Editing Janissary (section)

==Recruitment, training, and status==
{{Main|History of slavery in the Muslim world|Slavery in the Ottoman Empire}}
{{Further|Arab slave trade|Barbary slave trade|Ottoman wars in Europe|Turkish Abductions}}
[[File:Janissary Recruitment in the Balkans-Suleymanname.jpg|thumb|220px|Registration of [[Christians|Christian boys]] for the ''[[Devşirme|tribute in blood]]''. 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=2015-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203143244/http://warfare.netau.net/Ottoman/Suleymanname/Janissary_Recruitment_in_the_Balkans.htm |archive-date=2018-12-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref>]]

The first Janissary units [[Slavery in the Ottoman Empire|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 [[Exploitation of labour|exploitation]] and enslavement of ''[[dhimmi]]'' peoples (i.e., [[Kafir|non-Muslims]]), predominantly [[Balkans|Balkan]] [[Christianity in the Ottoman Empire|Christians]],<ref name="Glassé 2008"/> constituted a continuing abuse of subject populations.<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/>{{sfn|Nicolle|1983|p=7}} For a while, the [[Ottoman government]] supplied the Janissary Corps with recruits from the ''[[devşirme]]'' system of [[Ghilman|child levy]] enslavement.<ref name=Radushev>{{Cite journal|last=Radushev|first=Evgeni|date=2008 |title="Peasant" Janissaries?|journal=Journal of Social History|volume=42|issue=2|pages=447–467 |doi=10.1353/jsh.0.0133 |jstor=27696448 |s2cid=201793634 |issn=0022-4529}}</ref> Children were drafted at a young age and soon turned into [[Military slavery|slave-soldiers]] in an attempt to make them loyal to the [[Ottoman sultan]].<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> The social status of ''devşirme'' recruits took on an immediate positive change, acquiring a greater guarantee of governmental rights and financial opportunities.<ref name=Radushev/> In poor areas officials were bribed by parents to make them take their sons, thus they would have better chances in life.{{Sfn|Nicolle|1983|p=8}} Initially, the Ottoman recruiters favoured [[Greeks]] and [[Albanians]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://albanianstudies.weebly.com/janissaries.html|title=Janissaries|website=My Albanian studies|access-date=2018-10-03|archive-date=2018-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003181708/https://albanianstudies.weebly.com/janissaries.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Albania - Albanians under Ottoman Rule|website=countrystudies.us|url=http://countrystudies.us/albania/18.htm|access-date=2018-10-03|archive-date=2011-08-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807031904/http://countrystudies.us/albania/18.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Ottoman Empire]] [[Ottoman wars in Europe|began its expansion into Europe]] by invading the European portions of the [[Byzantine Empire]] in the 14th and 15th centuries up until the [[Fall of Constantinople|capture of Constantinople]] in 1453, establishing Islam as the state religion of the newly-founded empire. The [[Ottoman Turks]] further expanded into [[Southeastern Europe]] and consolidated their political power by invading and conquering huge portions of the [[Serbian Empire]], [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian Empire]], and the remaining territories of the [[Byzantine Empire]] in the 14th and 15th centuries. As borders of the Ottoman Empire expanded, the ''[[devşirme]]'' system of [[Ghilman|child levy]] enslavement was extended to include [[Armenians]], [[Bulgarians]], [[Croats]], [[Hungarians]], [[Serbs]], [[Romanians]], and later [[Bosniaks]],<ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref>Joseph von Hammer, Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches</ref><ref>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</ref><ref>Shaw, Stanford (1976). History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Volume I</ref><ref>Murphey, Rhoads (2006) [1999]. Ottoman Warfare, 1500-1700.{{page needed|date=October 2022}}</ref><ref>Nasuh, Matrakci (1588). "Janissary Recruitment in the Balkans"</ref> and, in rare instances, [[Georgians]], [[Circassians]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Polish people|Poles]], and southern [[Russians]].<ref name=":0" />

The [[Slavery in the Ottoman Empire|slave trade in the Ottoman Empire]] supplied the ranks of the [[Army of the classical Ottoman Empire|Ottoman army]] between the 15th and 19th centuries.<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Ágoston |first=Gábor |year=2009 |editor1-last=Ágoston |editor1-first=Gábor |editor2-first=Bruce |editor2-last=Masters |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire |chapter=Devşirme (Devshirme) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA183 |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Facts On File]] |pages=183–185 |isbn=978-0-8160-6259-1 |lccn=2008020716 |access-date=16 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="Glassé 2008">{{cite book |editor-last=Glassé |editor-first=Cyril |year=2008 |chapter=Devşirme |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=focLrox-frUC&pg=PA115 |title=The New Encyclopedia of Islam |location=[[Lanham, Maryland]] |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |edition=3rd |page=115 |isbn=978-1-4422-2348-6 |quote='''Devshirme.''' The [[Military slavery|conscription system]] used by the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]]. It consisted of taking male children from [[Dhimmi|subject]] [[Christianity in the Ottoman Empire|Christian populations]], chiefly in the [[Balkans]], [[Forced conversion#Islam|forcibly converting them to Islam]], and raising them to join the ranks of an elite military corps, the Janissaries, or to enter [[Ottoman government|other branches of government service]]. The [[Devşirme|boy-levy]] (''devshirme'') was carried out largely by force, but to be taken by it held out such promise of a brilliant future that Ottomans sometimes tried to slip their own children into it. [[List of Ottoman grand viziers|Many of the Viziers]] came from the higher levels of the pageboy training. At first every fifth boy was drafted in a levy carried out every four or five years, but later every able-bodied boy between the ages of ten and fifteen was liable to be taken in a draft carried out annually. The ''devshirme'' system became obsolete in the 17th century.}}</ref><ref name="Wittek 1955">{{cite journal |last=Wittek |first=Paul |date=1955 |title=Devs̱ẖirme and s̱ẖarī'a |journal=[[Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies]] |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] on behalf of the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]], [[University of London]] |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=271–278 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00111735 |jstor=610423 |s2cid=153615285 |oclc=427969669}}</ref> They were useful in preventing both the [[slave rebellion]]s and the [[Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire|breakup of the Empire itself]], especially due to the [[Rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire|rising tide of nationalism among European peoples]] in its Balkan provinces from the 17th century onwards.<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/> Along with the Balkans, the [[Black Sea Region]] remained a significant source of high-value slaves for the Ottomans.<ref name="Fynn-Paul 2023">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Fynn-Paul |author-first=Jeffrey |date=23 June 2023 |title=Slavery and the Slave Trade, 1350–1650 |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195399301/obo-9780195399301-0515.xml |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Bibliographies Online]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |doi=10.1093/obo/9780195399301-0515 |isbn=978-0-19-539930-1 |access-date=18 September 2024|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Throughout the 16th to 19th centuries, the [[Barbary coast|Barbary States]] sent [[Barbary pirates|pirates to raid]] nearby parts of Europe [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|in order to capture Christian slaves to sell]] at [[Barbary slave trade|slave markets]] in the [[Muslim world]], primarily in [[North Africa]] and the [[Slavery in the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]], throughout the [[Renaissance]] and [[early modern period]].<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Robert |title=BBC - History - British History in depth: British Slaves on the Barbary Coast |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml |access-date=18 July 2023 |work=www.bbc.co.uk |date=17 February 2011}}</ref> According to historian Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th centuries, Barbary pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves, although these numbers are disputed.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/><ref name=Earle>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/mar/11/highereducation.books|title=New book reopens old arguments about slave raids on Europe|last1=Carroll|first1=Rory|date=2004-03-11|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-12-11|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> These slaves were captured mainly from the crews of captured vessels,<ref>Milton, G (2005) White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow And Islam's One Million White Slaves, Sceptre, London</ref> from coastal villages in [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]], and from farther places like the [[Italian Peninsula]], [[France]], or [[England]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Ireland]], the [[Azores Islands]], and even [[Turkish Abductions|Iceland]].<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> For a long time, until the early 18th century, the [[Crimean Khanate]] maintained a [[Crimean slave trade|massive slave trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East]].<ref>"[http://www2.econ.hit-u.ac.jp/~areastd/mediterranean/mw/pdf/18/10.pdf The Crimean Tatars and their Russian-Captive Slaves] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605131551/http://www.econ.hit-u.ac.jp/~areastd/mediterranean/mw/pdf/18/10.pdf |date=2013-06-05 }}" (PDF). Eizo Matsuki, ''Mediterranean Studies Group at Hitotsubashi University.''</ref> The Crimean Tatars frequently mounted raids into the [[Danubian Principalities]], [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland–Lithuania]], and [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]] to enslave people whom they could capture.<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24157 Historical survey > Slave societies]". Encyclopædia Britannica,</ref>

Apart from the effect of a lengthy period under Ottoman domination, many of the subject populations [[Forced conversion#Islam|were periodically and forcefully converted to Islam]]<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> as a result of a deliberate move by the Ottoman Turks as part of a policy of ensuring the loyalty of the population against a potential [[Venetian Republic|Venetian]] invasion. However, Islam was spread by force in the areas under the control of the [[Ottoman sultan]] through the ''[[devşirme]]'' system of [[Ghilman|child levy]] enslavement,<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> by which [[Ethnic groups in Europe|indigenous European]] [[Christians|Christian boys]] from the [[Balkans]] (predominantly [[Albanians]], [[Bulgarians]], [[Croats]], [[Greeks]], [[Romanians]], [[Serbs]], and [[Ukrainians]]) were taken, levied, subjected to [[forced circumcision]] and [[Forced conversion#Islam|forced conversion to Islam]],<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> and incorporated into the [[Ottoman army in the 15th–19th centuries|Ottoman army]],<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> and ''[[jizya]]'' taxes.<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/><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> Radushev states that the recruitment system based on child levy can be bisected into two periods: its [[Army of the classical Ottoman Empire|first, or classical period]], encompassing those first two centuries of regular execution and utilization to supply recruits; and a [[Ottoman military reforms|second, or modern period]], which more focuses on its [[Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire|gradual change, decline, and ultimate abandonment]], beginning in the 17th century.<ref name=Radushev/>

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 oğlan'', 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.{{sfn|Ágoston|2014|p=118}} By the middle of the seventeenth century, the ''devşirme'' had largely been abandoned as a method of recruitment.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kunt |first=Metin İ. |title=The Sultan's Servants: The Transformation of Ottoman Provincial Government, 1550–1650 |publisher=Columbia University Press |place=New York |date=1983 |isbn=0-231-05578-1 |pages=76}}</ref> The prescribed daily rate of pay for entry-level Janissaries in the time of [[Ahmet I]] was three [[Akçe]]s. Promotion to a cavalry regiment implied a minimum salary of 10 Akçes.<ref>Murphey, Rhoads (1999). Ottoman Warfare, 1500-1700, p. 225.</ref> Janissaries received a sum of 12 Akçes every three months for clothing incidentals and 30 Akçes for weaponry, with an additional allowance for ammunition as well.<ref>Murphey, Rhoads (1999). Ottoman Warfare, 1500-1700, p. 234.</ref>

For all practical purposes, the Janissary Corps belonged to the [[Ottoman 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 [[Ocak (Alevism)|Odjak]] inherited the property of dead Janissaries, thus acquiring wealth. Janissaries also learned to follow the dictates of the [[dervish]] and [[Sufism|Sufi saint]] [[Haji Bektash Veli]], disciples of whom had blessed the first troops. The [[Bektashi Order]] served as a kind of [[chaplaincy]] for the Janissaries.<ref name=":2"/> In this and in their secluded life, Janissaries resembled Christian [[Military order (society)|military orders]] like the [[Knights Hospitaller]]. As a symbol of their devotion to the order, Janissaries wore special hats called ''börk''. These hats also had a holding place in front, called the ''kaşıklık'', for a spoon. This symbolized the ''kaşık kardeşliği'', or the "brotherhood of the spoon", which reflected a sense of comradeship among the Janissaries who ate, slept, fought, and died together.<ref name="Balance: The Economics of Great Powers From Ancient Rome to Modern America"/>

===Training===
[[File:Ataturk Janissary.jpg|thumb|[[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] wearing the traditional Janissary uniform at a masquerade ball during his early years in the [[Ottoman Army (1861–1922)|Ottoman army]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ottomanempire.info/Janissaries.htm|title=The Janissaries and the Ottoman Armed forces OttomanEmpire.info|website=ottomanempire.info|access-date=2011-03-08|archive-date=2012-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627042843/http://ottomanempire.info/Janissaries.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

When a [[Kafir|non-Muslim boy]] was recruited under the ''[[devşirme]]'' system of [[Ghilman|child levy]] enslavement,<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> he would first be sent to selected [[Ottoman Turks|Ottoman Turkish families]] in the provinces to learn [[Ottoman Turkish language|Turkish]], subjected to [[forced circumcision]] and [[Forced conversion#Islam|forced conversion to Islam]],<ref name="Ágoston-Masters 2009"/><ref name="Glassé 2008"/><ref name="Wittek 1955"/> and to learn the customs and culture of [[History of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman society]]. After completing this period, ''acemi'' ("new recruit") boys were gathered for training at the Enderun ''acemi oğlan'' ("rookie" or "cadet") school in the capital city. There, young cadets would be selected for their talents in different areas to train as engineers, artisans, riflemen, clerics, archers, artillery, and so forth.

Janissaries were trained under strict discipline with hard labour and in practically [[Monasticism|monastic conditions]] in ''acemi oğlan'' ("rookie" or "cadet") schools, where they were expected to remain [[Celibacy|celibate]]. Unlike other [[Muslims]], they were expressly forbidden to wear beards, only a moustache. These rules were obeyed by Janissaries at least until the 18th century, when they also began to engage in other crafts and trades, breaking another of the original rules. In the late 16th century, an [[Ottoman sultan]] gave in to the pressures of the Janissary Corps and permitted Janissary children to become members of the Corps, a practice strictly forbidden for 200 years. Consequently, succession rules, formerly strict, became open to interpretation. They gained their own power but kept the system from changing in other progressive ways.<ref name="Balance: The Economics of Great Powers From Ancient Rome to Modern America"/>

Even after the rapid expansion of the size of the corps at the end of the 16th 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.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Günhan |last=Börekçi |title=A Contribution to the Military Revolution Debate: The Janissaries' Use of Volley Fire During the Long Ottoman-Habsburg War of 1593–1606 and the Problem of Origins |journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=59 |issue=4 |date=2006 |pages=407–438 |doi=10.1556/AOrient.59.2006.4.2 }}</ref>

[[Giovanni Antonio Menavino]], a Genoese who was enslaved in the Ottoman Empire from 1504 to around 1514, spent five years (until 1509 or 1510) as a page to the Sultan in the [[Seraglio]] of Constantinople.<ref name="Wolfgang Schweickard">{{cite journal| author = Wolfgang Schweickard| title = Giovan Antonio Menavino's Account of His Captivity in the Ottoman Empire: A Revaluation| journal = Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie| volume = 132| issue = 1| year = 2016| pages = 181–182| doi = 10.1515/zrp-2016-0007| url = https://www.uni-saarland.de/fileadmin/upload/fachrichtung/romanistik/W._Schweickard/Publikationen/Menavino__ZrP_132__2016___180-205.pdf
}}</ref> in chapter XXIII ''Delli novitii Giannizzeri Agiami Schiavi del gran Turco'' (On the novice Janissaries Agiami Slaves of the Great Turk) from his book ''Trattato de costumi et vita de Turchi'' (1548), he describes what he observed about the Agiami (novice Janissaries):<ref>{{cite book| author = Giovanni Antonio Menavino| authorlink = Giovanni Antonio Menavino| title = Trattato de costumi et vita de Turchi | year = 1548| pages = 164–165 | url = https://www.google.com/books/edition/Trattato_de_costumi_et_vita_de_Turchi/PHMVS0ukePAC}}</ref>

{{Blockquote
|text=The novice Janissaries, numbering around five hundred, are kept and trained to become full members of the corps. Taken from their fathers and mothers in Greece, they do not speak Turkish. They receive a daily wage of two [[Akçe|asper]]s. Their captain, called the Agiander agasi{{efn|Typographical error for {{lang|ota|acemiler agası}}.<ref name="Wolfgang Schweickard"/>}}, receives a stipend of thirty aspers and is issued a uniform. They are tasked with sweeping the entire Seraglio once a week, and when the Sultan orders construction, they carry lime, stones, water, and similar materials. In winter, they collect snow and store it underground in a place where it is preserved throughout the summer and used to cool the drinks of the Great Turk. When the Sultan goes to war, these novices remain in Constantinople.
}}