author
Henri Pirenne
1862–1935
A pioneering Belgian medievalist, Henri Pirenne reshaped the study of Europe’s cities, trade, and the transition from the Roman world to the Middle Ages. His bold ideas about commerce, Islam, and the rise of medieval Europe continue to inspire debate.
3 Audiobooks
The Stages in the Social History of Capitalism
by Henri Pirenne
Les anciennes démocraties des Pays-Bas
by Henri Pirenne
Medieval cities : Their origins and the revival of trade
by Henri Pirenne
About the author
Henri Pirenne (1862–1935) was a Belgian historian and public intellectual born in Verviers. After studying at the University of Liège, he became a professor at the University of Ghent in 1886 and later served as its rector from 1918 to 1921. He remained at Ghent until the end of his teaching career in 1930.
During the First World War, Pirenne resisted the German occupation of Belgium and was arrested and interned in Germany. While imprisoned, he began writing a broad history of Europe from memory and learned Russian from fellow prisoners. His wartime experience strengthened his reputation as both a scholar and a figure of intellectual resistance.
Pirenne’s major works include the seven-volume Histoire de Belgique, Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade, and the posthumously published Mohammed and Charlemagne. His influential “Pirenne thesis” argued that the major break between the ancient and medieval worlds came not with the Germanic invasions, but with the disruption of Mediterranean trade after the Arab conquests.