Yes…Pirenne…at a long distance and with reverence for an ancestor, is an ‘enemy’ for Wickham. Beyond that, it’s not just the Italian story of Pisa, Genoa, Venice etc… but the 10th c upswing in economic activity that needs to be ‘framed’ … In this regard the Egypt story is crucial and it rhymes with the role of Egypt in the trade patterns that McCormick describes in his Origins of the European Economy. Yes, it’s great to regionalize the story…but then you need to subregionalize it to be able to see the Scandinavian outbreak of the 9th/10th cs or the effects of the East-West migrations/incursions of that period. Hodges and Whitehouse set this ball rolling in the early 80’s, revisiting Pirenne and harping on the importance of material evidence. It has been an exhilarating ride since then. As you say…great to be a spectator! I’d like to see more connection with the historical linguistics (from the early 80’s too) of Wright and Bannier et al … to see in one frame both the development of a distinctive Western European sensibility and its integration into both a ‘Christendom’ and a regional oikumene with Islam. Is it permissible to dream of the same for Sanskrit culture and its descendants/derivatives?
Yes…Pirenne…at a long distance and with reverence for an ancestor, is an ‘enemy’ for Wickham. Beyond that, it’s not just the Italian story of Pisa, Genoa, Venice etc… but the 10th c upswing in economic activity that needs to be ‘framed’ … In this regard the Egypt story is crucial and it rhymes with the role of Egypt in the trade patterns that McCormick describes in his Origins of the European Economy. Yes, it’s great to regionalize the story…but then you need to subregionalize it to be able to see the Scandinavian outbreak of the 9th/10th cs or the effects of the East-West migrations/incursions of that period. Hodges and Whitehouse set this ball rolling in the early 80’s, revisiting Pirenne and harping on the importance of material evidence. It has been an exhilarating ride since then. As you say…great to be a spectator! I’d like to see more connection with the historical linguistics (from the early 80’s too) of Wright and Bannier et al … to see in one frame both the development of a distinctive Western European sensibility and its integration into both a ‘Christendom’ and a regional oikumene with Islam. Is it permissible to dream of the same for Sanskrit culture and its descendants/derivatives?