Wow. Check this out and then read the whole article:
Pirenne
stressed that the source of the Roman Empire’s vitality cannot be
disassociated from its essentially Mediterranean character and
orientation; that clearly remained intact for quite a while. Western
trade flourished as before, connected with the great cities of the East –
where prosperity, population, and learning were concentrated. The
overall features of life throughout the region in 600 were similar to
what they had been in 400.
It was not until the advent of Islam in the 7th
century, precisely then and only then, that destruction really arrived.
Recurrent Islamic raids altered the very orientation of the littoral
peoples; they fled the Mediterranean and for the first time looked to
the north. East was severed from West, and the previously unified
Mediterranean, “having become a Musalman lake, was no longer a
thoroughfare of commerce and of thought which it always had been.”
Unlike
the German invaders, wherever the Arabs went they ruled. This was a
dimension of their religious claims. They sought not conversion per se,
but demanded subjection, creating an insuperable barrier between the
conquered and the Muslims: “What a contrast between them [the Arabs] and
Theodoric, who placed himself at the service of those he had conquered,
and sought to assimilate himself to them!” The whole region was thereby
transformed, as the Arabs ushered in “a complete break with the past.”
Egyptian
papyri, which had been widespread in the West (and a solid indicator of
literacy), disappeared, as did distinctive coins that were in use right
up until the Arab conquest – leading to the barter system. Despite the
literary and archaeological sources, however, Pirenne’s arguments were
dismissed in favor of the view that Islam had been (unlike “repressive”
Christianity) an enlightening force.
A brilliant and important article. Read it all HERE.
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