The Janissaries (from Ottoman Turkish يڭيچرى yeniçeri meaning "new soldier", Greek: Γενίτσαροι, Italian: Giannizzeri, Albanian: Jeniçer, Hungarian: Janicsár, Bosnian: Janjičari, Croatian: Janjičari, Slovene: Janičarji, Romanian: Ieniceri, Russian: Янычары, Serbian: Јањичари, Janjičari, Macedonian: Јаничари, Ukrainian: Яничари, Bulgarian: Еничари, Polish: Janczarzy) were elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and bodyguards. Sultan Murad I created the force in 1383. It was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident. They were an elite corps whose internal cohesion was cemented by strict discipline and prevalent order. The origins of the Janissaries are shrouded in myth, although traditional accounts credit Orhan I, an early Osman bey who reigned from 1326 to 1359, as the founder. Modern historians such as Patrick Kinross date the formation of the Janissaries to around 1365, during the rule of Orhan's son Murad I, the first sultan of the Ottoman Empire.] The Janissaries became the first Ottoman standing army replacing forces that mostly consisted of tribal warriors (ghazis) whose loyalty and morale were not always guaranteed. From the 1380s to 1648, the Janissaries were gathered through the devşirme system which was abolished in 1638.[6] This was the recruiting of non-Muslim children, notably Anatolian and Balkan Christians; Jews were never subject to devşirme, nor were children from Turkic families. In early days, all Christians were enrolled indiscriminately. Later, those from Greece and Serbia were preferred. The Janissaries were kapıkulları (sing. kapıkulu), "door servants" or "slaves of the Porte", neither freemen nor ordinary slaves (Turkish: köle). They were subjected to strict discipline and were the first army to wear a uniform, but were paid salaries and pensions upon retirement and formed their own distinctive social class.[10] As such, they became one of the ruling classes of the Ottoman Empire, rivaling the Turkish aristocracy. The brightest of the Janissaries were sent to the palace institution, Enderun. Through a system of meritocracy, the Janissaries held enormous power, stopping all efforts to reform of the military. According to military historian Michael Antonucci and economic historians Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane, the Turkish administrators would scour their regions (but especially the Balkans) every five years for the strongest sons of the sultan's Christian subjects. These boys (usually between the ages of 6 and 14) were then taken from their parents and given to Turkish families in the provinces to learn Turkish language and customs, and the rules of Islam. The recruits were indoctrinated into Islam, and supervised 24 hours a day. They were subjected to severe discipline, being prohibited from growing a beard, taking up a skill other than soldiering, and marrying. As a result, the Janissaries were extremely well-disciplined troops, and became members of the Askeri class, the first-class citizens or military class. Most were non-Muslims because it was not permissible to enslave a Muslim. This elite corps was second only to the sultan in the Ottoman Empire. The janissary system was introduced in the 14th century. It was a similar system to the Egyptian Mamluks, creating a counterbalance to the tribal, ethnic and favoured interests which make a system imbalanced. The Janissary Corps was a trained and loyal group of slaves to the sultan. In the late 16th century, a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Corps and permitted Janissary children to become members of the Corps, a practice strictly forbidden for the previous 300 years. They also became rent-seeking and sought protection of their special rights and advantages. According to paintings of the era, they were also permitted to grow beards. Consequently, the formerly strict rules of succession became open to interpretation. While they advanced their own power, the janissaries also helped to keep the system from changing in other progressive ways. "The Janissary Corps was most responsible for the political stagnation of Istanbul" Greek Historian Dimitri Kitsikis in his book Türk Yunan İmparatorluğu ("Turco-Greek Empire") states that many Christian families were willing to comply with the devşirme because it offered a possibility of social advancement. Conscripts could one day become Janissary colonels, statesmen who might one day return to their home region as governors, or even Grand Viziers or Beylerbeys (governor generals). Some of the most famous Janissaries include George Kastrioti Skanderbeg an Albanian, who defected and led a 20‑year Albanian revolt against the Ottomans. Another was Sokollu Mehmed Paşa, a Bosnian Serb who became a grand vizier, served three sultans, and was the de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire for more than 14 years.

• published: 16 Dec 2013
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