PirenneandIslam.pdf

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Pirenne and Islam:

Criticisms on the Decline of the Roman Empire

Vivienne Dobbs

October 2, 2007


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The topic of the decline of the Roman Empire has been one of much historical

debate. Edward Gibbon, an eighteenth century historian, compiled a study, The Decline

and Fall of the Roman Empire , in which he examines the cultural impurities of the

empire as the initial suggestion for the fifth century weakening and ultimate decline of

Roman antiquity. He emphasizes the Barbarian invasion as the beginning of the end for

the Romans, a theory that held fast throughout the nineteenth century. In the early

twentieth century a Belgian historian, Henri Pirenne, asserts an original postulate in The

Pirenne Thesis . He argues that it was not in the fifth century that the Roman Empire fell,

but instead it was the Islamic expansion of the seventh century that prompted the true

demise of the Roman Empire.

In the case of the German Barbarians, Pirenne theorizes in Mohammad and

Charlemagne that, the Germanic invasions in the West could not and did not in any way

alter this state of affairs. 1 Pirenne believes that the Germans movement into Romania

during the fifth century was dictated not only by relative peace between Roman and

Barbarian but also by the infusion of the Germanic peoples into the Roman culture. 2

Further more, Pirenne asserts these invaders of the West lacked both motive and purpose

to destroy the Roman Empire. 3 Daniel Dennett likens Pirennes implication of the

Roman Empire essentially remaining Roman despite Barbarian assimilation to the

1 Henri Pirenne, Mohammed and Charlemagne (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2001),119.2 Robert S. Lopez, Mohammed and Charlemagne: A Revision, Speculum , Vol 18, No1. (1943):14. http://jstor.org/.3 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):166. http://jstor.org/.


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primacy of Anglo Saxon tradition in the United States despite immigration. 4 The

persistence of Romania is mostly exemplified in the unaffected commercial activity

that the Romans experienced even after the Barbarian invasion, especially in

Merovingian Gaul. 5 Romania continued to enjoy a market place dominated by trade,

Barbarian migration notwithstanding.

Instead, Pirenne advances the notion in his thesis that the decline of Roman

classical unity was prompted by the Arab expansion of the seventh century in Europe.

Focusing on the erosion of trade in the west, he offers a specific analysis on the

Carolingian abandoning of the importation of oriental goods during the reign of

Charlemagne. 6 Pirenne comments on the disappearance of items such as oriental fineries

(silk and other fine clothes) as well as papyrus and most importantly gold in the Western

Roman Empire. 7 He concludes that the Merovingian decline into anarchy, due to the

presumed decay in commercial activity, led to the development of an agricultural society

in Gaul, the Carolingians, and thus beginning the period of mediaeval feudalism. 8

The insightful theory of Pirenne, however, has a varying number of overstated

claims. As discussed by Daniel Dennett, the lack of oriental products in the west after the

Islamic invasion is grossly exaggerated, if not contrived, by Pirenne. Evidence of

papyrus imported not only in Gaul a century after the invasion, but also to the papacy

4 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):166. http://jstor.org/. 5 . Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):166. http://jstor.org/. 6 Robert S. Lopez, Mohammed and Charlemagne: A Revision, Speculum , Vol 18, No1. (1943): 15. http://jstor.org/. 7 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):167. http://jstor.org/.8 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):167. http://jstor.org/.


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until the eleventh century, disproves the Arabic cessation of trade with the west. 9 Being a

product exclusively produced in Egypt, it is obvious the trade routes to the East were not

closed by Muslims mandate. 10

Pirenne uses the example of the decline of the Merovingian state to justify his

postulate that the Muslim-suppressed commerce created internal chaos. 11 As a state

reliant on the activity of trade, Merovingian Gaul began to decline according to Pirenne

in 650 due to the stagnancy of trade between Gaul and the Orient. 12 Proof of direct trade

between the Merovingian state and the East is subject to historical skepticism. Suggested

by Norman Baynes, evidence of direct trading between the two regions is non-existent.13

To humor the idea that the two regions did in fact trade directly, the question

becomes one of Muslim motivation for eliminating trade with the west. The answer to

which is simple; there was no such motivation. 14 The Islamic society did not prohibit any

trading with non-Muslims. In fact, because of the conditions of the Islamic realm a

desert, isolated from many resources trading for the Muslims becomes one of their own

sustenance. 15 The Islamic world, generally, was tolerant of Christians, even in their own

domain. In the early eighth century, Christians and Jews were protected (and labeled as

9 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):175. http://jstor.org/. 10 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):174. http://jstor.org/. 11 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):167. http://jstor.org/.12 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):167. http://jstor.org13 prob of trans p 6014 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):168. http://jstor.org/. 15 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):168. http://jstor.org/.


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people of the book) under the jurisdiction of the Umayyad Caliph, Umar II. Furthermore,

Umar II openly decrees that it is Gods will that maritime ports be freely traveled and for

trade to remain uninhibited by government. 16 Therefore, the trading hostility between

Western Europe and the Orient seemingly originates with the West. 17

Unlike the irrefutably commercial-based Merovingian state, Pirenne suggests

Carolingian Gaul to be primarily, if not solely, agrarian. Charlemagne, as well as the

pope, sought to limit trading with the Orient during the eighth century. 18 However,

according to a capitulation issued by Charlemagne, Carolingian Gaul did trade with

surrounding states.19

Also noted in Dennetts Pirenne and Muhammad is the fact that

merchants throughout Italy, Scandinavia and the Baltic States ignored the legal and

ecclesiastical prohibition of trading with the Middle East. 20 In exploring this point,

Dennett notes that the surrounding states of Carolingian Gaul were actively involved in

commerce with the Orient subsequent to the Islamic expansion. Gaul perhaps engaged in

inadvertent trade with the Orient through the commerce with its neighboring states. In

this case, Gaul not only engaged in domestic European trade, but also engaged in

involuntary trade with the Orient.

16 Andrew S. Ehrenkreutz, Another Orientalist's Remarks concerning the PirenneThesis, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 15, No. ! .(1972): 97. http://jstor.org/.17 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum, Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):168. http://jstor.org/.18 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum, Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):175. http://jstor.org/.19 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum, Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):177. http://jstor.org/. 20 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):175. http://jstor.org/.


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As for assuming that the elimination of oriental trade route to Gaul stifled the

Merovingian economy, Pirenne neglects to address the internal conflict arising in the

Roman Empire prior to said cessation. With the autonomous German states in the

established Roman Empire, differentiation in methods of rule and social obligation often

divided the already weakening Romania. 21 Along with social and governmental variance,

Merovingian Gaul practiced an opposing monetary policy to that of the rest of Western

Roman Empire. Merovingian Gaul did not use a standardized coinage system. Instead,

private coins were minted creating a sever lack of economic unity amongst the

Merovingian state.22

This is representative of the decline in the cohesion of the monarchs

in Gaul and a disinterest in foreign relations. These internal issues left the Merovingian

state vulnerable, to the great (but uncalculated) advantage of the Arabs.

The evidence opposing Pirennes Thesis brings to light the many inaccuracies and

exaggerations Pirenne relies on to present his hypothesis. Though the Arab invasion did

expedite the decline of the already waning Roman Empire, it was not the beginning of

this process. In his work, Pirenne externally considers the expansion of Islam to be the

most important factor of Roman decline. On an intrinsic level, Pirenne further widens the

estrangement of Eastern and Western cultures. His thesis vilifies Arabs as the

warmongers who are responsible for what Pirenne himself calls the most essential event

in European history that had occurred since the Punic Wars. 23

Bibliography

21 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):185. http://jstor.org/. 22 Robert S. Lopez, Mohammed and Charlemagne: A Revision, Speculum , Vol 18, No1. (1943): 18. http://jstor.org/.23 Daniel C. Dennett, Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum , Vol. 23, No. 2. (1948):166 . http://jstor.org/.


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Books

Pirenne, Henri, Mohammed and Charlemagne . Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2001.

Journals

Dennett, Daniel C. Jr., Pirenne and Muhammad, Speculum, Vol. 23, No. 2. (Apr.

1948): 165-190. http://jstor.org/.

Ehrenkreutz, Andrew, S., Another Orientalists Remarks concerning the Pirenne

Thesis, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 15, No.

! . (Jan. 1972): 94-104. http://jstor.org/.

Lopez, Robert, S., Mohammed and Charlemagne: A Revision, Speculum, Vol. 18, No.

1. (Jan. 1943): 14-38. http://jstor.org/.

Documents

PirenneandIslam.pdf