Agreed. There is no concept of space into the medieval paradigm. So hermetic magic, which dwells into that paradigm, can't manipulate space, because to start that would require a paradigm shift.
Probably just the idea of bending, reshaping and manipulating space are the actual applications of modern mindsets into the paradigm! (but I'm afraid we do that all the time (and that not doing it at all would be more a nightmare than a game)).
And that's why Merinitae (or some of them) can actually do that. Their paradigm is just odd. Who knows what can it include.