The Janissaries represent one of the most outstanding infantry corps of the Modern Age, establishing themselves as an undefeated military system for four centuries whose method of recruitment and training would make them something unique. They were the spearhead of Ottoman expansionism, carrying the Turkish banners to the very heart of Europe. But even more interesting than its military organization were the social and economic aspects of the corps.
The term janissary in Spanish comes from the Italian giannizzero, since it was the Venetians who made contact —almost always unfriendly— with the Turk since its irruption in the panorama of the eastern Mediterranean from the fourteenth century. In turn, this word comes from the Turkish yeni ceri ( يڭيچرى ) meaning “new troop”.
Its origin coincides with the very genesis of the Turkmen State, which would have a notable expansion during the reign of Orhan I (1326 – 1359), which would lead this small beylicate to dominate the western part of the Anatolian peninsula and initiate a first penetration in Europe through Thrace. Until then his predecessors had waged war at the head of horse-mounted armies made up mainly of tribal warriors, the ghazis or ‘fighters for the faith’, of dubious loyalty and prone to sedition in times of peace. The shortcomings of this system would become evident given the difficulty of taking places by siege without a good line of infantry, which forced them to resort to the help of dismounted cavalry, very vulnerable to the robust Byzantine fortifications. This military tradition dates back to the times when Turkic peoples not yet Islamized rode the steppes grouped in loose tribal confederations or hordes. The effective cavalry called akinci constituted the elite of the early Turkish armies and was supported in battle by a contingent of infantry called azab.
Determined to ensure his future successes, he was inspired by the Mamluks to create a uniformed and paid infantry corps, which was to maintain service availability at all times. These troops were called Yayan either pyade, but they performed poorly on the battlefield and were soon replaced by mercenaries from the newly conquered urban centers. The difficulty in creating an efficient infantry was given by the Ottoman social structure itself, since the Turks with resources who provided military service could afford a horse and naturally always opted to serve in the cavalry. Only Turks of the lower classes were forced to serve in the infantry but, being of nomadic origin and customs, they were not accustomed to the discipline required to belong to such a corps. In any case, no free combatant would consent to being an infantryman because he considered himself too risky.
Poorly trained, undisciplined and often reprimanded, their behavior soon caused the distrust of their sovereign, who, advised by his vizier Alaeddin Pasha, ordered the creation of a new body in 1330. Those new troops they would be the Janissaries, mostly made up of slaves or captives of war. The problem was that Islamic law made the existence of Muslim slaves inadmissible at the same time that it prevented the recruitment of foreign soldiers and non-believers. This contradiction was resolved using the words of the Prophet Mohammed, who had apparently said that every human being, from his very birth, carried within him the desire to embrace Islam. As so often, some sacred writings end up revealing themselves to be easily malleable in the face of the social needs of the moment.
The first body of this type would consist of 1,000 men, those Christians who had voluntarily converted to Islam being preferably chosen. But not achieving enough to complete the desired number ended up imposing the conversion under threat of death and then recruit them by force. This system would be implemented a century before Charles VII of France established his fifteen companies of men-at-arms, the compagnie d’ordonnancewhich are generally considered to be the first modern standing army.
To give it a clearly religious meaning, Orhan I would ask one of the most important Islamic leaders of the time to name the newly created military body and then bless the soldiers. It was about Haci Bektas, a Sufi cleric who had created a religious order made up of dervishes, the so-called Bektasíes. According to legend, the dervish leader tore off part of the sleeve of his white coat and placed it over the head of one of the soldiers, so that he was hanging from his neck and back. In memory of that moment, from then on the janissaries would be characterized by wearing a cap with a piece of white felt on the back. Upon his death, Haci Bektas became something like the patron saint of the Janissaries, to whom they entrusted themselves in their prayers, while the Bektasid dervishes served as chaplains.
This process would be completed during the government of his son Murad I (1359-1389), who, crowning himself sultan for the first time, would turn the Osmanli Beylicate into an empire that would last almost seven centuries. During this period the penetration in Europe would be intensified, resulting in the creation of the regime of give me back in 1362, a kind of blood tax among the subjects dhimmies or non-Muslims. It was based on the tradition by which the sultan was entitled to a fifth of the booty in kind obtained in the conquered or subdued territories.
By this procedure the men of the sultan kidnapped children from among the Christian minorities of Anatolia or in the rural regions of Rumelia (Ottoman province of the Balkans). Greeks, Albanians, Bosnians and Bulgarians were preferred, but there would also be, although to a lesser extent, Serbs, Croats, Hungarians, Armenians, Ukrainians, Circassians and even South Russians. Muslims were never recruited except for Bosnians. Jews were also not included. The main cities of the Empire as well as the local artisans would be exempt from this tribute, since it was considered that the opposite would harm the economy. It seems that for the same reason only children from families with more than one child were taken.
Children between the ages of seven and fourteen were generally selected, while their number was determined by the need for soldiers at any given time. At first the children were chosen at random and later by strict selection based on their individual abilities of intelligence, physical constitution and beauty. The best looking were sent to the sultan’s harem in Constantinople.
On many occasions, this practice was widely rejected by the population, producing armed uprisings that were responded to by the authorities with harsh repression that ended in bloodshed. Some parents even mutilated their own children to avoid such a fate, others bribed officials or simply fled the dominated territories. As Islamic law prohibited the recruitment of married men, innumerable cases of arranged marriages from the same cradle among Christian families began to occur. When the Turks realized the situation, they prohibited marriages of this type.
But there was another side to the recruitment system, for at the same time the give me back it represented the possibility of ensuring a prosperous future for their children and a way of escape from the misery and hunger of the farmlands in the territories occupied by the Ottomans. The Turkish recruiters, aware of the situation, made it a point to present themselves to their potential new recruits dressed in their most luxurious uniforms and always handed out some food.
This came to strongly annoy the young Turks, who saw how the sons of the infidels displaced them from the positions that promised more wealth and greater honors. Gradually, there were cases of Turkish parents giving their children to Christian families, who in turn would give them to recruiters instead of their own Christian children.
The child levies were repeated every four or five years. Once authorized by the sultan and the religious authorities, a small group of soldiers led by a janissary captain assisted by an imperial official, would travel to the designated location, gathering the children in the central square to take the corresponding fifth part. The system lent itself to corruption and very soon there began to be cases of abuse among recruiting officers, who used to take more children than the stipulated rates to resell them back to their families, or else directly to traffickers. slaves or to the brothels and harems of the high officials of the administration of the empire.
Once separated from their families, the children were sent to Constantinople, where they were subjected to a first physical examination by the Islamic religious, who verified if the child was circumcised, in which case he was immediately accepted into the Islamic faith. The most educated and physically fit among them were assigned to the sultan’s page school, where they received an exquisite education from their tutors under the constant supervision of eunuchs. The training was both military and cultural, including calligraphy, theology, literature, accounting, law, and languages. Upon reaching adolescence, these boys were enrolled in one of four royal institutions: The Palace (Enderun), the Scribes (Kalemiye), the Religious (İlmiye), and the Military (Seyfiye).
The institution of the Palace o enderun refers to the private service of the Ottoman sultans in the Imperial Court. Among the responsibilities of the internal service was also the operation of the palatine school in which the next generation of Janissaries was trained. Only the most brilliant were destined to pursue a career within the Palace itself, either as high officials, tax collectors, provincial or general governors… some Janissaries would even hold the position of Grand Vizier (the second most powerful position in the Ottoman Empire, only below the sultan). The internal service was also notable for its use of the deaf and dumb (Dilsiz), at least from the time of Mehmed II until the end of the empire. These acted as guards and attendants, and due to their particular nature, were often tasked with highly confidential tasks such as executions.
The institution of the Religious or Ilmiye refers to the Muslim jurists, whose function would be to propagate the faith,…