Editing Devshirme (section)

{{Short description|Ottoman child levy and enslavement}}
{{Social structure in the Ottoman Empire sidebar}}
[[File:Janissary Recruitment in the Balkans-Suleymanname.jpg|thumb|304x304px|Illustration of an Ottoman official and his assistant registering Christian boys for the devshirme. The official takes a tax to cover the price of the boys' new red clothes and the cost of transport from their home, while the assistant records their village, district and province, parentage, date of birth and physical appearance. Ottoman miniature painting, 1558.<ref>{{cite web |first=Matrakci |last=Nasuh |url=http://warfare.netau.net/Ottoman/Suleymanname/Janissary_Recruitment_in_the_Balkans.htm |title=Janissary Recruitment in the Balkans |year=1588 |work=Süleymanname, Topkapi Sarai Museum, Ms Hazine 1517 |access-date=20 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203143244/http://warfare.netau.net/Ottoman/Suleymanname/Janissary_Recruitment_in_the_Balkans.htm |archive-date=3 December 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Finkel">{{cite book |last1=Finkel |first1=Caroline |title=Osman's dream : the story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1923 |date=2007 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-02396-7 |page=325}}</ref>]]

'''Devshirme''' ({{langx|ota|دوشیرمه|devşirme|collecting}},{{efn|occasionally "devishirme"}} usually translated as "child levy"{{efn|name=name-greek-armenian|Known as 'collection of children' or 'child-gathering' in: {{langx|grc-x-medieval|παιδομάζωμα|Paedomazoma}}; {{langx|hy|Մանկահավաք|Mankahavak′}}.}} or "blood tax"{{efn|Known as 'blood tax' in: {{langx|ro|tribut de sânge}}; {{lang-hbs-Latn-Cyrl|Danak u krvi|Данак у крви}}, {{langx|mk|Данок во крв|Danok vo krv}}, {{langx|bg|Кръвен данък|Kraven Danak}}.}})<ref>Ingvar Svanberg and David Westerlund, Islam Outside the Arab World, Routledge, 1999, p. 140</ref> was the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] practice of [[Conscription|forcibly recruiting]] soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their [[Balkan]] Christian subjects and raising them in the religion of [[Islam]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hain |first1=Kathryn |title=Devshirme is a Contested Practice |url=https://epubs.utah.edu/index.php/historia/article/download/629/491/0 |website=utah.edu |publisher=University of Utah |access-date=13 June 2020}}</ref><ref name="Gelvin">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K0QRrgEACAAJ|title=The Modern Middle East: A History|author=James L. Gelvin|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0-19-021886-7|page=80}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hanson|first=Victor Davis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGr16-CxpH8C|title=Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power|date=2007-12-18|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-42518-8|language=en}}</ref> Those coming from the Balkans came primarily from [[nobility|noble]] Balkan families and [[rayah]] classes.<ref name="cali">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0mWfovlJ9cC|title=The Balkans in Transition|editor1=Charles Jelavich |editor2=Barbara Jelavich |publisher=[[University of California Press]]|year=1963|page=68|quote=Politically, it meant that the devshirme class, composed primarily of descendants of the Balkan noble and rayah classes}}</ref><ref name="visions">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8iXDwAAQBAJ|title=Visions of Empire How Five Imperial Regimes Shaped the World|author= [[Krishan Kumar (sociologist)|Kumar, Krishan]]|editor=|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|year=2019|isbn=978-0-691-19280-2|page=68|quote=Lowry shows that not only Christian peasants but large numbers of the Byzantine-Balkan aristocracy were recruited into the Ottoman ruling elite}}</ref> It is first mentioned in written records in 1438,<ref name="nicolle" /> but probably started earlier. It created a faction of soldiers and officials loyal to the [[Ottoman Sultan|Sultan]].<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of the Modern Middle East|author=William L. Cleveland|date=4 May 2018|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-97513-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CUhaDwAAQBAJ&q=devshirme+loyal&pg=PT66}}</ref>  It counterbalanced the Turkish nobility, who sometimes opposed the Sultan.<ref name="brewer">{{cite book|title=Greece, the Hidden Centuries: Turkish Rule from the Fall of Constantinople to Greek Independence|author=David Brewer|page=51|quote=The outsides would owe their position, and their continuance on it, solely to the Sultan, and so be more reliably loyal than Turks subject to influence from court factions.}}</ref><ref name="feroz">{{cite book|title=The Making of Modern Turkey|author=Ahmad Feroz|page=1820|publisher=[[Routledge]]|quote=From the very beginning, the relationship between the ruler and his Turcoman allies was fraught with tension which undermined all attempts by the sultan to create a strong state. With the conquest of the Balkans, the sultan found that he could lessen his dependence on his Turcoman notables by creating a counter-force from among the Christians in the newly conquered territories.}}</ref>

The system produced a considerable number of [[grand vizier]]s from the 15th century to the 17th century. This was the second most powerful position in the Ottoman Empire, after the sultan. Initially, the grand viziers were exclusively of Turk origin, but after there were troubles between Sultan [[Mehmed II]] and the Turkish grand vizier [[Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Younger]], who was the first grand vizier to be executed, there was a rise of slave administrators (''devshirme''). They were much easier for the sultans to control, compared to [[Freedom|free]] administrators of Turkish aristocratic extraction.<ref name="somel">{{cite book|last=Aksin Somel|first=Selcuk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tBoyoNNKh78C|title=The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire|page=67|publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]]|year=2010|isbn=978-0-8108-7579-1|quote=The disappearance of this dynasty [ [[Çandarlı family]] ] was symptomatic with the rise of the class of slave administrators, who were much easier for the sultan to control than free administrators of noble origin.}}</ref> The devshirme also produced many of the Ottoman Empire's provincial governors, military commanders, and [[divan]]s from the 15th to the 17th century.<ref name="BuntCleveland2010">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnzxzqau3a8C|title=A History of the Modern Middle East|author1=William L Cleveland and Martin Bunt|author2=William L. Cleveland|date=July 2010|publisher=ReadHowYouWant.com|isbn=978-1-4587-8155-0|page=115}}</ref> Sometimes, the devshirme recruits were castrated and became [[eunuchs]].<ref name="duindam">{{cite book|author=[[:nl:Jeroen Duindam|Duindam, Jeroen]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ky2CgAAQBAJ|title=Dynasties A Global History of Power, 1300–1800|page=196|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2016|isbn=978-1-107-06068-5|quote=Dikici, 'Making of Ottoman court eunuchs', makes clear that white eunuchs could be recruited among devshirme boys, with the pages and their eunuch supervisors coming from the same background. They were sometimes castrated in the palace, whereas the harem's black eunuchs were more often castrated in their region of origin.}}</ref> Although often destined for the [[Ottoman Imperial Harem|harem]], many eunuchs of devshirme origin went on to hold important positions in the military and the government, such as grand viziers [[Hadım Ali Pasha]], [[Sinan Borovinić]], and [[Hadım Hasan Pasha]].

Ottoman officials would take male Christian children, aged 7 to 20, from [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]], [[Southern Europe|Southern]] and [[Southeastern Europe]], and relocate them to Istanbul,<ref name="Cox2002">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U765FGDfbPoC|title=The History of Serbia|author=John K. Cox|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2002|isbn=978-0-313-31290-8|page=29}}</ref> where they were converted, circumcised, assimilated and trained to serve in the Janissary infantry corps or for palace duties.<ref name="Clarence-Smith 2020 p. 49">{{cite book |last=Clarence-Smith |first=W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vGXXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT49 |title=Islam and the Abolition of Slavery |publisher=Hurst |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-78738-415-6 |page=49}}</ref> Devshirme were rarely sold, though some could end up as slaves in private households.<ref name="Clarence-Smith 2020 p. 49" /> The fact that they were taken forcibly from their parents made the devshirme system resented by locals.<ref name="bbc">http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/slavery_1.shtml#section_4; "''...and point out that many Christian families were hostile and resentful about it—which is perhaps underlined by the use of force to impose the system.''".</ref> However, revolts were rare, with the exception of a revolt against the devshirme in Albania in 1565.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Malcolm |first=Noel |url=http://archive.org/details/kosovoshorthisto0000malc_m3s3 |title=Kosovo : a short history |date=1998 |publisher=London : Macmillan |isbn=978-0-333-66612-8 |pages=96}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodwin |first=Godfrey |url=http://archive.org/details/janissaries0000good |title=The Janissaries |date=1997 |publisher=London : Saqi |isbn=978-0-86356-049-1 |pages=40}}</ref> Ordered to cut all ties with their families, some managed to use their positions to help their families.<ref name="gunpowder">{{cite book|title=Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals|author=Douglas E Stresusnd|page=83}}</ref> Muslims were not allowed into the system (with some exceptions), but some Muslim families smuggled their sons in anyway.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite book|title=Introduction ṭo Islamic Civilization|editor=R. M. Savory|year=1976|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge}}</ref> According to Speros Vryonis, "The Ottomans took advantage of the general Christian fear of losing their children and used offers of devshirme exemption in negotiations for surrender of Christian lands. Such exemptions were included in the surrender terms granted to Jannina, Galata, Morea, Chios, etc. Christians who engaged in specialized activities important to the Ottoman state were exempted from the devshirme on their children by way of recognition of the importance of their labors for the empire. Exemption from this tribute was considered a privilege and not a penalty."<ref name="auto5">{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6kzPHAAACAAJ | title=Seljuk Gulams and Ottoman Devshirmes | last1=Vryonis | first1=Speros | year=1965 }}</ref>

Many scholars consider the practice of devshirme as violating [[Islamic law]].<ref name=autogenerated2>{{cite book|title=Back from Barbary : captivity, redemption and French identity in the seventeenth-and eighteenth-century Mediterranean|author=Gillian Lee Weiss|publisher=Stanford University|year=2002|page=32|quote=Many scholars consider that the "child levy" violated Islamic law.}}</ref><ref name=nicolle /><ref name="nicolle2">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Devshirme System |encyclopedia=Middle East Conflicts from Ancient Egypt to the 21st Century: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection |date=2019 |editor=Spencer Tucker |pages=353 |author=David Nicolle}}</ref> [[David Nicolle]] writes that enslavement of Christian boys violates the ''[[dhimmi]]'' protections guaranteed in Islam,<ref name="Mikaberidze2011">{{cite encyclopedia|editor=Alexander Mikaberidze|author=David Nicolle|encyclopedia=Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia &#91;2 volumes&#93;: A Historical Encyclopedia|title=Devshirme System|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jBBYD2J2oE4C&pg=PA273|date=22 July 2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-337-8|pages=273–|quote=This effectively enslaved some of the sultan's own non-Islamic subjects and was therefore illegal under Islamic law, which stipulated that conquered non-Muslims should be demilitarized and protected}}</ref> but [[Halil İnalcık]] argues that the devshirme were not slaves once converted to Islam.<ref name="auto">Halil Inalcik, "Ottoman Civilisation", p. 138, Ankara 2004.</ref>{{efn|name=slave-or-voluntary|Historian [[James L. Gelvin]] writes that "[t]his process of recruitment (''devshirme'') remains a sore spot in Balkan historiography: while many contemporary Turks prefer to look at the process of recruitment as purely voluntary, the word kidnapping is not unknown in histories written by Greek scholars."<ref name="Gelvin" />}} The boys were given a formal education, and trained in science, warfare and bureaucratic administration, and became advisers to the sultan, elite infantry, generals in the army, admirals in the navy, and bureaucrats working on finance in the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="Finkel" />  They were separated according to ability and could rise in rank based on merit. The most talented, the ''ichoghlani'' (Turkish ''iç oğlanı'') were trained for the highest positions in the empire.<ref name="gunpowder" /> Others joined the military, including the famed [[janissaries]].<ref>Basgoz, I. & Wilson, H. E. (1989), The educational tradition of the Ottoman Empire and the development of the Turkish educational system of the republican era. Turkish Review 3(16), 15.</ref>

The practice began to die out as Ottoman soldiers preferred recruiting their own sons into the army, rather than sons from Christian families. In 1594, Muslims were officially allowed to take the positions held by the ''devshirme'' and the system of recruiting Christians effectively stopped by 1648.<ref name=nicolle>{{cite encyclopedia|title = Devshirme System |editor= Alexander Mikaberidze | encyclopedia = Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia | author= David Nicolle| volume = 1 | pages = 273–4 | date = 2011}}</ref><ref name="Sugar2012">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gYsVCgAAQBAJ |title=Southeastern Europe under Ottoman Rule, 1354–1804|author=Peter F. Sugar|date=1 July 2012|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-80363-0|page=56}}</ref> An attempt to re-institute it in 1703 was resisted by its Ottoman members, who coveted the military and civilian posts. Finally, in the early days of [[Ahmet III]]'s reign, the practice of devshirme was abolished.  In modern times, the Devshirme is considered to fall within the definition of [[genocide]].<ref name="Baer">{{cite book | last=Baer | first=M.D. | title=The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs | publisher=Basic Books | year=2021 | isbn=978-1-5416-7377-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RSAbEAAAQBAJ | access-date=2025-01-17 | page=47}}</ref><ref name="Lemkin">{{cite book | last=Totten | first=S. | last2=Theriault | first2=H. | last3=von Joeden-Forgey | first3=E. | title=Controversies in the Field of Genocide Studies | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-351-29499-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZmRQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 | access-date=2025-01-18 | page=99 | quote=Lemkin specifically cited the Ottoman Turkish Empire to illustrate another recurring theme in the history of genocide: "The children can be taken away from a given group for the purpose of educating them within the framework of another human group, racial, national or ethnical" (quoted in Docker, 2008, 12).}}</ref>