J
Janissaries
The janissaries (from Turkish yeniçeri,
yeñçer, or new troops) were the elite stand-
ing infantry troops of the Ottoman sultans.
Established either under Orhan (Orkhn,
r. c. 724–63/1324–62) or Murad (Murd I,
r. 763–91/1362–89) as the sultan’s body-
guard and comprising only a few hundred
men, they soon evolved into the dynasty’s
elite infantry to counterbalance the Tur-
coman marcher lords’ tribal levies. Paid
in cash four times a year, the janissaries
were part of the sultan’s salaried house-
hold slave troops (kapkulu, qpqlu). As
one of the first standing armies in Europe,
they were known for their obedience, dis-
cipline, and martial skills.
Originally fighting with their formi-
dable recurved bow, sabre, shield, and
a light coat of mail, they began to use
matchlock arquebuses in the early ninth/
fifteenth century and matchlock muskets
from the late tenth/sixteenth century
onwards. In battles the janissaries formed
several consecutive rows and fired their
weapons row by row. Although janissar-
ies represented only 15 to 25 percent of
the expeditionary armies in the tenth/
sixteenth and eleventh/seventeenth cen-
turies, their volleys and steadfastness often
decided the outcome of battles.
Initially made up of prisoners of war,
from the 780s/1380s onwards janissary
recruits came from a levy called devirme
(devrme, collection), perhaps following the
practice of the marcher lord Gazi (Ghz)
Evrenos (d. 820/1417). Under this sys-
tem, Christian children were periodically
levied from the provinces, converted to
Islam, and trained for military service.
The levies occurred haphazardly in the
ninth/fifteenth century, but more regu-
larly in the tenth/sixteenth century, as
frequent and prolonged wars decimated
the corps. By 1012/1603 the average age
of levied boys had risen to 16.6 years,
from 13.5 years in 904/1498–9 (Ylmaz,
The economic and social roles, 75–7), indicat-
ing that in the early eleventh/seventeenth
century the government preferred older
boys who could immediately be turned
into soldiers. It also reflected the changed
nature of warfare, for it took years to train
a skilled janissary archer, but only a cou-
ple of months to prepare musketeers. As
the prohibition of marriage was lifted in
the tenth/sixteenth century and janissar-
ies admitted their sons into the corps in
growing numbers, the levy was gradually
janissaries 147
phased out during the course of the elev-
enth/seventeenth century.
Treasury balance sheets show that the
number of janissaries fluctuated between
7,000 and 9,400 from the 880s–890s/1480s
through the late 920s/1520s. In 976/1569
they numbered 11,535. Their number
quickly doubled to 23,359 by 1000/1592,
then increased to 39,282 in 1017–8/1609,
and surpassed 50,000 by mid-century
(Ágoston, Firearms, 113). In the eleventh/
seventeenth century only somewhere
between 17 to 37 percent of the jannis-
saries were mobilized for campaigns. The
rest were on garrison duty or pensioners,
unfit for combat. By the early twelfth/
eighteenth century many of those mobi-
lized for campaigns were janissaries only
in name, the majority being new recruits,
hired before and during each campaign.
With the expansion of the empire,
between 25 and 60 percent of the janis-
saries served in frontier garrisons on
rotational basis, usually for three years.
Strategically important castles had thou-
sands of janissaries, especially after their
conquest. Of the 21,728 janissaries who
were on garrison duty in 1081/1670, for
instance, 5,925 served in Candia (Herak-
lion in Crete) (Babakanlk Osmanl Arivi,
MAD 23, MAD 1951, 144; Ágoston,
Firearms, 117), conquered in the autumn
of 1080/1669. The numbers fluctuated
according to military needs. Baghdad
had only 2,981 janissaries in 1135/1723
before the war with Iran (1135–59/1723–
46), but almost three times as many in
1149/1736 during the war (Uzunçarl,
Kapukulu, 1:329; D.YNÇ 34217.). These
janissaries of the Porte (dergah- ali, dergh-
ali) should not be confused with local
janissaries ( yerlüyan), who served in fron-
tier garrisons. The latter were of infe-
rior quality and until the late eleventh/
seventeenth century received their pay
from the respective provincial treasuries.
Growing numbers led to a decline in
the janissaries’ military skills and put an
additional burden on the treasury. To
compensate for the diminishing value of
their pay due to inflation and devalua-
tions of the silver coinage (akçe, aqçe), the
janissaries were allowed to engage in trade
and craftsmanship. By the late eleventh/
seventeenth century, many janissaries had
become craftsmen, shop-owners, mer-
chants, and tax-farmers, while ordinary
tradesmen, merchants, and tax-farmers
also bought their way into the corps.
Married janissaries settled in cities, being
now more interested in providing for their
families than fighting the enemy. With the
civilianization of the corps, their military
skills and discipline diminished. They
were also increasingly unable to execute
their other functions, such as serving as
military police, guards, night-watchers,
and fire fighters in Istanbul and in major
provincial capitals.
The guild-like nature of the corps
enabled them to guard their privileges—
tax exempt status, regular salary, yearly
clothing allowance, subsidies for bread
and meat, cash bonuses on the accession
of new sultans, reserve fund, and so on—
from which, in addition to active janissar-
ies, pensioners and widows also profited.
The janissaries fiercely opposed military
reforms that could undermine their sta-
tus, evolving into a powerful social caste
and political pressure group. Their revolt
blocked the reforms of Selim (Selm) III
(r. 1203–22/1789–1807), and led to the
murder of the sultan. When in 1241/1826
the janissaries revolted against the reforms
proclaimed by Mahmud (Mamd) II
(r. 1223–55/1808–39), the sultan annihi-
lated them with the help of his ­modernized
148 janissaries

Illustration 1. “Yenitzery [yenicheri], ou jannissaire en costume ordinaire [37]” painted

in 1223–42/1808–26. George Arents Collection, The New York Public Library. Image
courtesy of The New York Public Library Digital Collections.
janissaries 149

Illustration 2.  “L’aga des jannissaires [32]” painted in 1223–42/1808–26. George Arents
Collection, The New York Public Library. Image courtesy of The New York Public
Library Digital Collections.
150 janissaries
loyal artillery of some 12,000 men, and
abolished the corps.
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Gábor Ágoston