Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Mohammed, Charlemagne & Origins of Europe. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 7 page essay that analyzes Richard Hodges and David Whitehouse's 1983 text Mohammed, Charlemagne and the Origins of Europe: Archeology and the Pirenne Thesis, which is part of a continuing body of historical scholarship that addresses the nature and validity of Henri Pirenne's famous thesis concerning the origins of the medieval period. This examination demonstrates that, while the fringe elements of Pirenne's thesis can be disputed, the basic premise, which is that Rome did not disappear as a viable political entity quickly, but rather was a victim of gradual decline, is largely substantiated by recent research. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
7 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khmohcha.rtf
Buy This Term Paper »
Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
quickly under the impact of tremendous Germanic invasions in the fifth century (Lyon, 1965). In the 1930s, historian Henri Pirenne produced a radical theory that totally upset traditional historical concepts
regarding the early medieval period (Lyon, 1965). From the time that Pirennes theories were first published, they have been controversial. Richard Hodges
and David Whitehouses 1983 text Mohammed, Charlemagne and the Origins of Europe: Archeology and the Pirenne Thesis is part of a continuing body of historical scholarship that has addressed the
nature and validity of Pirennes famous thesis. The following examination of Hodges and Whitehouses text demonstrates that, while the fringe elements of Pirennes thesis can be disputed, the basic premise,
which is that Rome did not disappear as a viable political entity quickly, but rather was a victim of gradual decline, is being largely substantiated by recent research. However, since
Hodges and Whitehouse presume a basic familiarity with Pirennes theory, it seems logical to first address the basic points of his concept.
According to Pirenne, the ancient world did not end suddenly, but rather suffered a slow decline, finally ending only after the Arab invasions of the seventh and eighth centuries gave
Islam total control of the Mediterranean, so that -- as one Arab writer of the time put it -- the Christians could no longer "float a plank" in the inland
sea (Lyon, 1965). According to this theory, it was not Germanic invasion that constituted the death knell for the last of the Roman Empire, but rather it was losing control
of the water ways that had acted like a "cement" for holding together the far flung reaches of Roman influence. In fact, Pirenne argues that the German tribes greatly admired
...