"Kicking the Crusaders out of the Caucasus" – a Rethinking of Khevsureti´s Legends

Review

"A jewel of a story that! How it fires the imagination" with Edward Alsworth Ross words Ryan Sherman opened his talk on February 20 in the office of the Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC). The Work in Progress Series hosted Ryan Sherman from the Cornell University to present his academic work on the Khevsuretis, entitled 'Kicking the Crusaders out of the Caucasus'. In his work he tries to dismantle inaccurate representations of Khevsur cultural heritage. The talk was attented by students and other guests.

Ryan Sherman started the talk with an review on written pieces of the Khevsuretis to trace back the till today present legend of the Khevsuretis culture, being rooted in the presence of a band of medieval crusaders, the so-called Crusader-Myth.

Due to unclear even dubious resaons a group of crusaders found themselves in a village in the remote area of the Caucasus, the myth narrates. In the end they stay, settle down, find women in neighbouring villages and how Sherman said, "Make the best out of it".

Throughout the time this legend found its proof in diverse written pieces by western adeventurer and travel journalists. All of them mainly referring to the Russian serviceman and ethnographer Arnold Zisserman who spent 25 years in the Caucasus. In his argumentation the whole Khevsur folk culture and the within embedded religious and social practices are preserved traditions from the Crusaders, which is not just in Sherman´s opinion but the majority of scholars working in that field, simply wrong. This growing collection of literature and articles evolved to have its own logic and creates the ilusion of being an undoubtless fact. All the so-called evidences were disproved by a variety of scholars throughout the time.

Despite the high controversial debate on academic level the myth and its mystic even romanticized picture made its way to the people´s mindsets thinking about Georgia, awakening it as an interesting point for tourism guides and articles. If the mystification of that legend does have negative or positive effects is not of Sherman´s direct concerns. He argues impassioned for uncovering this story as false and is motivated to raise the awareness regarding this topic. Even though he himself questions the harmfulness of the story, he is encouraged to point out the truth and end with the misrepresentation of the Khevsuretis. He states out the importance to talk about the topic on different levels and to show how easily we can make mistakes in our thoughts and fall for misinformation. At the end it is also an wake-up call for media, literature and even private people on how and what to publish, which may be not more as a perception of others, concealed as truth.

Ryan Sherman´s next step in uncovering the truth is to correct all the Wikipedia articles for a start, to end with this 'jewel of a story' and finally kick the crusaders out of the Caucasus.

The talk was part of the Work in Progress (W-i-P) series, co-organized by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), the American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, and the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC). The W-i-P is an ongoing academic discussion series, which aims to provide support and productive criticism to those researching and developing academic projects on the Caucasus region. The talks are free and open to public

By Lisa Maier

Image Source: Theodor Horschelt, Drawing, “Armed Khevsur”

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