hist notlari 4: Religions of Europe

Europe is overwhelmingly Christian, and the confessional division coincides closely with the language map. Catholicism was associated more with the Romance languages speaking countries like France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, whereas Protestantism was widespread in Germanic languages speaking states like Germany, the UK, Scandinavia. Hence, Catholicism was challenged and fractured from within. The process of Christianization derived from two sources: Rome and Constantinople. Between the 5^th and 11^th century the conversion to a sect dependent on the sequence of arrival of the missionaries from Catholicism and Protestantism. In the years 1517 – 1648 the Protestant reformation, Catholic counterreformation and wars of religion changed the balance and shaped the map of sects even more. At the same period the Ottoman influx had also a significant impact on the configuration and comprise of Muslim population in Europe.

The discussion about the distinction between theology and sociology of religion has resulted in a basic explanation. Theology is concerned with finding out which one of the religions the more advanced and which one is the true prophet and God, whereas the later looks into the history of religious events and admits that things could have been other way around. For instance the early Council of Nicea, the uprising against the 4^th caliph Ali was key moments in the histories of Christianity and Islam respectively. These are not accidents of history but the basic chronology of religious developments that does not give supremacy of any belief system to others.

There are three broad categories of all systems of belief. The first one is totemism, that is not referred as a religion and divided into three as zoomorphic, semi-zoomorphic and semi-anthropomorphic. The first category refers to totems purely animal shaped, the second one having the image of a living organism, while the last one refers to partly human and partly animal totems. The next category is polytheism that is generally anthropomorphic Gods and Goddesses. Lastly, monotheism is based on one God that makes its voice heard through holy books. There is no human substance and it is everywhere. In terms of the period of these belief systems, totemism extends from the huntering-gathering era till the agrarian. Polytheism and monotheism follow each other and the later begins 3000 years ago with Judaism that can not defined as monotheistic for the first 1000 years of its revive. This is shorter from what we know as civilization today.

Looking back to totemism, it can be observed that its existence changes in every tribal society. Clans, tribes and close kinship groups believe that they descent from the same origin or clan ancestor, which distinguishes them from others. This ‘origin’ is perceived as supernatural animal and giving life to the clan. Hunting of this particular animal is forbidden except for one particular time of the year when it is hunted and eaten to pass the life through the flesh. In addition, protecting the totem from outsiders by not mentioning the real name of the totem was crucial. These two rituals were reflected in the later monotheistic religions as well. The function of the shaman is the mediation between totem ancestors and the clan. Through going into a trance it is believed that the spirit travels to the other world in the shape of totem and returns to its body in this world. The change of shape led to the half animal half human shapes of the totem statues. Although in ancient Rome and Greece the Gods and Goddesses were fully anthropomorphic they usually had a favorite animal portrayed with them. It is interesting to look at the process of downsizing of Gods. The most important role was played by the political unification, since the clans came together the pantheon of different totems have enlarged at the beginning and became hierarchical in time when the nobility or the ruling class chose their favorite God. The pantheons where the Gods were brought together became holy places to which pilgrimage seasons were organized. 

Comparing these monotheistic religions with Eastern / Oriental belief systems of India, China and Japan we encounter many differences. To begin with in contrast with monotheistic religions basing themselves on revelation, oriental / eastern belief systems do not originate from God’s words but teachings. There is no creator and no prophet as well. The distinction between body and soul, afterlife and salvation as the key components in monotheism, is non-existent in the others. Lastly, all tree religions are monopolistic and exclusionist whereas the Eastern religions do not have both of the characteristics. Looking at the big picture, all of the religions aim to impose some roles, norms of behavior and propagate ethical systems. Similar things can be said also for the monotheism-polytheism distinction. Polytheistic systems are much more tolerant compared to monotheism, it is normal for other gods to exist in the outer circle, there is no insistence on single God with no equals. The only rule is that no stranger can pollute out the temple, In addition, there are no missionary activities – priesthoods exist but not trying to convert others. Cultural contact is the only way to spread the belief system, not winning or losing battles. Whereas as Cook has emphasized it is in the nature of monotheism to peak a quarrel.

The first monotheistic religion is Judaism that has started around 2000 BC. Old testament stories survived with repetition, edited, copied from generation to generation so it has survived and changed over time. Later generations kept playing to conform with what they believe is the true way. Hence there were layers of practices and beliefs forming in 1500 – 2000 years. In the 6^th c BC, Judaism crystalizes and becomes clearly a monotheistic religion. The evidence comes from Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar’s records who has incorporated Jewish territory, deported Jewish population to Mesopotamia and encountered the Jewish Bible statements there is no other God but Yahweh. Cook claims that Yahweh gradually assumed its dominance and only god to be worshipped. But before that it was more like monolatry rather than monotheism as the existence of other Gods are not denied. This Jewish Bible is written in Hebrew and its Koine Greek translation is known as the Septuagint, and the temple priesthood systematized it. There are 13 points derived by Moses Maimonides as follows:

1.     existence of God

2.     God’s unity

3.     …’s spirituality and incorporeality

4.     …’s eternity

5.     … alone

6.     …’s revelation through prophets

7.     moses pre-eminent

8.     god’s law given on Mt. Sinai

9.     the immutability of the Torah

10. …’s forelknowledge of human actions

11. good / evil

12. the coming of the Jewish Messiah

13. the resurrection of the dead

Looking at the black points above, an enormous similarity with other monotheistic religions can be traced. Christianity comes approximately 600 years after Judaism and followed by Islam, again after around 600 years after Christianity. The prophet of Christianity Jesus was born in Bethlehem, went to Egypt since his life was under threat, and came back to Nazareth. He was a Jew and spoke both Aramaic and Koine Greek. Hence, while the first language of Jewish Bible is Hebrew the Christian Bible is Koine Greek from the beginning, Later on translated into Latin. In later phases while spreading Christianity he initiates a reform movement in Judaism, defending the return to basics, restoration of our old beliefs and virtues. Although in the Old Testament the second coming of a Messiah is mentioned, it was disputed if Jesus was the one. Hence Christianity had to confirm the Old Testament and added the New Testament consisting of four Gospels. The Gospels are four stories told by four of the apostle: Saints Matthew, John. Luke, and Mark, about the birth, teachings, miracles, passion and death of Jesus. A separate section also talks about the acts and letters of apostles. It is obvious that Christianity is mostly based on Jesus Christ as the central component of the worship. He is seen as both human and divine, the son of God. This feature distinguishes it from Judaism and Islam in which the division between holy and divine is done clearly. Muhammad and Moses are considered as humans and are not worshipped or prayed to.

Religions have changed externally in time and in various geographies, and internally through different interpretations. For instance Christianity became legal in the Roman Empire in legal in AD 330, and was the official religion by 390. However it could not spread due to collapse of the Roman Empire and barbaric invasions. Massive wave of re-Christianization, of Germanic and Slavic people. Started when they settled down 10^th c. It has changed more dense and intense while acquiring a much more militant characteristic, insisting on the monopoly of absolute truth. In AD 476 all Christians are still Jews, some of them becoming Christian. Former Jews now Christians are still operating within the heritage of Judaism – chosen people of God and thus it was a national religion. Hence there was no drive to spread it all over the world and it was not opening the gates to the un-chosen people. But Christianity differed in time and started inviting people who are not Jews, so could took off. 

Peopling of Europe & Languages– Part 2

Second wave of invasions have already started 720s and the Germanic and Slavic tribes were hit by it. Between the years 720 – 1000 Europe was in making for the second time. The first part of this hit was by the Muslim-Arabs, also known as the big bang movement from the 6^th century on with the rise of Islam. The Arabs have converted from polytheistic, idle-worshipping belief to monotheistic Islam. In addition, the type of society changed from tribal to state and the peculiarity of Islam as being a state and religion at the same time was consolidated. Koran has become simultaneously the holy writing and the first constitution of the Islamic Empire. From the 7^th century on Arabs started to get out of Arabian peninsula and went to Egypt and North-East (Mesopotamia). Charlemagne stopped them in 732, but they already Islamized all Northern Africa, parts of Spain and Sicily.

The second part of the hit came from Vikings, the norseman out of Scandinavia who were part of the Germanic tribes left behind in the north. In 780s they were coming out to attack and plunder with long boats. The Carolingian Empire could not protect its coastline since there was no indication of where they would strike. They were a non-state society unlike the Arabs and they had low level of class formation. They attacked the European coastline to settle and colonize since there was lack of land for agricultural production in Scandinavia. Hence, rather than going back some of them decided to settle permanently. Their proliferation along the coastlines of Europe was also reflected to place names. In early 10^th century the Carolingian emperor were trying to reach an agreement with the chiefdom Rollo. He agreed and converted into a ‘marcher lord’ defending his king against other Viking attacks. His descendants were the dukes of Normady among which William I (the Conqueror) invaded England in 1066 and became the first Norman king of England.

Magyars constitute the last part of the second invasion. Magyars came from the west of Asia, who were mounted people of steps and were skilled in archery on horse back. They moved from the north of Blacksea and settled in what is today called Hungary in 895. The Medieval civilization and state formation of Europe was destabilized again. Due to the rising importance of local defense, feudalism has accelerated. Since the Carolingian Emperors were not grand to built castles, they had to face the Vikings and Magyars. In AD 995 a massive Magyar invader group was stopped and ambushed in Lechfeld by the emperor Otto. Finally they became weaker and settled down, switching from horse nomad to pastoral life style. They could not resist changing since there were not as much flat spaces and grass to feed the horses in Europe as it was in Central Asia. The settlement transformed into the Medieval kingdom of Hundary that became Ottomans’ main rival from 1370s to 1520s.

The second wave of invasions continued to shape Europe until the 11^th century. They were absorbed into Europe while the Arabs were excluded and expelled. Starting with the second half of 10^th century, settling and conversion to Christianity started. There was two main sects of Christianity people could convert to: Catholicism and Orthodoxy. If the missionaries from Rome reached a group first they became Catholic, whereas if the ones from Constantinople arrive first they were converted to Orthodoxy. Magyars were encountered with the missionaries from Rome in 1000 Vaik, who became King Stephen after converting to Christianity, accepted Christianity and jumped to statehood.  

Conversely, the Muslim Arabs have already a state society and establish a new state in Spain. Since Islam is also built upon monotheism, great ideological struggles with Christians start. The conflict erupts in the level of state versus state and monotheism versus monotheism constituting the great religious divide in the Middle Ages. The gradual reconquest of Spain by the Spanish Reconquista obtains an anti-Muslim characteristic in time. As a result the most militant Catholic church in Europe for the next five centuries and triggered the ‘inquisitional’ Catholicism. The divide of Greeks / Romans versus barbarians transformed into the Christian versus Muslim split where Islam became Europe’s new ‘other’. During 1230s Europe was not subjected to massive population change, as it was furthest away from Central Asian steps stability could be achieved.

Some minor peopligs occurred after the 13^th century: Mongolian, Ottoman invasions and Europe’s expansion into the ‘New World’. In the early 13^th century Mongols came to Poland but could not find enough grassland and some went back. The ones who stayed underwent state formation in Muscovy, expanded and claimed the khanates in this area. The Crimean Khanate was the last successor of the Golden Horde Khanate swallowed by the Tsarist Russia. The next attack came from Ottomans expanding to Central Asia . They were not nomadic or pastoral hence they invaded and expanded slowly, consolidating in every step. For two centuries they pursued this provincializing expansion and also deported the Turkic-Muslim population to the new territories. Due to this population has left their legacy in Balkans and Central Europe. In the early modern era Europe expands outside due to the empires of sea.  Troops, colonizers and merchants went to Americas., India and African coastline while a substantial amount of population settled there. In the late 19^th century the New Imperialism begun and more and more people were exported to these territories. In the late 20^th century the population in especially British, Dutch and French colonies started a reversal movement. From India. Pakistan and the Caribbean immigrants came to the UK, whereas North Africans steered for France and Indonesians into Holland. In addition, due to the falling population growth industrialized countries like Germany needed ‘Gast Arbeiter’ from Greece, Serbia and Turkey, who later decided to stay there. Lastly, the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the East-West political divide and led to massive immigrations from East Europe.

There are three main branches of languages in Europe: Germanic, Romance and Slavic. English, Scandinavian languages, Dutch and German belong to the first category. They are much less mixed with Latin that distinguishes them from the second branch. Romance languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French, and Italian are influenced from Latin much more. The last branch can be divided into West, East and South subgroups. Polish, Czech  and Slovak are in the former, Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian belong to the Eastern branch, while Latvian, Bulgarian, and Croatian belong to the last subgroup. Latin got a prominent position and became the primary tongue of the upper classes and important medium of communication throughout the Roman Empire. The barbaric invasions have affected less the western and southern parts of Europe. But with the Dark Ages a mixture of Latin and older Celtic and Italic languages emerged: Romance. Church played a great role & monasteries kept learning alive through Latin language – it became the language of high culture and learning.

When Germanic and Slavic people spread out, Celtic tongues declined in Northern Europe. They were substantially different sentence structures and vocabularies from Romance. Hence, the two other main branches emerged.

As Unwin points out, with the age of nationalism, language became a key ingredient in defining g nationhood. The map of languages in Europe today is a testimonial to the winners and losers in the struggles over nation creation and nation building during the last two centuries.

hist notlari 2: peopling of europe

The human invasion started when they started to come out of Africa, crossed Middle East and went to different directions. It is the pre-mordial colonization of the world when they spread unevenly throughout Europe and Asia. They were hunter and gatherers going after the food. In the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods they were using basic tools like sharpened stones. Since it is a durable material the change in the technique of making stone tools could be traced.  In the Neolithic period food production has started, humans were experimenting and domesticating plants. This food could be stored, leading to surpluses and enabling population growth. For the Mesolithic period the population density was estimated as 0.1 human per km² it raised to 1.5 per km² in the late Mesolithic period and to 5 – 10 per km² during the Roman Empire. The surplus of food also led to the Bronze and Iron ages, of which the ages can be calculated via the carbon 14 method. 

Jean Auel has not written about people with names, she never uses modern European nations. What she does is to invent names but not the events that occur, since her books are based on serious archeological and anthropological research, which she attends in person. On the contrary the Turkish Thesis of History alleges that the most ancient people are Turks. Taking 7000 BC as the ending point, this thesis propounds the ancient civilization was created by proto-Turks, the white Caucasian race who were advanced in science, cultured and have invented agriculture. Wherever they have immigrated, they enlightened people and pushed them up to become a civilization. Lots of them left central Asia and went to north and south America, while others went to Egypt, Anatolia and Italy became Sumerians, Hittites and Etruscans. The people putting forward this theory were obviously playing with the evidence to tie everything to the Turkish race.   

The British developed the Indo-European languages hypothesis after the colonization of India. The similarities between the two languages were fascinating. The booming of oriental studies and linguistics to comprehend the customs, art and literature revealed the structural and grammatical similarities between the European and Indian languages. After several stages, the inescapable conclusion was that they were one point at time the same language. What they also realized was that the commonality neither depends on the similarity of the sound nor the look of the words. The next question that people came up with was how they might get separated and have spread over time. Scholars came up with the idea that until 4000 BC there was a compact block of tribes living together and speaking a common language with slight variations. Hence, the reconstruction of the lost trunk-language was taking place. Different groups went different ways: some went to the south of the Caspian sea, one branch (Arians) went to the Indus valley and others spread to different directions in Europe.

Two waves from the north arrived at what is called Greece today in 2200-2000 BC and 1100 – 1000 BC. Another huge demographic move occurred also from the north to Italy by the Italic speaking people who settled there as different groups in different areas creating their own small principalities. The evidence for Greek invasion (Acais) comes from Homer’s poets and archeological findings of fire distraction. Archeologists look at several places and try to trace a horizon of fire distraction and find the connection between them. Moreover, the burial customs are also significant indicators as the tombs contain possessions of the buried person. The material and ethnolinguistic evidences are brought together draw a possible map and give the Greek (or Acais) name to the people there. Ancient Greece was taken over by Alexander the Great of Macedonia and stayed so until his death. After that the Macedonian Empire broke down to several kingdoms among which Rome in Italy was one. This was also the beginning of the history of Europe shaped through the Greco-Roman and Christian legacy. Moreover geographers and historians like Hecataeus, Strabo, and Herodotus were successfully describing the gradual filling up of the world through the synthesis of knowledge and copying from each other. Even before them anonymous bureaucrats were keeping records of dynasties, kings’ lists and great deeds of them. Hence, these state archives written by faceless people mentioning the developments inside and outside their borders (through wars) can be considered as the first historical records.

Cartage and Punic wars ensures Rome’s domination in the Western Mediterranean and starts the construction of identity as us versus them. People outside the Greco-Roman settlement are named as barbarians, creating its own identity crystallization. When Augustus died in AD 14, the Roman Empire was roughly a rectangle around the Mediterranean incorporating Greece and Northern Africa as well. On the north frontier lay Danube and Rhine rivers that were protecting the empire from invasions. In addition the system of fortresses and legions behind them were successful against the Slavic and Germanic tribes for a while. In 300 AD mobile army was also held in reserve in step behind the fortresses. The empire switched from an offensive to a defensive characteristic. In 370 AD Visigoths started to burst from Balkans and they were bribed to go west. But the Germanic tribes were already coming from the north and west to Britannia. In 420 Romans had to evacuate it and the age of migrations accelerated with the coming of Ostrogoths, Franks and Slavs in the 700s. The Antiquity ended and the Middle Ages begun with the invasions and migrations of Germans and Slavs. That is also referred as the European history or Dark ages. By the time Western Roman Empire has ended and Byzantium was left. Western Europe was invaded by the Germanic tribes while the east was exposed to the Slavic expansion. Hence the North – South division became the East – West division also through the language split and by the Elbe River. In the 6^th century Justinian sent his generals to re-conquer western Mediterranean against Vandals and Ostrogoths who were semi-tribal in social formation. However, the rule did not last long and a vacuum was created of which the Frankish king took advantage. Merovingians who own their victories against Visigoths, Saxons and Alemanni to their leader Merovech, took control of the Western Europe. Some kingdoms like Saxony, Lombard, and Burgundy were united through the conquests of Clovis and Charlemagne.

After Clovis’ sons and grandsons have conquered the Burgundian kingdom the Frankish control has extended to the Mediterranean. But in hundred years the Merovingian House started to decay due to inner weaknesses. Dividing the kingdom among king’s sons led to bitter civil wars as the kings were also ineffective rulers. The kingdom divided into three and the rulers were mere puppets. With the Merovindian decline, new waves of invasions from Slavic people and Muslims threatened western Europe. Charles Martel ‘the hammer’ won a victory against the Muslim invasion and his son Pepin the Short the first Carolingian king has succeeded in overthrowing the Lombards in Italy. His son Charlemagne seized  a huge territory and sent Arabs back to Spain. But the civil wars burst and the means of government were not enough to control huge territories. Finally, the Treaty of Meerssen in 870 has partitioned the Carolingian Empire that gave the rough shape of France, Germany and Italy. 

hist notlari 1: when does European history begin?

Formations and Constructions: when does European history begin?

When talking about formation, one can mention several layers that are constantly changing and shaping the entity called Europe. This is also a process of inventing Europe through the creation of tradition. With the year 1983, constructivism in the interpretation of history gets a firmer place. Because empiricism and positivism were the dominant methods used before. Although in 1960s there were indicator of the coming change through E.H. Carr’s interpretation of history as the dialogue between the past and the present rather than the collection of facts. In the 1970s the interest into ancient history became the fashion as some other topics were already over-studied. This curiosity to other topics brought also with it new interpretations of the existed literature. For instance, in 1976 Edward Said came up with his theory that, the West has been constructing and forming an ideology while producing knowledge about the Orient. This was also one of the implementations of E.H. Carr to a specific field. After Orientalism, scholars started to question their knowledge about the most basic concepts like nation. Scholars like Renan, asked what a nation is constituted of. Since commonalities are only told to but not experienced by the majority of the people, ideology creates this sense of belongingness and connectedness with others in the community.

History starts when the individual voices of people (today known as historians) were heard. In time it became the first branch of social sciences, redefined and professionalized. But it cannot be perceived as a science, since it is not looking for formulation of laws. It is ideographical rather than nomothetical that is interested with reaching generalizable facts. It is interested with pure, ideology-free objectivity. But this was not always the case, as historians were not interested with other nation states.

Through the Napoleonic Wars, French Revolution and unifications of Italy and Germany nation states were taking shape. This was also the time of rising radical ascendency of Europe on the rest of the world. Before 1500 this was not the case, as civilizations (East Asian, Indian, Medieval Feudal etc.) have minimal contact with and no superiority against each other. At time one would rise above the others first through its economic domination that will reflect to military and political power. The gap opened up in the 1800s with the Industrial Revolution. The jump from agrarian to industrial society altered the existing balance and pushed the disparities to an extreme. Rise of Eurocentrism, the feeling of superiority over the rest coincides with the rise of nation states, nationalism and ideological currents.

Delanty argued that European idea is ambivalent, as it is not always about unity and inclusion but also exclusion and construction of difference based on norms of exclusion. The idea of Europe has been invented repetitively through the pressure of new collective identities. It is a normative concept on the contrary to belief that the cultural foundation is in Christianity, humanism and liberal democracy. On the same line, Gellner has mentioned that Europeans have taken their recent problems like the rise of authoritarian regimes as universal issues faced by mankind. Hence these turbulences have also shaped the human destiny. However, he also mentions that this assumption has been abandoned and Europe is no longer considered as a model to explain everything else. Mann relates Europe’s ‘superiority’ to the ecological difference with Asia, namely high proportion of coastlines and navigable rivers for transportation. Moreover, competition derived from surplus that is hidden from interference of state and inertial control also led to normative regulations. Another component that differs Europe from Asia is Christianity. The rational restless versus rational acceptance dichotomy is formed through Christianity’s provision of common social identity ensuring recognition of property rights and free exchange, whereas Asiatic belief systems are based on acceptance of social order. Hence these differentiations and interpretations have resulted in the three-balance view of the world.

The inner circle or the peak was perceived as the West, who also considered themselves as ‘historic’ nations with a past of progress and dynamic development. Especially the elites believed that they were the ones who ‘made’ the history since the Middle ages by creating an advanced civilization. Hence, they had the capitalist development, making the separate studying of politics, social relations and economic development possible. When the history department was created in universities, it only studied the European history. They were nationalistic in spirit and focusing on the country of origin. The periodicals of 19^th century reflected this trend and writers have not talked to each other till the end of the Second World War.

The outer circle consisted of the primitives, people without history or the ‘non-white’ communities. Their territories were limited, they have not established a language and believed in a monotheistic religion. Anthropology was studying them by collecting artifacts and facts about their lives. Especially with the colonization era British, French and Americans had much to study from the countries they colonized.  The circle in between is formed by the ‘Oriental’ i.e. Chinese, Japanese, Ottoman, Indian and Ethiopians. They are distinguished from the primitives through the states, complex bureaucracy and military they formed. But these nations are not fully historical nations who can end up being promoted or relegated to the third situation. Oriental studies looked into these civilizations with the help of linguistics that has done a lot of translation. The others’ history has been static and repetitive due to despotism and Asiatic way of economic development, which deprived oriental studies from a place in the departmental structure. The oriental despotism was rooted in the lack of checks and balances system, lawless and subservient on will of one person. Hence, the West and the Orient are binary opposites in which the western side is the stronger. The blockage and absence of development was ended after 1000 years with colonization. The underlying message is that West is the superior, but how and when did that happen?

Scholars like Wallerstein, Gellner and Stears asked the question in the opposite way: why did the East stay backwards? No private property and individual freedom have stood out as the most important reasons from the discussions. The catastrophes of 20^th century led to pessimism and exploration of knowledge on non-European civilizations. All national histories have started to been included in the department, in mean while the Euro-centric optimization was reversed. But this question persisted: how was it that just the European agrarian society developed capitalism? It is interesting to see that people just left behind 99% of their history formed by hunting, gathering and cultivation. Through the industrial revolution, accumulation of wealth and concentration of capital were made possible. The historians were emphasizing the uniqueness of the situation that triggered this revolution, which may be meaningless for the historians living 1000 years from now. But still the explanations focus on timeless and frozen West as the single biggest construction. Diamond and Cook wondered from when on this superiority started, Gellner and Stearns elaborated on the theories of how they became superior. Whereas Delanty looked into every stage of European history and found out that there has always been the ‘other’ for the West, although the name has been changing.