Henry Piran's Medieval City Studies

Henry Pirenne(1862-1935)is an outstanding historian in Belgium in the first half of the 20 th century.As a scholar,he is also a social activist and patriot.He has made great contributions to safeguarding Belgium's national sovereignty.His important work,history of Belgium,shows his boundless love for his motherland.In the field of medieval history,he put forward the famous "Pirenne Thesis",emphasizing Islamic factors in the formation of medieval Europe.In the field of urban history,his Medieval Cities,their Origins and the Revival of Trade is still the basic reading material for the academic circles to understand the medieval cities in Europe.This article is divided into three parts: introduction,text and conclusion.The introduction first explains the topic and the basis of the topic,followed by a review of domestic and foreign research.This article attempts to analyze Pirenne's medieval city origins on the basis of Pirenne's research at home and abroad.Particular attention is paid to the influence of the "Pirenne Thesis" on Pirenne's medieval city thoughts,focusing on the analysis of the influence of the Mediterranean after the blockade of Islamic civilization on Western European civilization,trying to clarify the basis of the development of Western European medieval economy Explore the original situation of the medieval city.The main body is divided into three chapters.The first chapter mainly analyzes the relevant background of Pirenne's medieval city research,including Pirenne's own life experience and his previous studies of medieval urban scholars.Pirenne's theory is mainly introduced from four aspects.Firsty,Pirenne's assumptions on the closure of the Mediterranean Sea and the invasion of Islamic forces.Pirenne considers this to be the direct cause of the decline of civilization in the original Romanized regions.The second chapter is an analysis of the economic situation of the Carolingian dynasty,the first feudal dynasty in Western Europe.Pirenne believes that the economic change from the period of Meroving to Carolingian was the foundation of the medieval city.The third chapter mainly analyzes the value of Pirenne's medieval research.First,the author analyzes Pirenne's research methods,revealing Pirenne's method of studying cities in linguistics and philology.The second is the analysis and evaluation of Pirenne's main contribution in the study of urban history,that is "the origin of medieval commercial cities".