The Golden Age of Yeghegis in the 13th and 14th Centuries: Built Environment, Cultural Heritage, and Local Multiplicities

To explore the material cultural heritage of Yeghegis during its thirteenth- and fourteenth-century heyday and the relevant textual sources, this study begins by pointing out the difficulty of harmonizing written sources on the churches and monasteries in Yeghegis with extant monuments. This circumstance raises questions about the dedication and function of such churches as the Zorats‘ Church and the Cupola Church. The article highlights the importance, but also difficulties when undertaking interdisciplinary research that aims to combine archaeological and written evidence. The study also focuses on the ethno-religious and linguistic multiplicities of Yeghegis and Vayots‘ Dzor, which included a Jewish community, Persian-speaking Muslim residents and traders, and Western European missionaries who brought Scholastic texts and methods of reasoning. The chapter argues that the increased trade that certainly passed through Vayots‘ Dzor must have been one, and perhaps the most important cause of the variegated and flourishing culture that characterized Yeghegis. Keywords / Jews in Yeghegis, multilingualism, trade in the Middle Ages, Vayots‘ Dzor, Yeghegis churches