Pirenne thesis
| Henri Pirenne | |
|---|---|
Portrait
|
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| Born |
23 December 1862 Verviers, Belgium |
| Died | 25 October 1935 (aged 72) Uccle, Belgium |
| Occupation | Historian and political activist |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Alma mater | University of Liège |
| Genre | Medieval History, Economic History, Belgian history |
| Notable works |
Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade (1927) Mohammed and Charlemagne (1937) |
| Notable awards | Francqui Prize (1933) |
Henri Pirenne (French: [piʁɛn]; 23 December 1862 – 24 October 1935) was a Belgian historian. A medievalist of Walloon descent, he wrote a multivolume history of Belgium in French and became a national hero. He also became prominent in the nonviolent resistance to the Germans who occupied Belgium in World War I.
Henri Pirenne's reputation today rests on three contributions to European history: for what has become known as the Pirenne Thesis, concerning origins of the Middle Ages in reactive state formation and shifts in trade; for a distinctive view of Belgium's medieval history; and for his model of the development of the medieval city.
Pirenne argued that profound social, economic, cultural, and religious movements in the long term resulted from equally profound underlying causes, and this attitude influenced Marc Bloch and the outlook of the French Annales School of social history. Though Pirenne had his opponents, notably Alfons Dopsch who disagreed on essential points, several recent historians of the Middle Ages have taken Pirenne's main theses, however much they are modified, as starting points.
Pirenne was born in Verviers, near the city of Liège, in south-east Belgium.
He studied at the University of Liège where he was a student of Godefroid Kurth (1847–1916). He became Professor of History at the University of Ghent in 1886, a post he held until the end of his teaching career in 1930. After the Great War he was the most prominent and influential historian in Belgium, receiving numerous honors and committee assignments. Pirenne was a close friend of German historian Karl Lamprecht (1856–1915), until they broke during the war when Lamprecht headed a mission to invite Belgians to collaborate with Germany's long-term goals.
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