Janissary

For the series of novels by Jerry Pournelle, see Janissaries series.
Janissary
Agha of the Janissaries and a Bölük of the Janissaries by Lambert Wyts, 1573
Active1363–1826 (1830 for Algiers)
Allegiance Ottoman Empire
TypeInfantry
RoleStanding professional military
Size1,000 (1400)[1]
7,841 (1484)[2]
13,599 (1574)[2]
37,627 (1609)[2]
135,000 (1826)[3]
Part ofOttoman army
GarrisonsAdrianople (Edirne)
Constantinople (Istanbul)
ColorsBlue, Red and Green
EquipmentVarious
EngagementsBattle of Kosovo, Battle of Nicopolis, Battle of Ankara, Battle of Varna, Fall of Constantinople, Battle of Chaldiran, Battle of Mohács, Siege of Vienna, Great Siege of Malta, and others
Commanders
CommanderAgha of the Janissaries
Part of a series on the
Military of the
Ottoman Empire
Coat of Arms of the Ottoman Empire
Classical army (1451–1826)
Reform period
Modern army (1861–1922)
Navy
Aviation
Conflicts

A janissary (Ottoman Turkish: یڭیچری, romanized: yeŋiçeri, [je.ˈŋi.t͡ʃe.ɾ̞i], lit. 'new soldier') was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted during the reign of Murad II.[4][5][6][7] The corps was established under either Sultans Orhan or Murad I,[4] and dismantled by Mahmud II in 1826.

Janissaries began as elite corps made up through the devşirme system of child levy enslavement, by which indigenous European Christian boys from the Balkans (predominantly Albanians, Bulgarians, Croats, Greeks, Romanians, Serbs, and Ukrainians) were taken, levied, subjected to forced circumcision and forced conversion to Islam, and incorporated into the Ottoman army.[8] They became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical slaves, they were paid regular salaries. Forbidden to marry before the age of 40 or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the Ottoman sultan was expected.[9] By the seventeenth century, due to a dramatic increase in the size of the Ottoman standing army, the corps' initially strict recruitment policy was relaxed. Civilians bought their way into it in order to benefit from the improved socio-economic status it conferred upon them. Consequently, the corps gradually lost its military character, undergoing a process that has been described as "civilianization".[10]

The janissaries were a formidable military unit in the early centuries, but as Western Europe modernized its military organization and technology, the janissaries became a reactionary force that resisted all change within the Ottoman army. Steadily the Ottoman military power became outdated, but when the janissaries felt their privileges were being threatened, or outsiders wanted to modernize them, or they might be superseded by their cavalry rivals, they would rise in rebellion. By the time the janissaries were suppressed, it was too late for Ottoman military power to catch up with the West.[11] The corps was abolished by Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident, in which 6,000 or more were executed.[12]

  1. ^ Nicolle 1983, pp. 9–10.
  2. ^ a b c Ágoston 2014, p. 113.
  3. ^ George F. Nafziger (2001). Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. pp. 153–54. ISBN 9780810866171.
  4. ^ a b Ágoston, Gábor (2017). "Janissaries". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett K. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Vol. 2. Leiden: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_30927. ISBN 978-90-04-33571-4. ISSN 1873-9830.
  5. ^ Kinross 1977, p. 52.
  6. ^ Goodwin 1998, pp. 59, 179–181.
  7. ^ Streusand, Douglas E. (2011). Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. Philadelphia: Westview Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0813313597. The word "Janissary" derives from the Turkish yeni cheri (yeni çeri, new army). They were originally an infantry bodyguard of a few hundred men using the bow and edged weapons. They adopted firearms during the reign of Murad II and were perhaps the first standing infantry force equipped with firearms in the world.
  8. ^ Glassé, Cyril, ed. (2008). The New Encyclopedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 129. ISBN 978-1-4422-2348-6.
  9. ^ William Cleveland; Martin Bunton (2013). A History of the Modern Middle East. Westview Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-8133-4833-9.
  10. ^ Ágoston 2014, pp. 119–120.
  11. ^ Peter Mansfield, A History of the Middle East (1991) p. 31
  12. ^ Kinross 1977, p. 456-457.