Janissary
Janissary | |
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Agha of the Janissaries |
Military of the Ottoman Empire |
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A janissary (
Janissaries began as elite corps made up through the
The janissaries were a formidable military unit in the early centuries, but as Western Europe modernized its military organization and technology, the janissaries became a reactionary force that resisted all change. Steadily the Ottoman military power became outdated, but when the janissaries felt their privileges were being threatened, or outsiders wanted to modernize them, or they might be superseded by their cavalry rivals, they would rise in rebellion. By the time the janissaries were suppressed, it was too late for Ottoman military power to catch up with the West.[11] The corps was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident, in which 6,000 or more were executed.[12]
Origins and history
The formation of the Janissaries has been dated to the reign of Murad I (r. 1362–1389), the third ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans instituted a tax of one-fifth on all slaves taken in war, and from this pool of manpower the sultans first constructed the Janissary corps as a personal army loyal only to the sultan.[13]
From the 1380s to 1648, the Janissaries were gathered through the
The Janissaries were kapıkulları (sing. kapıkulu), "door servants" or "slaves of the Porte", neither freemen nor ordinary slaves (köle).[19] They were subjected to strict discipline, but were paid salaries and pensions upon retirement and formed their own distinctive social class.[20] As such, they became one of the ruling classes of the Ottoman Empire, rivalling the Turkish aristocracy. The brightest of the Janissaries were sent to the palace institution, Enderun. Through a system of meritocracy, the Janissaries held enormous power, stopping all efforts to reform the military.[14]
According to military historian Michael Antonucci and economic historians Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane, the Turkish administrators would scour their regions (but especially the
It was a similar system to the Iranian
In the late 16th century, a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Corps and permitted Janissary children to become members of the Corps, a practice strictly forbidden for the previous 300 years. According to paintings of the era, they were also permitted to grow beards. Consequently, the formerly strict rules of succession became open to interpretation. While they advanced their own power, the Janissaries also helped to keep the system from changing in other progressive ways, and according to some scholars the corps shared responsibility for the political stagnation of Istanbul.[14]
Greek Historian
Some of the most famous Janissaries include
The Janissaries were no exception to the weakening of central imperial authority in the 18th century. Trade and commercial activity replaced the disciplined military service of earlier centuries, and the Janissaries were willing to engage in violent acts of rebellion to protect their private interests in an increasingly decentralized and chaotic Ottoman Empire.
Characteristics
The Janissary corps were distinctive in a number of ways. They wore unique
These differences, along with an impressive war-record, made the Janissaries a subject of interest and study by foreigners during their own time. Although eventually the concept of a modern army incorporated and surpassed most of the distinctions of the Janissaries and the corps was eventually dissolved, the image of the Janissary has remained as one of the symbols of the Ottomans in the western psyche. By the mid-18th century, they had taken up many trades and gained the right to marry and enroll their children in the corps and very few continued to live in the barracks.[6] Many of them became administrators and scholars. Retired or discharged Janissaries received pensions, and their children were also looked after.
Recruitment, training and status
The first Janissary units were formed from prisoners of war and slaves, probably as a result of the sultan taking his traditional one-fifth share of his army's plunder in kind rather than monetarily; however, the continuing enslaving of dhimmi constituted a continuing abuse of a subject population.[28] For a while, the Ottoman government supplied the Janissary corps with recruits from the devşirme system.[29] Children were drafted at a young age and turned into soldiers in an attempt to make the soldiers faithful to the sultan. The social status of devşirme recruits took on an immediate positive change, acquiring a greater guarantee of governmental rights and financial opportunities.[29] In poor areas officials were bribed by parents to make them take their sons, thus they would have better chances in life.[30] Initially the recruiters favoured Greeks and Albanians.[31][32] As borders of the Ottoman Empire expanded, the devşirme was extended to include Armenians, Bulgarians, Croats, Hungarians, Serbs and later Bosniaks,[33][34][35][36][37] and, in rare instances, Romanians, Georgians, Circassians, Ukrainians and southern Russians.[31]
This "child levy" system was regularly implemented during the 15th-16th centuries, the first two centuries of its existence. Some historians argue this system contributed to the Ottoman states efforts at conversion and "Islamization" of its non-Muslim populations.[citation needed] Radushev states this recruitment system can be bisected into two periods, its first, or classical period, encompassing those first two centuries of regular execution and utilization to supply recruits; and a second period which more focuses on its gradual change, decline, and ultimate abandonment, beginning in the 17th century.[29]
In response to foreign threats, the Ottoman government chose to rapidly expand the size of the corps after the 1570s. Janissaries spent shorter periods of time in training as acemi oğlans, as the average age of recruitment increased from 13.5 in the 1490s to 16.6 in 1603. This reflected not only the Ottomans' greater need for manpower but also the shorter training time necessary to produce skilled musketeers in comparison with archers. However, this change alone was not enough to produce the necessary manpower, and consequently the traditional limitation of recruitment to boys conscripted in the devşirme was lifted. Membership was opened up to free-born Muslims, both recruits hand-picked by the commander of the Janissaries, as well as the sons of current members of the Ottoman standing army.[38] By the middle of the seventeenth century, the devşirme had largely been abandoned as a method of recruitment.[39]
The prescribed daily rate of pay for entry-level Janissaries in the time of
For all practical purposes, Janissaries belonged to the Sultan and they were regarded as the protectors of the throne and the Sultan. Janissaries were taught to consider the corps their home and family, and the Sultan as their father. Only those who proved strong enough earned the rank of true Janissary at the age of 24 or 25. The
Training
When a non-Muslim boy was recruited under the
Even after the rapid expansion of the size of the corps at the end of the sixteenth century, the Janissaries continued to undergo strict training and discipline. The Janissaries experimented with new forms of battlefield tactics, and in 1605 became one of the first armies in Europe to implement rotating lines of volley fire in battle.[43]
Organization
The corps was organized into
- the cemaat (frontier troops; also spelled jemaat in old sources), with 101 ortas
- the bölük or beylik, (the Sultan's own bodyguard), with 61 ortas
- the sekban or seymen, with 34 ortas
In addition there were also 34 ortas of the ajemi (cadets). A semi-autonomous Janissary corps was permanently based in Algiers, called the Odjak of Algiers.
Originally Janissaries could be promoted only through seniority and within their own orta. They could leave the unit only to assume command of another. Only Janissaries' own commanding officers could punish them. The rank names were based on positions in the kitchen staff or Sultan's royal hunters; 64th and 65th Orta 'Greyhound Keepers' comprised as the only Janissary cavalry,[45] perhaps to emphasise that Janissaries were servants of the Sultan. Local Janissaries, stationed in a town or city for a long time, were known as yerliyyas.[46]
Corps strength
Even though the Janissaries were part of the royal army and personal guards of the sultan, the corps was not the main force of the Ottoman military. In the classical period, Janissaries were only one-tenth of the overall Ottoman army, while the traditional Turkish cavalry made up the rest of the main battle force. According to David Nicolle, the number of Janissaries in the 14th century was 1,000 and about 6,000 in 1475. The same source estimates the number of Timarli Sipahi, the provincial cavalry which constituted the main force of the army at 40,000.[1]
Beginning in the 1530s, the size of the Janissary corps began to dramatically expand, a result of the rapid conquests the Ottomans were carrying out during those years. Janissaries were used extensively to garrison fortresses and for siege warfare, which was becoming increasingly important for the Ottoman military. The pace of expansion increased after the 1570s, due to the initiation of a series of wars with the
Year | 1400 | 1484 | 1523 | 1530 | 1547 | 1574 | 1582 | 1592 | 1609 | 1654 | 1666–67 | 1687–88 | 1699 | 1710–71 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Strength | <1,000[1] | 7,841[2] | 7,164[2] | 8,407[2] | 12,131[2] | 13,599[2] | 16,905[2] | 23,232[2] | 37,627[2] | 51,047[2] | 47,233[2] | 62,826[2] | 67,729[2] | 43,562[2] |
Equipment
During the initial period of formation, Janissaries were expert
By the early 16th century, the Janissaries were equipped with and were skilled with
Battles
The Ottoman Empire used Janissaries in all its major campaigns, including the 1453 capture of
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Janissaries battling the Knights Hospitaller, who are depicted wearing Eastern Armour. during the Siege of Rhodes in 1522.
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Battle of Mohács, 1526.[50]
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A Janissary, a pasha and cannon batteries at the Siege of Esztergom in 1543.
Revolts and disbandment
As Janissaries became aware of their own importance, they began to desire a better life. By the early 17th century Janissaries had such prestige and influence that they dominated the government. They could mutiny, dictate policy, and hinder efforts to modernize the army structure. Additionally, the Janissaries found they could change Sultans as they wished through
In 1449, they revolted for the first time, demanding higher wages, which they obtained. The stage was set for a decadent evolution, like that of the Streltsy of Tsar Peter's Russia or that of the Praetorian Guard which proved the greatest threat to Roman emperors, rather than effective protection. After 1451, every new Sultan felt obligated to pay each Janissary a reward and raise his pay rank (although since early Ottoman times, every other member of the Topkapi court received a pay raise as well). Sultan Selim II gave Janissaries permission to marry in 1566, undermining the exclusivity of loyalty to the dynasty. By 1622, the Janissaries were a "serious threat" to the stability of the Empire.[52] Through their "greed and indiscipline", they were now a law unto themselves and, against modern European armies, ineffective on the battlefield as a fighting force.[52] In 1622, the teenage Sultan Osman II, after a defeat during war against Poland, determined to curb Janissaries' excesses. Outraged at becoming "subject to his own slaves", he tried to disband the Janissary corps, blaming it for the disaster during the Polish war.[52] In the spring, hearing rumours that the Sultan was preparing to move against them, the Janissaries revolted and took the Sultan captive, imprisoning him in the notorious Seven Towers: he was murdered shortly afterward.[52]
The extravagant parties of the Ottoman ruling classes during the Tulip Period caused a lot of unrest among the Ottoman population. In September 1730, janissaries headed by Patrona Halil backed in Istanbul a rebellion by 12,000 Albanian troops which caused the abdication of Sultan Ahmed III and the death of the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim. The rebellion was crushed in three weeks with the massacre of 7,000 rebels, but it marked the end of the Tulip Era and the beginning of Sultan Mahmud I's reign.[53][54] In 1804, the Dahias, the Janissary junta that ruled Serbia at the time, having taken power in the 'lSanjak of Smederevo in defiance of the Sultan, feared that the Sultan would make use of the Serbs to oust them. To forestall this they decided to execute all prominent nobles throughout Central Serbia, a move known as the Slaughter of the Knezes. According to historical sources of the city of Valjevo, the heads of the murdered men were put on public display in the central square to serve as an example to those who might plot against the rule of the Janissaries. The event triggered the start of the Serbian Revolution with the First Serbian Uprising aimed at putting an end to the 370 years of Ottoman occupation of modern Serbia.[55]
In 1807, a Janissary revolt deposed Sultan
By 1826, the sultan was ready to move against the Janissaries in favour of a more modern military. The sultan informed them, through a fatwa, that he was forming a new army, organised and trained along modern European lines.[58] As predicted, they mutinied, advancing on the sultan's palace.[58] In the ensuing fight, the Janissaries' barracks were set aflame by artillery fire, resulting in 4,000 Janissary fatalities.[58] The survivors were either exiled or executed, and their possessions were confiscated by the Sultan.[58] This event is now called the Auspicious Incident. The last of the Janissaries were then put to death by decapitation in what was later called the Tower of Blood, in Thessaloniki.
After the Janissaries were disbanded by Mahmud II, he then created a new army soon after recruiting 12,000 troops. This new army was formally named the Trained Victorious Soldiers of Muhammad, the Mansure Army for short. By 1830, the army expanded to 27,000 troops and included the Sipahi cavalry. By 1838, all Ottoman fighting corps were included and the army changed its name to the Ordered troops. This military corps lasted until the end of the empire's history.[59]
Janissary music
The military music of the Janissaries was noted for its powerful percussion and shrill winds combining kös (giant
In 1952, the Janissary
Popular culture
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2022) |
- In Bulgaria and elsewhere, and for centuries in Ukraine, the word Janissar (яничар) is used as a synonym of the word renegade.
- The Janissary Tree, a novel by Jason Goodwin set in 19th-century Istanbul
- The Sultan's Helmsman, a historical novel of the Ottoman Navy and Renaissance Italy
- Salman Rushdie's novel The Enchantress of Florence details the life, organization, and origins of the Janissaries. One of the lead characters of the novel, Antonio Argalia, is the head of the Ottoman Janissaries.[62]
- The novel Janissaries by David Drake
- Muhteşem Yüzyıl (The Magnificent Century) is a 2011–2012 Turkish historical fiction television series. Written by Meral Okay and Yılmaz Şahin. The Janissaries are portrayed throughout the series as part of the Sultan's royal bodyguard. The First Oath of their military order is recited in Season 1 at the Ceremony of Payment.
- The popular song in Serbian, Janissar (Јањичар) by Predrag Gojković Cune[63]
- Janissaries are the unique unit of the Ottoman Empire in Civilization IV, V, expansions of VI, Cossacks, Age of Empires II, Age of Empires III, Age of Empires IV and Rise of Nations.
- The Janissaries during the rule of Sultan Assassin's Creed: Revelations.
- Janissaries appear in several books in the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett.
- In the song "Winged Hussars" by Sabaton about the Battle of Vienna 1683 the question is asked if "Janissaries are you ready to die?" to illustrate the impact of the arrival of the winged hussars in the battle.
- In the 2020 Turkish historical docudrama Rise of Empires: Ottoman, Janissaries appear throughout the show in both seasons as part of Mehmed II's army.
See also
- Devşirme system
- Ghilman
- Mamluk
- Military of the Ottoman Empire
- Saqaliba
- Genízaro
- Ottoman decline thesis
- The Auspicious Incident
- Agha, a civilian and military title in the Ottoman Empire
- Malassay, elite infantry of the Adal Sultanate
References
Notes
- ^ a b c Nicolle 1983, pp. 9–10.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Ágoston 2014, p. 113.
- ISBN 9780810866171.
- ^ ISSN 1873-9830.
- ^ Kinross 1977, p. 52.
- ^ a b c Goodwin 1998, pp. 59, 179–181.
- ISBN 978-0813313597.
The word "Janissary" derives from the Turkish yeni cheri (yeni çeri, new army). They were originally an infantry bodyguard of a few hundred men using the bow and edged weapons. They adopted firearms during the reign of Murad II and were perhaps the first standing infantry force equipped with firearms in the world.
- ^ The New Encyclopedia of Islam, ed. Cyril Glassé, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008, p.129
- ISBN 978-0-8133-4833-9.
- ^ Ágoston 2014, pp. 119–120.
- ^ Peter Mansfield, A History of the Middle East (1991) p. 31
- ^ Kinross 1977, p. 456-457.
- ISBN 978-0-520-20600-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4767-0025-0.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link - ISBN 9780860917106.
- ISSN 0041-4255.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 151.
see para 2
- ^ "The Effects of the abolition on the Bektashi - METU" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 July 2017.
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- ISBN 1-86064-404-X.
- ^ "BARDA and BARDA-DĀRI v. Military slavery in Islamic Iran". Archived from the original on 17 May 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
- ISBN 9781859738757. Archivedfrom the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ Kitsikis, Dimitri (1996). Türk Yunan İmparatorluğu. Istanbul, Simurg Kitabevi
- ISBN 9958-815-00-1
- ^ Mark L. Stein, Guarding the Frontier: Ottoman Border Forts and Garrisons in Europe, (I.B. Tauris, 2007), 67.
- ^ a b c Uzunçarşılı 1988, pp. 66–67, 376–377, 405–406, 411–463, 482–483
- ^ Nasuh, Matrakci (1588). "Janissary Recruitment in the Balkans". Süleymanname, Topkapi Sarai Museum, Ms Hazine 1517. Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2015-02-09.
- ^ Nicolle 1983, p. 7.
- ^ S2CID 201793634.
- ^ Nicolle 1983, p. 8.
- ^ a b "Janissaries". My Albanian studies. Archived from the original on 2018-10-03. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
- ^ "Albania - Albanians under Ottoman Rule". countrystudies.us. Archived from the original on 2011-08-07. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
- ^ Joseph von Hammer, Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches
- ^ John V. A. Fine Jr., When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans: A Study of Identity in Pre-Nationalist Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods
- ^ Shaw, Stanford (1976). History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Volume I
- ^ Murphey, Rhoads (2006) [1999]. Ottoman Warfare, 1500-1700.[page needed]
- ^ Nasuh, Matrakci (1588). "Janissary Recruitment in the Balkans"
- ^ Ágoston 2014, p. 118.
- ISBN 0-231-05578-1.
- ^ Murphey, Rhoads (1999). Ottoman Warfare, 1500-1700, p. 225.
- ^ Murphey, Rhoads (1999). Ottoman Warfare, 1500-1700, p. 234.
- ^ "The Janissaries and the Ottoman Armed forces OttomanEmpire.info". ottomanempire.info. Archived from the original on 2012-06-27. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
- .
- ^ "Orta". brillonline.com. Brill. 2012. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
"Orta" (t.), literally "centre", in Ottoman Turkish military terminology, the equivalent of a company of fighting men...
- ^ Nicolle 1983, p. 17.
- ^ Abdul-Karim Rafeq (2012). "Yerliyya". brillonline.com. Brill. Archived from the original on 9 February 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
"Yerliyya", colloquial Turkish-Arabic term derived from the Turkish yerlü "local".
- ^ Ágoston 2014, pp. 112–116.
- ^ a b Nicolle 1995, p. 36.
- ^ Nicolle 1995, pp. 21–22.
- ^ Lokman (1588). "Battle of Mohács (1526)". Hünernâme. Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2015-02-09.
- ^ Osman, Nakkas (1597). "Expedition to Revan". Shahin-Shah-nama, Topkapi Sarai Museum, Ms B.200, folio 102a. Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2015-02-09.
- ^ a b c d Kinross 1977, p. 292–295.
- ISBN 978-0786474707.
- ISBN 9780521186872.
- ^ Leopold von Ranke. History of Servia and the Servian Revolution. Translated by Louisa Hay Ker. pp. 119–120
- ^ a b c Kinross 1977, p. 431–434.
- ^ Levy, Avigdor. "The Ottoman Ulama and the Military Reforms of Sultan Mahmud II". Asian and African Studies 7 (1971): 13–39.
- ^ a b c d Kinross 1977, p. 456–457.
- ^ "Mansure Army" Archived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa.
- ^ Reinhard, Ursula (2001). ""Turkey: An Overview." Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Volume 6 – The Middle East". Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Routledge. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
- ^ See "Janissary music," New Grove Online.[full citation needed]
- Project MUSE.
- ^ Predrag Gojkovic Cune - Janicar - (Audio1981), archived from the original on 2017-05-26, retrieved 2021-05-24
Bibliography
- Ágoston, Gábor (2014). "Firearms and Military Adaptation: The Ottomans and the European Military Revolution, 1450–1800". Journal of World History. 25: 85–124. S2CID 143042353.
- Aksan, Virginia H. "Whatever Happened to the Janissaries? Mobilization for the 1768–1774 Russo-Ottoman War." War in History (1998) 5#1 pp: 23–36. online Archived 2016-07-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-0-688-08093-8.
- Benesch, Oleg. "Comparing Warrior Traditions: How the Janissaries and Samurai Maintained Their Status and Privileges During Centuries of Peace." Comparative Civilizations Review 55.55 (2006): 6:37-55 Online Archived 2019-11-09 at the Wayback Machine.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 151–152.
- Cleveland, William L. A History of the Modern Middle East (Boulder: Westview, 2004)
- ISBN 978-0-86356-055-2; anecdotal and not scholarly says Aksan (1998)
- ISBN 0-8050-4081-1.
- Huart, Cl. (1987). "Janissaries". In Houtsma, Martijn Theodoor (ed.). E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936, Volume IV: 'Itk–Kwaṭṭa. Leiden: BRILL. pp. 572–574. ISBN 90-04-08265-4.
- Kafadar, Cemal (1995). Between Two Worlds: The Construction of the Ottoman State. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20600-7.
- ISBN 2-13-043459-2
- Murphey, Rhads (2002). "Yeñi Čeri". In ISBN 978-90-04-12756-2.
- Nicolle, David (1983). Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300-1774. Osprey Publishing.
- ISBN 978-1-85532-413-8.
- Shaw, Stanford J. (1976). History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey (Vol. I). New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29163-7
- Shaw, Stanford J. & Shaw, Ezel Kural (1977). History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey (Vol. II). New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29166-8
- Uzunçarşılı, İsmail (1988). Osmanlı Devleti Teşkilatından Kapıkulu Ocakları: Acemi Ocağı ve Yeniçeri Ocağı. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu. ISBN 975-16-0056-1.
External links
- History of the Janissary Music
- Janissary section on German-language website about Ottoman empire Archived 2012-02-05 at the Wayback Machine (not yet exploited) (in German)
- "Janissary," Britannica.com