Radhanites

The Radhanites or Radanites (in Hebrew, רדהני/ Radhani (singular) or רדהנים/ Radhanim (plural); in Arab, الرذنية/ Ar-Raḏaniyya ) was merchant S Juifs of the Early middle ages. They dominated the trade between the worlds Christian and Moslem between 600 and 1000 of the Christian era. Trade route open under the Roman Empire mainly remained used during this period thanks to their efforts. Their sales network covered most of the Europe, the North Africa, the the Middle East, the Central Asia and part of the India and China. One does not know however if the term, which is used only by some direct sources, refers to a specific Corporation, with a Caste, or if it were a generic term to appoint the Jewish merchants who practiced the Commerce trans-Eurasian.

Sources

There exists very little of direct sources on Radhanites. Their activity is known for us thanks to a book of Abū l-Qasim Ubaid Allah ibn Khordadbeh, the Kitab Al-Masalik wal-Mamalik ( Livre of the Roads and Kingdoms ), which he undoubtedly wrote towards 870. As a director of the Station S and police force of the province of Jibâl under the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutammid (which reigned of 870 with 885), it occupied a privileged position to observe this trade.

menare , which one can take for mehare, therefore camel. But I can be mistaken, while waiting for a certainty, I prefer to correct towards most probable and most coherent with the remainder of the Archeos sentence-->

“These merchants speak Arab, Persan, Greek, frankly, Spanish and Slavic. They travel of west in is and of is in west, partially on ground, partially on sea. They transport from the occident of the Eunuque S, the women reduced in Esclavage, of the Garçon S, the silk trade, the beaver S, the Marte S and others Fourrure S, and sword S. They take the boat in Firanja ( France ), on the sea Occidentale, and go until Farama (Pelusium). Over there, they charge their goods with back with Chameau and goes by ground to Al-Kolzum (Suez), a distance from twenty-five farsakhs (Parasang S). They embark on the Red Sea and sail of Al-Kolzum with Al-Gravel bank (port of Médine) or Al-Jeddah, then they go to Sind, in India, and China. On the way of the return of China, they carry Musc, Aloès, Camphre, grooves, and other products of the Eastern countries towards Al-Kolzum and bring back them to Farama, where they embark on the sea Occidentale. Some sail towards Constantinople to sell their products with the Byzantine ; others go to the palate of the king of the Francs to sell their goods to with it. Sometimes, these Jewish merchants, when they embark since the country of the Francs, on the sea Occidentale, move towards Antioche (with the mouth of the Oronte); from there by ground to Al-Jabia (Al-Hanaya, at the edge of the Euphrate). Over there, they embark on the Euphrate and reach Baghdad, from where they descend the Tigre towards Al-Obolla. Starting from Al-Obolla, they sail towards Oman, Sind, Hind and China…
These various voyages can also be made by overland route. The merchants who start from Spain or France go to Sus Al-Aksa (to the Morocco) and then to Tangier, from where they go towards Kairouan and the capital of Egypt. From there, they go to rear-Ramla, visit Damas, Al-Kufa, Baghdad and Al-Basra, cross Ahvaz, the Fars, Kerman, Sind, Hind, and arrive in Chine.
Sometimes, also, they take the road since Rome and, crossing the country of the Slaves, arrive at Khamlidj, the capital of the Khazars. They embark on the sea Jorjan ( Jorjan Sea ), arrive at Balkhj, cross the Oxus, and continues their voyage towards Yurt, Toghuzghuz, the country of Ouïghours and towards China. ”

Apart from ibn Khordadbeh, Radhanites are mentioned only by one handle of sources. The book Kitab Al-Buldan (“Book of the Countries”) of Ibn Al-Faqih which dates from the 10th century them quotes, but the majority of information are extracted from the writings of Ibn Khordadbeh. Sefer ha-Dinim (“Book of the regulations”), a Hebrew account of the voyages of Yehuda Ben Meir of Mainz, quotes Przemyśl and Kiev like commercial counters along the road radhanite. At the beginning of the 12th century, a French Jewish merchant named Yitzhak Dorbelo wrote that he travelled with merchants radhanites until in Poland.

Origin of Radhanites

Several etymologies were suggested for the word Radhanite and the origin of these Jewish merchants. The first, older, considers that Radhanites are descendants of Jews installed in France during Antiquity, while the defenders of the second think that the center of their activity was in the East (Iraq or Perse).

Radhanites, descendants of the Jews of Occident?

The Jewish settlement of the Western Europe was probably the fact of merchants who would have followed the Roman legions. They established Comptoir S in the principal shopping malls of the empire: port road S, crossroads, river cities and markets. In connection with the presence of Jewish colonies in all the empire, in Occident and the East, the Greek geographer Strabon wrote as follows: “It is not easy to find a place on the ground which did not receive this race. ” The Jews profited from many privileges allotted by César, Auguste and Tibère because of the richness which their marketing activity created. In 212, they became Roman citizens like all the free men of the empire.

They settled durably in France as from the 4th century initially in the valleys of the the Saone and the the Rhone then from there, in the remainder of the country. They also created counters in Germany (Cologne, Mainz…) and in Spain (Tarragone, Grenade, Cordoue…). In same time, Christianity was spread little by little in the empire and became finally authorized. After it had become official religion of the Empire at the 4th century, the situation of the Jews worsened, more especially as their relative prosperity caused the desire. Théodose, Constancy and Justinien reduced their rights in turn. However, with the disintegration of the Roman empire and the reduction in the capacity of the Church which resulted from it, their fate improved temporarily.

The conversion of the Visigoths and the Francs made their situation difficult: a succession of councils decreased their rights until Dabogert I {{er}} the force to convert or leave France into 633. With the deterioration of the royal capacity, the Jewish tradesmen returned to France: they settled mainly with Metz, Verdun and Narbonne. Radhanites would have been the descendants of these Jews installed very early in France. Cecil Roth and Claude Cahen, among others, locates their hearth in the Vallée of the Rhone, whose Latin name is Rhodanus . According to these specialists, the center of the radhanite activity was probably in France because all their trade route started there.

An Eastern origin?

Many experts, among whom Charles Barbier of Meynard and Moshe Gil, think that the term Radhanite refers to a district of Mésopotamie called the country of Radhan (an area in the east of the Tigre, near to Baghdad) in the Arab and Hebrew texts of the time.

According to Scharfstein, Radhanites would be originating in Babylon in Mésopotamie. By sending their sons to study at the university, Radhanites would have woven bonds with the influential characters of the area. Thereafter, these contacts would have been useful to them in order to finance their trade.

Certain experts affirm that their center was the town of Ravy (Rhages) in the north of the Perse. Lastly, others think that the name comes from the Persan rah (“way”, “way”) and dān (“that which knows”), which would do “that which knows the ways”. They were also the only ones to make trade between Europe and the the Middle East with the Early middle ages. Fact even more remarkable, they carried out this intercontinental trade over a regular base and a wide period of time.

Radhanites (the Judaei ) would have been preceded by Christian Syrian merchants (the Syri ) who practiced the trade between the Occident and the East under the Mérovingiens. The latter provided the courses of the north of Europe in invaluable products. The sources differ however on the existence from a clear distinction between Judaei and Syri . Maurice Lombard affirms that they would have traded of the different products and summer with their apogee at different periods. With the conquest of the Middle East by the Moslems, the Syri would have disappeared. However, other specialists, such Postan, dispute this distinction. The terms Judaeus and Syrus would have been more or less synonymous and would have rather indicated a commercial activity of long distance rather than an ethnic origin.

Ibn Khordadbeh reports that Radhanites were sophisticated and polyglot. It describes four principal trade route used by Radhanites. All the four left the Vallée of the Rhone and went until in China:

  • the first descended the valley from the Rhone and arrived at the ports provençaux of Arles and Marseilles. From there, Radhanites sailed until in Egypt, then embarked on the Red Sea for the India.
  • One second brought the merchants by sea to the north of the Syria: starting from Antioche, they crossed the Iraq. They then sailed in the Persian Gulf until the North-West of India, Ceylon and the the Far East. It seems that he was current to carry out the way between India and China by ground.
  • Another road passed by Prague, the kingdom of the Bulgares, the Central Asia, the north of the Iran and followed old the Silk route as far as China. It is on this road that they would have profited from the assistance of the Khazars.
  • Lastly, the last passed by the Spain, the North Africa, the Palestine, Damas, the Iraq, Iran and arrived in India.

The voyages of Radhanites were long and dangerous. They often lasted several years: it was necessary for example for the one year old neighborhoods to go from Cordoue to Baghdad. The caravans radhanites were protected by armed riders; in a letter of the 11th century found in the Genizah of Cairo, the Jews of Alexandria ask for the Jewish authorities Cairo to obtain the release of merchants removed by Pirate S. the fate of the Jewish communities installed along the course of Radhanites and which facilitated largely their trade was also precarious: the town of Canton, principal center radhanite in China, knew several riots during which the foreign merchants were massacred. In Europe, the abundance of cash of Radhanites caused the jealousy of the Christians. Agobard, archbishop of Lyon, wrote with the bishop of Narbonne (where good number of Radhanites were installed) in 827 in order to denounce the Jewish presence and through the Muslim world. They attended in particular the court under Charlemagne and Louis the Piles with the Jewish merchants Donat, Samuel, Abraham of Saragossa, David Davitis and Joseph of Lyon: protection of their life and their goods, freedom to trade, religious liberty. However, the Jews did not have the right to have real estate: indeed, the very great ease of the Radhanites merchants would have enabled them to monopolize the grounds and the buildings.

A crucial role with the Early middle ages

During the Early middle ages, the ic States Islam of the the Middle East and North Africa and the kingdoms Chrétiens of Europe often prohibited to the merchants of the other camp to enter their port S. the Corsaire S of the two edges attacked with leisure the unfavourable boats. Radhanites were used as neutral intermediaries, allowing the great trade and transportation routes between the territories of the old Roman empire and the the Far East to remain open.

Being the only ones to travel between the Occident and the Muslim world, Radhanites also played a political role. Thus, when Charlemagne sought the support of the caliph de Bagdad, Haroun Al-Rachid against the emirs omeyyades of Cordoue, it made use of a merchant Radhanite de Narbonne named Isaac. It sent it with two noble in embassy near the caliph. The two noble ones died during the voyage and Isaac returned alone afterwards to Aachen five years with many gifts among which an elephant.

Although traditionally, the majority of the historians think that the Chinese technique of paper was transmitted in Europe via Arab merchants who held the secrecy of prisoner of war captured with the Bataille of Catholic students, certain experts estimate that Jewish merchants such as Radhanites played a decisive part in the arrival of paper in Occident.

Joseph of Spain, perhaps Radhanite, according to certain sources would have introduced the figures arabo-Indians in Europe. Historically, the Jewish communities used letters of credit to transport great quantities of money without taking the risk to be made fly on their way. The Jewish merchants of the Moyen-âge developed and used with large scales this system: the merchants radhanites made use of the suftata , of the letters of credit simpler than those employed subsequently. They made it possible Radhanites to make trade at long distances. They would have been invented by the Jewish bankers of Baghdad, precursors of the Banque S which took their rise during the Bas the Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern time.

Radhanites would have also contributed to the development of medicine within the Jewish communities of Western Europe: while bringing back to Europe drugs, medicamentous products and receipts unknown, they allowed some their co-religionists to become famous doctors in France (Paris, Montpellier), in Spain (Université of Salamanque) and in Portugal (Université of Coimbra). Moreover, they would have taken part in the installation of Jewish communities in various places along their trade route: they were probably implied in the Jewish settlement of Europe of the East (Prague), of Central Asia, China and India.

End of the time radhanite

The sources differ over the period from apogee from Radhanites. According to MacDonald, Gastmann and other authors, it is located at the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century. However, Postan dates the decline from Radhanites at the 9th century.

The reasons explaining the progressive decline of Radhanites are multiple. The fall of the Dynasty Tang in China in 908 and the destruction of the Khagan At khazar sixty years later spread chaos in the center of the Eurasia, in the the Caucasus and in China. Trade route became unstable and not very sure, a situation worsened by the invasion S Turkish of the Perse and the the Middle East. The Silk route was cut during several centuries. Moreover, the fragmentation of the Islamic world (and to a lesser extent, Christendom) in small States provides more opportunities for the not-Jews of practicing the trade. Towards the end of the 10th century and with the 11th century, the European cities took their rise. This period was marked by the emergence of the Italian commercial cities, in particular Genoa, Venice, Pisa and Amalfi which regarded Radhanites as undesirable competitors. A Christian commercial class was born, initially in Italy of the South, then in Italy of North, in the Flandres and the Vallée of the Rhine.

The situation of the Jews in Occident was degraded. Because of the traffic of slaves and hostility of the clergy, Radhanites would have lost the supports which they had in the courses European. The anti-semitism was reinforced at the time of the First crusade and the Jews were victims of persecution: pogroms, expulsion of the great shopping malls.

However, some continued their activity until in the second part of the 11th century. Thus, in 1084, the bishop of Spire Rüdiger which wished to make to its city an important shopping mall granted them a charter so that they are established there. The last mention of the prosperity of the Jews of the valley of the Rhine dates from the first crusade. The Jewish merchants of the end of the 11th century and the 12th century continued to trade but on quite less scale (i.e. much more locally) than their Radhanites predecessors.

The economy of the Europe was deeply modified by the disappearance of Radhanites. For example, of the documents show that many spices used usually in the middle of the Moyen-âge disappeared completely from the European tables at the 10th century. The Jews had profited before from a Monopole in the trade of spices in most of Western Europe.

Centuries later, Marco Polo and Ibn Battûta told, respectively with the Christian and the Moslem , the account of their voyages in Orient. It is thought that Ibn Battûta accompanied the Moslem tradesmen who travelled in the East on roads similar to those used by Radhanites.

Radhanites seen by a Soviet historian anti-semite, Lev Goumilev

A Soviet historian , Lev Goumilev, practically affirmed without any source that Radhanites had played an important role in the control of the Slavic ones. Goumilev did not reproach them such an amount of for having practiced the traffic of slaves, but to have made it well with Slavic and Christian slaves. He showed them to have lived at the expense of the local populations:

He depicted them like demons of the evil. According to him, Radhanites would have sold Khazars which had lodged them. Consequently, he intended to show their lack of gratitude which would be a typical behavior on behalf of the Jews, just like racism and xenophobia.

Lastly, they according to him would have exerted an undue influence on the landscape sociopolitic and economic of the Middle Ages. He thus showed them to have practiced mixed marriages in order to conquer the political power of Khazars.

See too

Related articles

External bonds

Sources of the article

Random links:Agrippine the Young person | Equipo de la producción | Freudo-Marxism | Enrico Mattei | Shuyu Narita | Myself (table) | Igor_Mitoraj