Karol Modzelewski on the barbaric roots of Europe

"My position as an historian with an East-European sensibility allows me a different approach to the history of barbaric Europe and helps me avoid falling into the trap of a unilateral vision of Europe's past", explains Karol Modzelewski, professor of medieval history at the University of Warsaw, whose opinion is related by Gilles Anquetil. "The cultural roots of Europe are also barbaric. But the historical and ideological vulgate tries to deny this. Since the Christianisation of the European space, a very selective genealogy has been constructed, neglecting the mosaic of barbaric populations who composed Europe for centuries. We have focused only on Mediterranean heritage -Greek and Roman- and then on Christian heritage. The history of populations that do not have their origins in the Mediterranean and who lived in the confines of the Roman Empire also forged our European culture."

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