''Histoire de Belgique'' ( French; ) is a seven-volume survey of the

Belgian history The history of Belgium extends before the founding of the modern state of that name in 1830, and is intertwined with those of its neighbors: the Netherlands, Germany, France and Luxembourg. For most of its history, what is now Belgium was either ...

by the historian

Henri Pirenne Henri Pirenne (; 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 prominent public intellectual. Pirenne made a lasting contributio ...

(1862–1935) written in French and published between 1900 and 1932. The series, which traces the emergence of the Belgian

nation-state A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group. A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may inc ...

from the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

until the start of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, is a classic of

nationalist historiography Historiography is the study of how history is written. One pervasive influence upon the writing of history has been nationalism, a set of beliefs about political legitimacy and cultural identity. Nationalism has provided a significant framework ...

and one of Pirenne's major works. Although Pirenne is today best known as a historian of

Medieval Europe In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, the ''Histoire de Belgique'' series was his most respected work during his lifetime and the foundation of his reputation as Belgium's leading public historian.

Argument and reception

Unlike much nationalist historiography, Pirenne's history did not trace the emergence of a "

Volksgeist ''Geist'' () is a German noun with a significant degree of importance in German philosophy. Its semantic field corresponds to English ghost, spirit, mind, intellect. Some English translators resort to using "spirit/mind" or "spirit (mind)" to he ...

" (national spirit) but argued that Belgium had developed naturally as a

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

society to serve as a mediator between

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

Germanic Europe The Germanic-speaking world is the part of the world where Germanic languages are either official, co-official, or significantly used, comprising Germanic-speaking Europe as well as parts of North America, Germanic-speaking Africa, Oceania and ...

. Pirenne did, however, believe in the existence of a distinctly "Belgian

civilisation A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of State (polity), a state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and Symbol, symbolic systems of communication beyond natural language, natur ...

" (''civilisation belge'') reflecting a unique combination of external influences and which had changed over time without losing its distinctiveness, significantly pre-dating Belgium's independence in 1830. He sought to evidence this argument by examining the history of Belgium since the

. ''Histoire de Belgique'' received widespread popular acclaim within Belgium, transcending political differences between Liberals and

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. According to the historian Ernst Kossmann: Publication began in 1900 and ended in 1932 after being disrupted for several years during the German occupation of Belgium (1914–18) in which Pirenne had been held as a political prisoner. The seventh volume was awarded the

Francqui Prize The Francqui Prize is a prestigious Belgian scholarly and scientific prize named after Émile Francqui. Normally annually since 1933, the Francqui Foundation awards it in recognition of the achievements of a scholar or scientist, who at the start ...

in 1933. According to modern historians, Pirenne's 1928 publication ''La Belgique et la Guerre Mondiale'' (''Belgium and the World War'') could be considered a chronological sequel, covering the period after the end of volume seven. The series appeared in Dutch (''Geschiedenis van België'') and, encouraged by Pirenne's friend

Karl Lamprecht Karl Gotthard Lamprecht (25 February 1856 – 10 May 1915) was a German historian who specialized in German art and economic history. Biography Lamprecht was born in Jessen in the Province of Saxony. As a student, he trained in history, politic ...

, in German (''Geschichte Belgiens'') before World War I. Indeed, the first volume of the German translation was first published in 1899, before the appearance of the original French version in print. It has never been translated into English.

Volumes

The series' seven volumes are entitled: The series was followed by Pirenne's final and most influential work, '' Mohammed and Charlemagne'' (''Mahomet et Charlemagne''), which put forward the so-called "Pirenne thesis" on the end of the ancient world and the emergence of the Middle Ages.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * *{{cite book, last=De Schaepdrijver, first=Sophie, title=La Belgique et la Première Guerre Mondiale, date=2004, publisher=Lang, location=Brussels, isbn=978-90-5201-215-5, edition=2nd French

External links

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Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

History books about Belgium 1900 non-fiction books 1902 non-fiction books 1907 non-fiction books 1911 non-fiction books 1921 non-fiction books 1926 non-fiction books 1932 non-fiction books National histories 1900 establishments in Belgium