because you need to cross the rivers at a ford or bridge, and that provides a natural funnel-point that defenders can use against you, as we’ve seen with the Battle of the Fords.

I would say that there are mechanisms for moderating the potential threat from a road network: first, use a riverrine navy to ensure that you have the better interior lines, second, build castles at strategic points along the road network to slow the enemy’s progress and whittle down their numbers through multiple sieges, third, build a lot of swing bridges on crossing points so that you can maximize your own flexibility vis-a-vis travel on road vs. travel on water and potentially cut off your enemy by denying them a crossing.

Getting some cool ASOIAF Maps recently got me thinking about roads. It seems there are some places (Kings Landing, Winterfell) that seem geographically important enough to draw roads towards them. I imagine other castles or towns are built because of where the road goes. Are there historical parallels for that? When roads are built what kind of factors go into where they go?

Excellent question!

In terms of where fortified settlements are found, prominent hills that provide for better defense, natural harbors on the coasts, good crossing points of navigable rivers, and points on overland trade routes (as well as crossroads) are all good candidates.

For example, the city of Florence prospered in no small part because it was positioned right on the overland trade route between Venice and Rome, and on the overland trade routes from Italy to northern Europe. So in a sense, roads helped to build the city…although Florence’s growing industries in wool cloth, silks, and finance then gave reasons to build roads to connect other places to Florence.

In terms of what factors decide where roads go, it really comes down to geography (in the sense that a lot of main roads get built to connect major regions – think about the Via Appia, which the Romans built to connect Rome to connect the capitol to the grain-growing regions of southern Italy – or to deal with major natural obstacles (think roads built through mountain passes or bridges or the like)),and demography (in the sense that when you have clusters of people (because they’ve found a spot with certain advantages) it generally makes sense to build roads to connect them so that trade can be conducted, and this in turn makes those clusters bigger because it’s easier to move to those clusters, and creates new clusters at key points of the new networks).

Do you know which road is connected to the King’s Gate, Dragon Gate, and Old Gate of King’s Landing? I know 1) Lion Gate/Goldroad 2) River Gate/Southern Kingsroad and Roseroad 3) Iron Gate/Rosby Road 4) Gate of the Gods/ Northern Kingsroad. The other 3 elude me. Any ideas?

You’re right, it’s a bit confusing. The King’s Gate is connected to the Tourney Grounds, but it looks like there’s a road leading west, which I would guess leads along the Rush to the ford nearest to the city as an alternative to using the ferries.

According to the Wiki of Ice and Fire, the Dragon’s Gate is connected to the Kingsroad, but that’s contradicted by the info about the Gate of the Gods. There is a mention in the Princess and the Queen that during the riots, “Rhaenyra and a small band of followers slipped out through the Dragon Gate, intending to make their way up the coast to Duskendale.” Which suggests that there might be a direct road from Duskendale to King’s Landing as well as the Rosby Road.

The Old Gate, being in between the Gate of the Gods and the Iron Gate and thus in between the Kingsroad and the Rosby Road, is a puzzle. My guess is that there may be or have been a direct route to Maidenpool from King’s Landing.