Editing Devshirme (section)

== Devshirme in the Ottoman Palace School ==
[[File:Enderun1.jpg|thumb|230px|Enderûn pyramid]]
The primary objective of the [[Topkapı Palace|Palace School]] was to train the ablest children for [[leadership]] positions, either as [[Pasha|military leaders]] or as [[Vizier|high administrators]] to serve the [[Ottoman Empire|Devlet]].<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> Although there are many resemblances between [[Enderun School|Enderûn]] and other palace schools of the previous civilizations, such as those of the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasids]], the [[Seljuk Turks|Seljuks]]<ref>Van Duinkerken, W. (1998). Educational reform in the tanzimat era (1839–1876): Secular reforms in tanzimat (Unpublished masters thesis, McGiIl University). Retrieved from http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca:1801/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328130036/http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca:1801/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id |date=28 March 2012 }} =0&dvs=1248070802480~852</ref>{{Page needed|date=June 2020}} or the [[Renaissance|contemporary European]] palace schools, Enderûn was unique with respect to the background of the student body and its [[meritocracy|meritocratic]] system. In the strict draft phase, students were taken forcefully from the [[Rayah|Christian population of the Empire]] and were converted to [[Sunni Islam|Islam]]. [[History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire|Jews]] and [[Romani people|Roma]] were exempted from devshirme and so were all [[Islam|Muslims]].

Those entrusted to find those children were scouts, who were specially-trained agents, throughout the [[Balkans]]. Scouts were recruiting youngsters according to their talent and ability with school subjects, in addition to their personality, character and physical perfection. The Enderûn candidates were not supposed to be [[orphans]] or the only child in their family to ensure that the candidates had strong family values. They also had to not have already learned to speak [[Ottoman Turkish language|Turkish]] or a [[craft]] or trade. The ideal age of a recruit was between 10 and 20 years of age.<ref>Taskin, U. (2008). Klasik donem Osmanli egitim kurumlari – Ottoman educational foundations in classical terms. Uluslararasi Sosyal Arastirmalar Dergisi – The Journal of International Social Research 1, 343–366.</ref>{{Page needed|date=June 2020}} Mehmed Refik [[Bey|Beg]] mentioned that a youth with a bodily defect, no matter how slight, was never admitted into palace service,<ref name="auto2">Miller, B. (1973). The palace school of Muhammad the Conqueror (Reprint ed.). NY: Arno Press.</ref>{{Page needed|date=June 2020}} since [[Ottoman Turks|Turks]] believed that a strong soul and a good mind could be found only in a perfect body.<ref name="DIA-E">Ipsirli, M. (1995). Enderûn. In Diyanet Islam ansiklopedisi  (Vol. XI, pp. 185–187). Istanbul, Turkey: Turkiye Diyanet Vakfi.</ref>

The selected children were dressed in red so that they could not easily escape on their way to [[Constantinople]]. The cost of the devshirme service and their clothes were paid by their villages or communities. The boys were gathered into cohorts of a hundred or more to walk to Constantinople, where they were [[khitan (circumcision)|circumcised]] and divided between the palace schools and the military training. Anyone not chosen for the palace spent years being toughened by hard labor on farms in [[Anatolia]] until they were old enough [[janissary|for the military]].<ref>Katheryn Hain, [http://utahhistoricalreview.com/devshirme-is-a-contested-practice/%20KatherynHain%20(2012) Devshirme is a Contested Practice(2012)]{{dead link|date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}, Historia: the Alpha Rho Papers, vol. 2,  p. 167, 168.</ref>

The brightest youths who fit into the general guidelines and had a strong [[primary education]] were then given to selected [[Sunni Islam|Muslim]] families across [[Anatolia]] to complete the [[enculturation]] process.<ref>Horniker, A. N. (1944). The Corps of the Janizaries. Military Affairs 8(3), 177–04.</ref><ref name="auto2" /><ref name="DIA-E" /> They would later attend schools across Anatolia to complete their training for six to seven years to qualify as ordinary [[military officer]]s.<ref>Ilgurel, M. (1988). Acemi Oglani. In Diyanet Islam ansiklopedisi (Vol. I, pp. 324–25). Istanbul, Turkey: Turkiye Diyanet Vakfi.</ref> They would get the highest salaries amongst the [[pasha|administrators of the empire]] and very well respected in public.<ref>Akarsu, F. (n.d.) "Enderun: Ustun yetenekliler icin saray okulu". Retrieved from http://fusunakarsu.com/articles/ENDERUN_ustun_yetenekliler_icin.html{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>