Hayton, the 14th-century Armenian chronicler, describes where many Kurds lived. According to him, Kurds were wandering around in the Kingdom of Media. The text is significant because it extends "Media" all the way to Hormuz in the 14th century, which brings to mind Sharaf Khan's description of Kurdistan. It may even have served as one of the sources for Sharaf Khan's delineation of Kurdistan's boundaries.
According to Hayton's cartography, Kurds could also be found in other geographic realms and were known for being adept bowmen. His delineation of the realm of Media deserves particular attention because it is more specific than that of many other authors. He refers to the inhabitants of Media either as Kurds (an ethnic designation) or as Saracens (a religious designation).
What was the ethnicity of this otherwise undefined group? A common strategy in premodern texts was to avoid assigning ethnic labels to certain populations. Instead, demonyms and other forms of geographic identification were often used to describe what I have elsewhere called "invisible communities." In my view, many scholars have failed to appreciate this distinction, frequently conflating demonyms with ethnonyms. This issue extends far beyond examples such as confusing place-based designations with ethnic identities, or, as in Hayton's case, employing a religious label to describe a vast territory containing highly diverse populations:
The kingdom of Media is extremely long and narrow. In the east it borders the kingdom of Persia and, partly, the kingdom of Greater India. It extends westward to the kingdom of Chaldea; north to the kingdom of Greater Armenia; and south to the city of Ak'isum [Qishm] by the Ocean.
The large pearls found there circulate throughout the world.
In the Median kingdom there are great mountains and few plains. There are two districts [in the kingdom]. The people living in one of them are called Saracens, while those in the other district are called Kurds.
The Median kingdom possesses two very great cities, one named Soraket [Shiraz] and the other Aworemon [Kermanshah]. By law and faith they are Muhammedan and use the Arabic script. They are brave and powerful infantry bowmen."
In the east the realm of Mesopotamia stretches from the great city of Mosul, built by the Tigris River, far westward to the Euphrates River and the city of Roha [Urha/Edessa], which was the city of Abgar's kingdom. It was to Abgar that the Veronica icon—now in Rome—was sent.
Close to Urha is the land of Harran, where Abraham once dwelled. The Lord commanded him to leave Harran and pass into the Promised Land on the other side of the Euphrates River. Thus Scripture is full of traditions concerning it. In Greek, this land is called Mesopotamia because it lies between two rivers of Paradise, the Tigris and the Euphrates.
In breadth the country stretches from one of the Armenian mountains called Sanson [Sasun] south to the desert of Lesser Arabia. This land has numerous fertile and pleasant plains. There are two very high and fruitful mountains: one in the east called Siniat [Mount Sinjar] and the other in the west called Lisson [the mountain range near Diyarbakir].
Few rivers flow through this country, and therefore the inhabitants drink water from wells and reservoirs. Some of them are Christians, such as the Syrians and Armenians, while others are Saracens by law and religion.
The Christian Armenians are valiant cavalrymen and infantrymen, whereas the Saracens and Syrians generally do not bear arms, being craftsmen, cultivators of the soil, or herders of flocks. However, in the place called Merdin there are some exceptionally skilled Saracen bowmen known as Kurds.
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