The Vikings might not have been that bad after all?

According to Francis Fukuyama’s book The Origins of Political Order from 2011 rule of law and accountable government originated in Europe quite early. Rule of law consolidated to the Common Law in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and Rule of law on the Continent came about from the canon of the Catholic Church which they put together from the Roman Justinian Code after having freed themselves from the state by Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085). Individuality also was established from church ideas as well as from the inherent heritage from the barbaric German tribes and Anglo-Saxons. There must have been something inherently fair about these savages, like the Vikings, once they became christened and formalized their rule of law. The strong position of the woman in the family must stem from this source. It is conceivable that the political development had importance for the scientific revolution. The church was also important in the alternative path to democracy and rule of law for example seen in Denmark where the church educated the peasants who were then used by the king to balance out the nobles. The woman’s standing was good in Judaism at the time of David and Solomon but deteriorated down to the time of Christ. Jesus is of course quite kind to the woman, relatively speaking. A christened Europe in any case was a very different place compared to Muslim military slavery run countries, India and China.

Fukuyama pointed out the strong standing of the English woman relative the Muslim and Indian cultures that were also religious. She could sue and get sued, bequeath property and own and sell property without a male guardian from the 13^th century. It is interesting to speculate on cultural difference between western barbarians and more eastern barbarians, the Teutons, that perhaps gives rise to the different philosophy seen between Britain and Germany. Fukuyama also pointed out that the Norman Conquest only changed the top layer of society and not the general organization of England into shires. In the same line of evidence it is then possible to say that christening of Barbarians in Europe did not change organization initially but that the individual character of each tribal society in a way was maintained. Another idea that might be interesting to delve on is that if there were differences in the time between 600 and 1000, are there larger or smaller differences between areas today? It might be possible to say that education homogenizes the populations but it might also be possible to say that different language groups might develop more differently than before because of faster communications. Clovis I was the first Catholic king of France who lived 466-511. Arian Christianity was common among the Goths at the time and the Catholic Venerable Bede christened part of England in 597. Vernacular translations of the Bible came first in England 1382 and then in Germany 1466. Italy and France did their translations later than northern Europe--an early difference in handling freedom.