Europe: A History (62 page)
DIRHAM
O
N
12 May
AD
922, a caravan walked into the Bulgar city of Suvar on the Volga. It had been travelling for more than three months from the port of Jurjan on the Caspian Sea. It was led by an Arab merchant, Ibn Fadlhãn, who wrote an account of his travels.
1
It is one small incident in the history of commercial contacts between Eastern Europe and the Arab states of Central Asia over five centuries. Ibn Fadlhãn was coming to buy furs; and there is no doubt that he was carrying a plentiful supply of dirhams to pay for his purchases.
The dirham or
dirhem
was a coin of pure silver weighing 2.97 grammes, and worth one-tenth of a dinar. It was minted both in North Africa and in Central Asia under various dynasties. It was standard currency in Eastern Europe in the era before local mints existed. Hoards of dirhams have been found all over European Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic States, Sweden, and northern Poland. The largest of them contained over 50,000 coins. Buried by their owners in times of insecurity, they sometimes remained uncollected until found by modern archaeologists and treasure-hunters. They can be dated quite precisely from the date of the newest coin in any particular lot.
Analysis of dirham hoards indicates four recognizable periods. In the first period,
c
.800–25, the hoards contain Abbasid dirhams, predominantly from North Africa. They may well reflect Khazar-Arab trade links via the Mediterranean
[KHAZARIA]
In the second period, 825–905, the North African issues disappear, and are replaced by Central Asian coins. In the third period, 905–60, the hoards still consist overwhelmingly of Sãmãnid issues, but are joined by large numbers of Buwayhid and Ziyarid issues.
2
In the Viking Age, when Swedish Vikings controlled the Baltic-Dnieper route, dirhams were taken all over the north,
[FUTHARK] [RUS’]
Important finds have been made in Sweden, and especially on the island of Gotland.
3
Indeed, as Ibn Fadlhãn recorded when he encountered a party of Swedes, the possession of dirhams had become a matter of status and public ostentation:
‘I saw the [Swedes] when they landed and camped beside the Volga. I never saw statelier men. They are as tall as palm-trees, ruddy-cheeked, and with red hair. They wear neither kirtle nor caftan, but the men have a rough cloak which they throw to one side, leaving their hands free …
Fastened on the breasts of the women is a capsule of iron, copper, silver or gold according to the wealth of the husband. In the capsule is a ring, and attached to it, a knife … Round their necks, they wear gold and silver chains. For when a man owns 10,000 dirhems, he has one chain made for his wife; for 20,000, she has two chains. Thus [an extra] chain is added [to the wife’s neck] for each 10,000 dirhems that the husband possesses.’
4
The import of Arab silver to Eastern Europe faltered in the late tenth and ended in the early eleventh century. The latest Sãmãnid dirham found in Sweden dates from 969, in Russia from 1015. This used to be attributed to a ‘silver crisis’ in Central Asia. But other factors were at work. The end of the re-export of Arab silver from Rus’ to Sweden coincides with the appearance of silver deniers from Western Europe. By the end of the eleventh century, Arab coins had been totally supplanted. The details may be obscure; but the numismatic evidence clearly supports developments known from other sources, namely the reorientation of the Baltic trade and the rise of Novgorod.
The Magyars were the last of the nomads to colonize central Europe. Descendants of the Ugrian branch of the Finno-Ugrian peoples, their earliest known cradle-land lay east of the Urals in the valleys of the Irtysh and Ob. They parted company with their Finnic kinsfolk in the third millennium
BC.
Thenceforth they occupied successive stations on the southern steppes, gradually adapting themselves to the nomadic life, first in ‘Magna Hungaria’ between the Kama and Ural rivers, later in ‘Lebedia’ north of the Sea of Azov, and finally in the land of
Etelkőz
or ‘mesopotamia’ between the Dnieper and Dniester (see Appendix III, p. 1240). On the steppes of the first millennium, the Magyars were the neighbours of the Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Bulgars, Khazars, Uzi, and Pechenegs. They were already divided into their seven tribes: Nyék, Kűrtgyarmat, Tarján, Jenő’, Kér, Keszi, and Magyar—the last name being later applied to them all. Byzantine sources speak of their trading in slaves through the Black Sea ports.
The Magyars’ decisive move was made at the end of the ninth century. The steppe peoples had been in commotion for several decades. The Arabs dispersed the Uzi and stole their cattle; the Uzi did the same to the Pechenegs. In 894 the Pechenegs made common cause with the Bulgarian Tsar, and together they fell on the Magyars. The time had come for what the Magyars themselves call the
hon-foglolás
, ‘the occupation of the fatherland’. Overwhelmed by their neighbours, they decided to migrate to the west. For the first time their horsemen, who in recent years had lent their services both to the Franks and the Byzantines, did not return to Etelkoz. Instead, with Arpad at their head, they led the long trains of their people over the Verecke Pass in the Carpathians. It was the spring of 895 at the latest. Perhaps 20,000 warriors and 400,000 tribesfolk had come to found the land of the Magyars on the plains of ‘Hungaria’.
[CSABA] [SHAMAN]
The Mongols, or ‘Tartars’, commanded the greatest of all the nomadic empires. Centred on the arid steppes of central Asia, their fortunes waxed and waned; but they directly impinged on the affairs of the West on two separate occasions. Genghis Khan (r. 1206–27), starting from Karakorum, conquered a territory which stretched from the Pacific to the Black Sea, from Korea to Crimea
(see p. 364). The renewer of the Mongol empire, Timur or Tamerlane (1336–1405), starting from Samarkand, mastered an area somewhat more to the south, from Delhi to the Aegean. Indirectly, it was the Mongols who set another Central Asian people in motion. The Turks originated in Turkestan, whence they were displaced in the eighth century and where related peoples still live. They were destined to appear on the horizons of the West first with the Seljuk Turks in the eleventh century (see pp. 332–3) and then with the Ottoman Turks in the thirteenth (see p. 386). The story of their epic wanderings encompasses the whole span which in the West separated Charlemagne from the end of the Crusades.
DING
T
HE
custom among Germanic tribes of holding popular assemblies was described by Tacitus: and there is little doubt that they had existed since prehistoric times. The earliest such assembly to enter the historical record, in the ninth-century
Legend of Ansgar
, was the
Ding
which met at Birka on the island of Björkö in Sweden. A similar assembly met at a similar period in Denmark.
Iceland’s national assembly, the
Althing
, came into being in
AD
930 under the Law Rock by the lake at Thingvellir. Thereafter, it met annually ‘after ten weeks of summer’ and was attended by the island’s thirty-six clan chiefs and by their chosen delegates or
thingmen
, who elected the Lawspeaker. It appointed judges, passed laws, and made executive decisions, adopting the principle of majority voting from 1130. Each year, it was preceded by the Maytime
farthings
or ‘regional assemblies’ of the island’s four quarters, and was followed by the
leid
—a meeting when the populace was informed of decisions taken. It was the centrepiece of Iceland’s ‘free state’, which continued until the ‘Old Treaty’ of 1264 and the Norwegian takeover.
1
The Manx Assembly on the Isle of Man, the
Tynwald
, like that of the Faroes, dates from a similar early period,
[FAROE]
Nordic democracy put special emphasis on local assemblies. Every Swedish province had its
ding
, like Iceland’s
farthings
, in each of the country’s twelve jurisdictions. Denmark had three
landlings
, and Norway its
lögthings
. At the lowest level in Iceland, a system of
hieppar
or ‘farmers’ gatherings’ functioned from the eleventh to the nineteenth centuries. These traditions greatly modified the ambitions of Nordic kingship, and obstructed Scandinavian political union. When the Nordic countries did eventually enter the Union of Kalmar (see p. 431), it was for dynastic reasons that did not last. The Charter of Rights which was forced on the Danish King Erik Glipping in 1282, and the Swedish equivalent of 1319, were more extensive than England’s Magna Carta. All had their roots in a much older political culture.
2
Nor was the influence of Nordic democracy confined to Scandinavia. It had an impact everywhere the Vikings went—in England, in Scotland, in Russian Novgorod, and very probably in Poland, where the same legal right of rebellion took root (see p. 555). Although the Scandinavian countries were due to experience an era of absolute monarchy, the tradition of local democracy may help to explain the strength of constitutionalism and representative government in modern times.
The empire of Charlemagne consummated the alliance between the Roman Papacy and the growing kingdom of the Franks. It was an ephemeral affair, barely surviving its founder’s death and disappearing completely within a century. None the less, its impact was profound. Charlemagne, or Charles the Great (r. 768–814), great-grandson of Charles Martel, united the two halves of his forebears’ realm, Neustria and Austrasia, in a vast territory from the Atlantic to the Danube, from the Netherlands to Provence. After fifty-three campaigns and a lifetime in the saddle, he succeeded in extending that realm in all directions: to the Kingdom of the Lombards south of the Alps (773–4); to Saxony (775–804), Bavaria (788), and Carinthia (799); to the March of Brittany (786); and to the Spanish March across the Pyrenees (795–7). Having assumed the title of ‘King of the Franks and Lombards’, and confirmed the grant of the Exarchate of Ravenna to the Papacy, he had clearly outstripped the rival chieftains of his day, and was looking for suitable recognition. For its part, the Papacy had severed its links with the Emperor in Constantinople and was looking for a permanent protector. Pope Leo III (795–816) was tempted to regard the imperial title as vacant after the pathological Empress Irene had seized sole power in Constantinople. Moreover, attacked in Rome by a gang of his predecessor’s relatives who had tried to mutilate him, he was forced to take refuge with Charles in Frankland, whither he had earlier sent the keys of St Peter’s and the banner of Rome,
[BRIE]
After Charlemagne’s early years, the western borders of Frankland were not seriously disturbed. The line of the Pyrenees was held against major Muslim incursions (see p. 255); and the Caliphate, though prosperous and populous, was preoccupied with the internal strife of its constituent states. The Frankish position was strengthened by allies among the Christian princes who clung tenaciously to the coastland of northern Iberia, first in the Kingdom of Asturias and then in the later Kingdoms of Leon, Castile, and Navarre. On the southern flank, it was protected by the Christian buffer states which took root in Aragon and in the County of Barcelona. Relative security in the west gave Charlemagne and his successors the chance to turn their attention to problems elsewhere, notably in the east and in Italy,
[MADONNA]
The Franco-papal alliance was consummated in 800, during Charles’s fifth journey to Italy. A council of notables had absolved Leo of all crimes, and during Christmas Mass, as Charles rose from prayer before St Peter’s tomb, the Pope
slipped an imperial crown on his head. The congregation acclaimed him ‘Caesar’ and ‘Augustus’, and the Pope knelt in homage before him. Einhard, Charlemagne’s biographer, claims that the coronation occurred spontaneously; in all probability it was carefully rehearsed. In terms of tradition it was entirely irregular: Pope Leo had no recognized right to confer the imperial title, and Charlemagne had no right to receive it. But it happened. Henceforth, there was a Catholic Emperor in the West independent of the Byzantine Empire. The barbaric Frankish kingdom was upgraded, dependent on the Pope for its new status (see Appendix III, p. 1239).
[AQUILA][PAPESSA]
BRIE
R
ETURNING
from his campaign against the Lombards in 774, Charlemagne halted on the Plateau de Brie, close to the Abbey of Meaux. The monks served him a Lenten plate of cheese. They insisted that he eat it whole, without removing the crust. Delighted, he promptly ordered two batches of Brie to be sent to Aachen every year. Charlemagne’s secretary, Einhard, recorded a similar incident four years later during the Saracen wars. Stopping in the district of Rouergue in the Midi, the King took an instant liking to the local blue cheese of ewes’ milk that was known and matured since Roman times in the limestone caves at Roquefort.
1
Charlemagne’s fine cheeses were matched by a cellar of fine wines. He owned many
ouvrées
or ‘enclosures’ in the Burgundian vineyard at Aloxe-Corton, whose choicest
Grand Cru
white, ‘smelling of cinnamon and tasting of gunflint’, is still marketed as C
ORTON-
C
HARLEMAGNE.
2
Brie de Meaux
, one of France’s 500 listed cheeses, dates from the era of early monastic farming. After renneting and airing, the curd is shovelled into a flat, straw-based mould, and left to drain on a sloping stone shelf. Decanted after 24 hours, it is salted, dried, frequently turned, and matured in cellars for 4–7 weeks. The final product measures 37 x 3.5 cm, weighs 3 kg, and will have taken up 23 litres of full-cream milk, preferably from a herd of Normandy cows. It has a golden-roseate crust, a firm, straw-coloured body, and a succulent, ivory
âme
or ‘centre’—literally ‘the soul’. It should be eaten between thin slices of crusty bread.
For centuries, Brie was shipped along the River Marne to Paris, where the street-sellers shouted
‘Fromage de Brye’
. It was a royal favourite with Charjes VIII and Henri IV, but cost the life of Louis XVI, who was caught in the tavern at Varennes through tarrying to eat his cheese. Brie was made internationally famous at the Congress of Vienna, where Metternich pronounced it
le prince des fromages
—‘the only prince which Talleyrand would never betray’.
The CAP of the European Community is all but killing traditional farmhouse cheese. In 1985, some 6,000 tonnes of Brie ANOC
(Appellation Nationale d’Origine Controllée)
were produced, as against over 18,000 tonnes of ‘horrific’ industrial Brie.
In August 1792, when many of the monks of Meaux were killed during the revolutionary Terror, one brother, the Abbé Gobert, fled to Normandy en route for England. He stopped long enough in a village near Vimoutiers (Orne) to show a farmer’s wife what he knew about cheese-making. The village was called Camembert.
3
