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Henri Pirenne

Mohammed and Charlemagne Paperback – August 28, 2001

by Henri Pirenne (Author)

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The final work of the great Belgian historian Henri Pirenne, this remarkable classic — published after his death — offers a revolutionary perspective on how Europe under the influence of a Roman Empire centered in Constantinople evolved into the Europe of Charlemagne and the Middle Ages.
Departing from the standard view that Germanic invasions obliterated the Roman Empire, Pirenne advances the radical new thesis that "the cause of the break with the tradition of antiquity was the rapid and unexpected advance of Islam," and event of historical proportions that prevented the western Mediterranean from being what it had always been: a thoroughfare of commerce and thought. It became instead what Pirenne refers to as "a Musulman lake," thereby causing "the axis of life [to shift] northwards from the Mediterranean" for the first time in history.
Brilliant and controversial, this volume garnered these words of praise from the critics: "It is a dull reader indeed who does not recognize the light of genius in the pages of this book, without doubt a landmark in contemporary historiography." — G. C. Boyce, Annals of the American Academy. "… Pirenne's crowning triumph. The fire of his genius, the boldness of his mind, his profound learning and vivid pen make this volume pleasant reading." — Commonweal. "… an important, seminal book, worthy to close one of the most distinguished careers in European scholarship." — Saturday Review of Literature.
Pirenne's masterly study is essential reading for history students, medievalists, and general readers with an interest in the decline of the Roman Empire and the beginnings of the Middle Ages.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Dover Publications
Publication date

August 28, 2001
Dimensions

5.4 x 0.61 x 8.47 inches
ISBN-10

0486420116
ISBN-13

978-0486420110
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Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade - Updated Edition (Princeton Classics, 8) by Henri Pirenne Paperback $16.39
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Product details

Publisher : Dover Publications; Dover ed edition (August 28, 2001)
Language : English
Paperback : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 0486420116
ISBN-13 : 978-0486420110
Item Weight : 10.7 ounces
Dimensions : 5.4 x 0.61 x 8.47 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,201,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #781 in History of Islam
- #2,072 in Ancient Roman History (Books)
- #3,842 in European Politics Books

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Peter J. Keiser

The Real Fall of Rome

Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2017

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This book is a gem. This was his last work, incomplete, a first draft and completed by one of his graduate students. All that said and additionally that it is somewhat dated, the ideas presented here are incisive and excellent. To whit; that the invasions of the western empire by the Germanic tribes between the fourth and seventh centuries AD did not spell the end of Roman civilization but rather its continuance in a somewhat modified form and that the real end of Roman culture in the West was caused by the rise of Islam and the consequent closure of the Mediterranean Sea, particularly its western half. Pirenne describes how the Germanic tribes did not seek the destruction of Roman culture but rather that they admired it, sought to emulate it, adopted its ways and were largely assimilated by it. The real end of Roman civilization in western and northern Europe occured with the Arab conquest of most of the middle east, North Africa and Spain and the Arab destruction of trade and commerce on what had previously been a Roman lake, the Mediterranean. The Papacy, the Catholic Church, shifted its alliance from Byzantium, the eastern Roman Empire, to the Carolingians(Charlemagne) in the north. This became the epicenter of the West. The Byzantine Empire held the Arab Muslims at bay in the east, while the Franks rebuilt western civilization on a new northern axis. The details involving the various Germanic tribes, their interactions with the locals they encountered in Gaul, Spain, North Africa, Italy and elsewhere, the Anglo-Saxons in Britain(always a separate and distinct group), the Lombards in Northern Italy, the conversion of Britain, Frisia and Germania etc. etc. all makes a very interesting read. Excellent! Highly recommended.

12 people found this helpful

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Ryan Young

The Pirenne Thesis applies to modern times, not just the fall of Rome

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2018

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The Pirenne thesis is that barbarian invasions didn't collapse the Roman Empire in 476 AD, as the standard Gibbon or J.B. Bury account tells it. Gothic invaders wanted to assimilate, not destroy the Empire. They became Roman soldiers, senators, and even emperors who gave their lives fighting for the Empire, sometimes against their own countrymen.

The real end happened two centuries later, when 7th-century Arabs conquered most of the southern, eastern, and western Mediterranean. The new conquerors were uninterested in trading with the Romans, and mostly ignored them. This isolated the old Empire from far Eastern trade, and caused economic decline, as the archaeological record shows. Far-away goods and coins largely disappear from European sites around this time. Papyrus was replaced by costlier parchment, and churches were lit by ineffective wax candles instead of oil-burning lamps. What once was open became isolated, and that's what caused the Dark Ages more than any other factor.

The relevance to modern times is the point Pirenne raises about the value of openness and international exchange. It wasn't decadence or a change in religion that did in the Empire; it was economic isolation. Gothic immigration, while often violent, extended the Empire's life by several centuries once initial passions cooled.

The 7th-century Arab invaders did their damage not by taking political or religious power, they did it by cutting off the West from the rest of Eurasia. Where you have openness, you have wealth and dynamism. Closed societies are poor and illiberal. This is as true today as it was back then; just compare closed north Korea with open South Korea, or compare growth and poverty rates in countries that shun globalization to those which embrace it.

Highly recommended, and relevant to today's trade and immigration policy debates around the world.

7 people found this helpful

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Robert E Timmins

I found this a well written and convincing read, ...

Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2017

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I found this a well written and convincing read, and it clarified many things about the "common wisdom" concerning the early middle ages that never made sense to me. Pirenne's case is, as far as I am concerned, air-tight, and his reasoning dispositive. He should not be considered "revisionist", but simply "entirely correct". Someday we will realize that the Enlightenment historians and their modern heirs are the real "revisionists" (i.e., "ideologues with a chip on their shoulders for whom scholarly detachment is a studied affectation"). In a nutshell (if I may), Pirennr argues that the "Dark Age" of the early middle ages did not begin until, and was a direct was a consequence of, the Muslim conquest of North Africa, which cut off western Europe from the markets and cultural influence of the east. Prior to that, economic and cultural forces had continued almost unchanged after the loss of direct imperial control of the western provinces. The new "barbarian" kingdoms in the west made few changes to existing Roman institutions or practices, which they had admired for generations and desperately sought to preserve and emulate. Economic arrangements and legal systems persisted; Constantinople was still the standard-setter for social status and political legitimacy. The Muslim conquest resulted in continuous slave raiding and piracy all along the northern shores of the western Mediterranean, resulting in catastrophic loss of commerce and depopulation of previously thriving coastal areas. Economic activity plunged, became smaller scale and localized, and the center of western European cultural and economic development necessarily shifted north, away from Muslim territories. Read and decide for yourself.

4 people found this helpful

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Cathy Butler

Not interesting to read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2020

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Read the first chapter and gave up.

Harry

I found the book a little bit to deep until ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 13, 2016

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I found the book a little bit to deep until I started to get into it, very very interesting angle. Well worth the money I paid.

One person found this helpful

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