First International Conference of the Medieval Caucasus Network
U-Residence, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium, 13th-14th March 2026
Modern historiographies of the medieval Caucasus, from the establishment of Christianity in the South Caucasus to the emergence of the Ottoman-Safavid rivalry, have been dominated by the operation of political and ecclesiastical elites, including their mutual interactions, modes of representation, and relationships with neighbouring imperial powers. While significant advances have resulted from these historiographies, the actions, relationships and worldviews of social groups further from power remain less clear. Comparative studies across political and language barriers remain sparse, as are region-wide methodological paradigms for approaching these groups’ histories. Key theoretical questions include: what aspects of nineteenth- and twentieth-century historiography remain valid and useful? How suitable are methodologies developed in other regions and time periods for studying non-elite groups in the medieval Caucasus? Should we develop new, Caucasus-specific research approaches; and, if so, what should they look like?
Our conference therefore aims to present new, comparative and connective approaches to the study of non-elite groups in the medieval Caucasus, including but not limited to peasants and non-elite pastoralists, enslaved people, non-elite women, and religious minorities.
The conference will feature two days of papers on a variety of topics, from the Caucasian slave trade, to the place of women in medieval Armenian society, to the bioarchaeology of the medieval Caucasus. The keynote speakers are Nik Matheou (University of Edinburgh) and Irina Arzhantseva (Insitute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences). Speakers hail from Belgium, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Czechia, the Russian Federation, Georgia, Armenia, and Egypt.
Registration is open now at the following link:
https://www.vub.be/en/event/studying-non-elites-in-medieval-caucasus
Registration costs 10 euros for members of the public, students, and PhD candidates, and 20 euros for postdoctoral and permanent staff members. Online hybrid participation is fully available.