Other vehicles for more everyday use were to be seen in the streets of ancient cities, and in the paved roadways of Pompeii are deep ruts made by the wheels of chariots nearly two thousand years ago.
ROMAN LITTER AND MOUNTING STOOL.
Litters were also used at that time, and Pliny calls them "travellers' chambers." They were borne on shafts, and special slaves used to act as bearers. Roman ladies often travelled in covered carriages called carpenta, which were gorgeously decorated.
During the mediæval ages carriages fell into disuse, or were only employed by women and invalids, or by kings and princes on ceremonial occasions. Charlemagne had a wonderful vehicle with richly ornamented wheels and an inlaid roof supported by columns, and the Crusaders on their march had with them large wagons for their baggage.
In the fourteenth century new conveyances called whirlicotes and charettes were used. When King Richard II. married Anne of Denmark, the new queen entered London accompanied by her maids of honour, who drove in charettes, which were wagons with benches, painted red and lined with scarlet cloth. On London Bridge were crowds of people anxious to see the royal bride. In the confusion, one of the charettes was overturned and the ladies thrown to the ground.
Litters very much like those of Roman days were still to be seen in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At her coronation Queen Elizabeth of York, dressed in white and with her golden hair loose over her shoulders, was carried through London in a rich litter, with a canopy over her head borne by four Knights of the Bath.
Anne Boleyn, in 1553, was carried to her coronation in a litter covered with cloth of gold, and the two horses that supported it were clothed in white damask.