On the Pirenne Thesis
By Conrad Jalowski
According to the scholar Henri Pirenne, the dissolution of the period of Antiquity did not occur with the deposition of the last de facto Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 CE but with the Islamic invasions in the seventh and eighth centuries. The transition from the highly urban societies of Classical Antiquity that were centered in the Mediterranean basin to the prominence of the Septentrion [North] or in particular the prominence of the centers of authority in the territories between the Seine and Elbe Rivers with the disruption of the well regulated trade in the Mediterranean Sea that marked the Medieval Period occurred with the Islamic subjugation of Egypt, the Levant, Cyrenaica, North Africa, the majority of Iberia and Mesopotamia in the seventh and eighth centuries. The transfer of power from the Mediterranean basin to Northern Europe with the restriction of orderly, regulated trade in the Mediterranean occurred due to incessant warfare and rampant chaos and resulted from the pressure of the encroaching powers of the Islamic caliphates [Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid] and the Islamic empires of the Almoravids and Almohads.
Henri Pirenne maintained that the massive migrations of the barbarian horde did not result in the overthrow of the Roman Empire but merely in the transfer of power and in the destruction of the political sovereignty of the Western Roman Emperor and the overthrow of the imperial institution or system of the Caesars. Examples of this theme of "continuity" in the Occident as opposed to the traditional viewpoint of utter collapse, contraction and disruption would be the barbarian kingdoms that arose after the partitioning and fragmentation of the Western Roman Empire such as the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy and the Merovingian monarchy in Gaul. After the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476 CE, the barbarian chieftain Odoacer of the Heruli tribe nominally acknowledged the suzerainty of the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno and even minted coins bearing the effigy of the de jure Western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos who maintained his sovereignty in Dalmatia until the year of his death in 480 CE. The founder of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy [The Valagoths] Theodoric I 'the Great' maintained a delicate balance between the native Romans and the foreign Ostrogoths. Also, the Merovingian monarchy [500-751 CE] maintained a secular state that did not disrupt its ties to Roman Gaul as opposed to the burgeoning power of the Papacy and the immense authority of the ecclesiastical over the secular that was evident in the succeeding dynasty of the Carolingian monarchy [751-987 CE]. Also, the eastern portion of the Imperium Romanum safeguarded Graeco-Roman civilization and served as the direct successor or the continuation of the old Roman Empire.
Due to the shift or the transfer of power from the Mediterranean basin to mainland Europe resulting from the Muslim invasions, overall trade in the Mediterranean was neglected. The two striking contrasts to this stagnation in Mediterranean commerce were the Italian city-states in the northern portion of the Italian Peninsula and the Venetian oligarchy in particular with its mastery of the Adriatic Sea and its key maritime provinces in Dalmatia as well as the superior maritime power of the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire with its powerful fleets protecting the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara from Muslim incursions. The Venetian state was known as the "Mistress of the Adriatic" due to its status as the premier maritime power of the Italian Peninsula [The Norman Kingdom of Sicily briefly ascended to the premier Italian maritime power in the twelfth century] while the metropolis of Constantinople was the commerical hub or the economic center of the Mediterranean world acting as the vital link or gateway between Europe and Asia. The city of Constantinople connected the Occident to the Orient and maintained its Roman legacy despite repeated assaults from the Abbasid Caliphate, the Seljuk Turks of Iconium, the Turkic Pechenegs, the Cumans and the Uzes due to its mastery of the Aegean Sea, the Sea of Marmara [Propontis Sea] and the Black Sea [Euxine Sea] and the strength of the themata system or the military provinces located in Anatolia as organized by Basileus Heraclius and reorganized during the reign of Nikephorus II Phocas. Also, during the resurgence of the Roman Empire under the benevolent and moderate reign of Basil II Bulgaroctonus of the Macedonian Dynasty [867-1059 CE], the ducates of Chaldia, Vaspurakan, Mesopotamia and Antioch were established with the four ducates acting as a bulwark from the depredations of the Muslims. Although the themata system collapsed with the agonizing defeat at the battle of Manzikert [1071 CE] during the Doukid Dynasty [1059-1081 CE], the succeeding dynasty of the Komnenians [1081-1185 CE] led to a general recovery of the Empire and a restoration of Roman hegemony.
I would argue that although the Western barbarian kingdoms maintained a delicate balance or a mixture of Roman and Germanic cultural values and traditions, the theme is generally one of disruption, civil chaos and disorder with the contraction of urban centers, the dissolution of the imperial office, the dismemberment of the Empire to marauding barbarians and the receding hegemony of Rome. While the Western Roman Empire was already rotten at its core with the prodigality and decadence of the imperial court at Ravenna, the depredations of the Germanic barbarians such as the Franks, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Alemanni, Vandals and Saxons resulted in the pessundation or the complete overthrow/collapse of the Western Roman Empire. However, I do agree with Henri Pirenne that the last phase of Antiquity stretched beyond the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE to the quick succession of Muslim invasions in the seventh and eighth centuries. In the affairs of the Oriental portion of the Roman Empire, the reign of Emperor Justinian I 'the Great' [527-565 CE] marked an ephemeral revival of Roman hegemony in the Occident. The succeeding Eastern Roman emperors Justin II [565-578 CE], Tiberius II Constantine [578-582 CE] and Maurice [582-602 CE] attempted to maintain their conquests in Occidental Europe. To slow down the tide of decay and to strengthen the Roman possessions in the Italian Peninsula, North Africa and southern Iberia, the Exarchate of Ravenna [The narrow strip of land connecting the city of Ravenna to the city of Rome, Naples, Salerno, Calabria, Langobardia and Sicily] and the Exarchate of Carthage [North Africa, Corsica, Sardinia, Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca and Spania] were formed by the Eastern Roman Emperor Maurice. However, with the usurpation of Phocas, the process of Hellenization undertaken by Basileus Heraclius [610-641 CE] and the subjugation of the Sassanid Persian Empire in 651 CE by the invading Muslims, the period of Antiquity with the immortal glories of the Grecians and the Romans can be said to have ended amidst the relentless advance and overwhelming flow of Islam.
My original essay can be found in this location:
http://hierophantphilosophy.blogspot...ne-thesis.html



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