Pirenne thesis

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The Pirenne thesis goes back to the Belgian historian Henri Pirenne . In a 1937 posthumous treatise Mahomet et Charlemagne (" Mohammed and Charlemagne "), Pirenne presented his view of the end of antiquity and the transition from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages . The Pirenne thesis states that the cultural and economic unity of the ancient Mediterranean world was not destroyed by the migration of peoples , but only by the Islamic expansion in the 7th and early 8th centuries. Pirenne's concept had a major impact on the periodization debate regarding the end of antiquity.

Content of the thesis

The Pirenne thesis essentially consists of the following statements:

  1. The fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of Germanic empires on its soil did not bring about any drastic changes in the area of ​​administration and economic life. Rather, the Germanic kings took over the existing Roman structures, especially coinage. The late antique economic system with large estates and slavery survived the migration intact. The social and economic conditions in continental Western Europe and North Africa remained in principle constant from the 5th century to the middle of the 7th century. Trade (both domestic and long-distance trade across the Mediterranean) played a central role in continuity and continued to flourish despite temporary disruptions. The port of Marseille played a key role in this. During the Merovingian era , slaves in particular were exported; The imported goods also included oriental luxury goods. This long-distance trade also brought a lot of gold to the West, which made it possible to continue gold minting. Thanks to the continuation of the Mediterranean trade, the ancient unity of the Mediterranean world was preserved economically and thus also culturally. An urban civilization was able to assert itself alongside agriculture.
  2. Only in the second half of the 7th century did the oriental trade and the entire shipping industry collapse in the western Mediterranean. In continental Western Europe, this led to the disappearance of large merchants (also in the interior) and oriental imported goods (especially papyrus , spices, silk and gold). The lending business came to a standstill and the money in circulation plummeted. In the context of this crisis, the end of gold minting and the transition to the Carolingian silver currency can be classified. In the eastern Mediterranean the situation was more favorable in that the Adriatic trade was hardly affected by the crisis. Therefore, little effects of the economic crisis were felt in the Byzantine or Byzantine influenced areas of Italy.
  3. The cause of the catastrophic, persistent depression from around the middle of the 7th century was the Arab conquest of Syria (636), North Africa (640–698) and Spain (711). As a result, the Mediterranean lost its connection function between West and East, and therefore the Mediterranean world could no longer be the focus of cultural and political life. Only this development brought about the actual end of antiquity. The Merovingian Empire was still Mediterranean in its heyday, the Carolingian Empire was no longer. Characteristics of the late Merovingian and Carolingian empires were the shift of the center of gravity to the north, inland orientation and different economic conditions (restriction to agriculture, little long-distance trade, decay of the cities, subsistence economy with local small markets, in some cases the exchange of goods ). All of this was a result of the spread of Islam. Thus, the Islamic expansion set the decisive course for the entire further course of medieval economic history. Pirenne emphatically assessed this setting of the course as a fateful step backwards.

Course of the discussion

The Pirenne thesis is one of the most discussed theories of history of the 20th century. It sparked a debate about the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages that continues. Even opponents of the thesis see it as a merit of Pirenne that he gave the impetus. The discussion deals on the one hand with the question of periodization and on the other hand with the general contrast between “catastrophe theory” and “continuity theory”. Pirennisten assume continuity for the migration period and a catastrophic turning point for the 7th century . The School of Alfons Dopsch however, argues for consistent continuity and gradual change. Thus both oppose the previously dominant catastrophe theory of Edward Gibbon , who saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the devastation of the great migration as a catastrophic break and change of epochs.

The difficulty of the problem and the long duration of the debate is primarily due to the very poor source situation, see also Dark Ages (Middle Ages) . Early medieval authors were hardly interested in economic topics and only mentioned them in passing. Scattered archaeological and numismatic finds hardly allow conclusive quantitative statements.

Pirenne already presented the main features of the thesis in 1922 and 1923 in essays and in 1927 in his book on medieval urbanism. In “Mohammed and Charlemagne” he developed the concept further. His ideas soon found favor with prominent French-speaking researchers such as Ferdinand Lot and Louis Halphen (despite considerable reservations), while Erna Patzelt resolutely objected in 1932. Pirenne found little understanding among ancient historians for his view of the end of antiquity. Among the pirennists are u. a. Amelio Tagliaferri, Eliyahu Ashtor and Heinrich Dannenbauer are to be counted, among the opponents are Erna Patzelt, Maurice Lombard and Hermann Aubin . Numerous scholars can be assigned to a middle group (agreement to Pirenne's ideas only partially or with significant deviations and reservations).

Over the decades of debate, the majority of researchers have opposed the Pirenne thesis, and today it is largely disproved. However, it must be taken into account what exactly is meant by the term “Pirenne thesis”. In the strict sense, this is only the third of the points mentioned above. Pirenne himself placed it at the center of the thesis in the title of his treatise "Mohammed and Charlemagne".

Opponents of Pirenne also approve of the first point (continuity in the 5th and 6th centuries), provided that the statement is not exaggerated. The second point (depression in the 7th and 8th centuries) is also widely accepted, albeit not in Pirenne's exaggerated formulations.

Therefore only Pirenne's attempt to determine the advance of Islam as the cause of a dramatic economic crisis triggered by the collapse of long-distance trade and of the economic structural change has failed. Today's research assumes a variety of causes for the economic changes, with Islamic expansion at most playing a subordinate role. When John Moorhead recently apparently rehabilitated the Pirenne thesis (“ ... the Pirenne thesis largely works ”), only part of the thesis is meant, because Moorhead also rejects the notion of a decisive role for Muslim conquests. He is skeptical of the causal links Pirenne has assumed and points to the lack of evidence that Muslim pirates disrupted trade during the period in question. The archaeologists Richard Hodges and David Whitehouse also come to the conclusion that Pirenne's assessment of the economic consequences of Islamic expansion is untenable. They believe that the Islamic reach into Europe was not the cause, but in some respects rather a consequence of the economic developments described by Pirenne.

An alternative explanation for the decline in Mediterranean trade is offered by Marc Bloch's thesis , according to which there was a Western European trade deficit in the early Middle Ages , which had to be covered by gold exports and which brought trade to a standstill after the gold reserves were exhausted. This interpretation is popular among economic historians, but remains speculative because of the lack of conclusive sources.

Arguments

Evidence in favor of the Pirenne thesis are:

  • Finds of Arabic coins in the west are rare (apart from the special case Adria, which Pirenne takes into account). The counter-argument that such coins were melted down because of their Arabic writing is hypothetical.
  • The number of Byzantine coins in the west decreases in the 7th century, as is to be expected according to the Pirenne thesis.
  • Pirenne's assessment of the role of the port of Marseille in the Merovingian period is supported by archaeological and numismatic evidence.
  • The use of ivory in Western Europe declined around the time that Pirenne believed the Mediterranean trade collapsed.
  • A chronological breakdown of the shipwrecks discovered so far shows a drastic decrease in their number in the seventh century. However, the statistical significance of these numbers is questionable.

The main objections of the Pirenne critics are:

  • The macroeconomic importance of the Mediterranean trade is to be estimated high, but it was only one of many factors of economic life and not necessarily the decisive one.
  • Even if there are indications of a considerable reduction in long-distance trade in the 7th century, the causal link with Islamic expansion is speculative and cannot be based on any sources. Rather, it can be shown that merchant shipping between Islamic territory and Christian Western Europe must have existed in the Umayyad period , even if the sources do not allow any statements about its scope. In the early Abbasid period (from 750) there were lively and increasing trade connections.
  • In a decree of the Caliph Umar II (717–720) the unrestricted use of the sea for trade is affirmed and any hindrance to the flow of trade is prohibited. Since the decree does not impose any regional or material restrictions, it must have been fully applicable to trade in the Mediterranean.
  • During the period in question, Slavic pirates have been recorded in the eastern Mediterranean, but not Arab ones. The assumption of widespread Arab piracy as early as the late Merovingian period is not supported by the sources; There is no evidence whatsoever for the western Mediterranean.
  • As early as the 3rd century, the economic situation began to deteriorate, weakening long-distance trade and strengthening natural economic forms in the west of the empire. Much of the decline in trade in the Mediterranean occurred before the end of the Western Roman Empire. During the Migration Period, trade apparently continued at this relatively low level. The ships used were relatively small because of the reduced transport volume; they drove along the coasts and avoided the shorter direct routes, which were obviously considered risky. These signs of decline have nothing to do with the advance of Islam.
  • In the Carolingian period, oriental goods can still be found in the west. These may have been transported by land, but that too is long-distance trade and thus contradicts the Pirenne thesis. It is not true that imports of the four oriental goods highlighted by Pirenne (papyrus, textiles, spices, gold) dried up for all four at the same time and at the same time as the conquests of the Arabs. Some changes in demand, supplies and trade routes were more regional and cyclical than fundamental.
  • The export of slaves to the Islamic world continued to flourish during the Carolingian era. It is therefore not necessary to assume a trade balance in deficit. The proceeds from the slave trade could be used for imports.
  • The transition to the silver currency does not have to be viewed as a step backwards or a sign of crisis, as Pirenne said, but can also have taken place for reasons of expediency.
  • Pilgrimages to the Orient continued to take place largely by sea. The ships used can hardly have been anything other than merchant ships.

literature

  • Henri Pirenne: Mohammed and Charlemagne. The birth of the West. With contributions by Francesco Gabrieli, André Guillou, Bryce Lyon, Jacques Henri Pirenne, Heiko Steuer . Stuttgart / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-7630-1736-4 .
  • Dietrich Claude : The trade in the western Mediterranean during the early Middle Ages . Göttingen 1985, ISBN 3-525-82427-0 .
  • Carl August Lückerath: The discussion about the Pirenne thesis . In: Jürgen Elvert, Susanne Krauss (ed.): Historical debates and controversies in the 19th and 20th centuries . Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-515-08253-0 , pp. 55-69 .
  • Richard Hodges, David Whitehouse: Mohammed, Charlemagne and the Origins of Europe. Archeology and the Pirenne Thesis . Ithaca (NY) 1983, ISBN 0-8014-1615-9 .
  • Michael McCormick: Origins of the European Economy. Communications and Commerce, AD 300-900 . Cambridge 2001, ISBN 0-521-66102-1 (comprehensive compilation and evaluation of the sources and finds).
  • John Moorhead: The Roman Empire Divided, 400-700 . Harlow 2001, ISBN 0-582-25111-7 .
  • Chris Wickham : Framing the Early Middle Ages. Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800 . Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2005, ISBN 0-19-921296-1 .

Remarks

  1. ^ Henri Pirenne: Mahomed et Charlemagne , in: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 1 (1922) pp. 77-86; ders., Un contraste économique: Mérovingiens et Carolingiens , in: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 2 (1923) pp. 223–235.
  2. ^ Henri Pirenne: Les villes du moyen âge. Essai d'histoire économique et sociale , Bruxelles 1927, pp. 7-46.
  3. ↑ Erna Patzelt: The Franconian Culture and Islam , Baden 1932, 2nd edition (revised) Aalen 1978.
  4. ^ Eliyahu Ashtor: A Social and Economic History of the Near East in the Middle Ages. London 1976.
  5. ^ Heinrich Dannenbauer: The emergence of Europe. From late antiquity to the Middle Ages. 2 volumes, Stuttgart 1959/62.
  6. ^ Michael McCormick: Origins of the European Economy. Communications and Commerce, AD 300-900 , Cambridge 2001, pp. 2-3, 118f.
  7. ↑ McCormick pp. 115-119; John Moorhead: The Roman Empire Divided, 400-700 , Harlow 2001, pp. 248f.
  8. ^ Moorhead pp. 255f.
  9. ↑ Richard Hodges / David Whitehouse: Mohammed, Charlemagne, and the Origins of Europe , Ithaca (NY) 1983, pp. 6-19, 170, 175.
  10. ^ Richard Hodges / David Whitehouse: Mohammed, Charlemagne, and the Origins of Europe , Ithaca (NY) 1983, p. 8; McCormick pp. 323ff., 811-851 (comprehensive compilation of finds and sources).
  11. ^ Simon T. Loseby: Marseille and the Pirenne Thesis, I: Gregory of Tours, the Merovingian kings, and "un grand port" , in: The Sixth Century. Production, Distribution and Demand , ed. Richard Hodges / William Bowden, Leiden 1998, pp. 203-229.
  12. ↑ McCormick S. 569, 674-695.
  13. ↑ Dietrich Claude, The trade in the western Mediterranean during the early Middle Ages , Göttingen 1985, p. 280f.
  14. ↑ Claude p. 264f.
  15. ↑ Claude pp. 57-60.
  16. ↑ McCormick S. 696-728.
  17. ^ Robert S. Lopez: Mohammed and Charlemagne: a revision , in: Speculum 18 (1943) pp. 14-38; see. Claude pp. 89-92.
  18. ↑ McCormick pp. 704-728.
  19. ↑ McCormick pp. 733-777, Claude pp. 278f.
  20. ↑ McCormick pp. 270–272 (and pp. 123–277, 431–443, 799–810 comprehensive statistical analysis of the source material on sea voyages; pp. 852–972 list of the evidence for the period 700–900), Claude p. 29 .