Ottoman Janissaries

Öz:Avrupa'nın ilk düzenli ve daimi askeri birlikleri olan Yeniçeriler Osmanlı fetihlerinin genişlemesinde yadsınamaz bir katkı sağlamışlardır. Kuruluş yıllarında ocağa egemen olan disiplin ve padişaha itaat bu katkının oluşmasında kilit unsurlar olmuştur. Ancak zamanla gerek iç gerekse dış faktörlerin tesiriyle ocakta bir çözülme meydana gelmiş, o eski görüntü 16.asrın sonlarından itibaren yok olmaya yüz tutmuştur. 18.asrın başlarına gelindiğinde ise yok olma süreci tamamlanmıştır. Bu çalışma ana ve birinci elden kaynaklar ışığında ve casusluk ekseninde söz konusu sürecin oluşmasına zemin hazırlayan sebeplere bir yenisini eklemek veya bozulmanın sonuçlarından birisine işaret edebilmek temel gayesiyle oluşturulmuştur. Abstract: The Janissaries who were the first regular and permanent corps of Europe contributed undeniable benefit for the expansion of the Ottoman conquests. The discipline dominant in the years of establishment and obedience to the Sultan were the key effect for occurring of this additive. However, in time dissolution happened in the corps with the effect of inner and outer factors, that old image nearly disappeared from the ends of the 16th century. This disappearing process finished in the beginning of the 18th century. This study was created to add a new one about the reasons those prepared the ground for the mentioned process or to point out the results in the light of the main and first hand sources and in the axis of espionage.

In this work, it was firstly focused on the position of janissaries in market in late period and their historic role as a social power. After that, it was evaluated that the elimination of janissaries, got penetration in social and economic fields, brought about the reflections on economy and 'kalemiye, ilmiye, seyfiye' within social perpectives. Tağşiş/devaluation, confiscation, new intstitutionalization in treasure and price-demand-wage on the market was worked in economic reflections. Also within the confiscation, an account book registered D.BŞM.DRB.d.16706 of Başmuhâsebe Darphane-i Âmire in Ottoman Archive Catalogues of Prime Ministry was firstly used in this work.

The Battle of the Ialomita was the greatest battlefield victory of the Hungarian national hero John Hunyadi against the Ottomans. This study approaches the topic from the perspective of the medieval/early modern writings. The author used all accessible narratives that deal with the topic: Chronicles, official documents, aso. It has been the result of years of research on this topic with the focus on the sources of the time.

В монографии дается характеристика сухопутных вооруженных сил одной из сильнейших держав Европы и Азии - Османской империи конца XVI - начала XVIII века. Опираясь на значительный массив источников, авторы рассматривают военные институты Оттоманской Порты в период достижения наивысшего могущества этого государства, когда владения султанов простирались от Марокко до Ирана и от Йемена до Северного Причерноморья и Венгрии. Изучаются такие вопросы, как организация и численность постоянной армии Порты (войска капыкулу), структура сипахийского ополчения и провинциальных войск, роль «вассальных» контингентов (особое внимание уделяется вооруженным формированиям Крымского ханства), мобилизация и руководство войсками, численность полевых армий султанов, порядок в походе и действия в бою.

Die Solaken waren die Gardetruppen der osmanischen Sultane und trugen diese Pflicht bis 19. Jahrhundert. Sie waren mit dem berühmten osmanischen Kompositbogen bewaffnet und haben diese Waffe lange benuzt, sogar nach dem die Feuerwaffen an den Schlachtfelder auftraten. Die ballistische Eigenschaften des Bogens und die dazugehörige Schiesstechnik spielten eine wichtige Rolle im Überleben  dieser Truppen sowie ihrer Waffe.

Built by the reformist Ottoman sultan Mahmud II and completed in 1826, the Nusretiye Mosque has long been associated with Mahmud’s modernisation of the army, and its name, meaning ‘Victorious’, is widely thought to refer to his destruction of the janissary corps. This conventional wisdom is challenged, however, by the fact that the janissaries were not disbanded until two months after the mosque’s inauguration. Using new documentary evidence, this article revisits the question of the Nusretiye’s symbolism, arguing that the mosque, though predating the fulfilment of Mahmud’s military reforms, was designed and named as a monument to their anticipated success.

This paper investigates the influence of alla turca style in music by W.A. Mozart and F. J. Haydn in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It begins by tracing the origin of the style back to the Ottoman janissaries and their formation in 1329, discussing the first encounters between Europeans and janissaries, and following that influence into European classical music hundreds of years later. The paper will look at various musical examples, specifically examining orchestration, instrumentation and texture.The result is educational, striking impacts and surprising moments in some of the best-loved works in western classical music.

This dissertation examines the Ottoman grand strategy during the turbulent years of war and reform between 1826 and 1841.The concept of grand strategy utilized in my thesis does hereby not refer to purely military matters. It is rather a notion that explains how a political authority strives to realize its long-term aims through mobilization of its available instruments and resources. During 1820s-1840s, facing grave internal and external threats, the Ottoman grand strategy was directed at defending its existing possessions and re-establishing the center’s authority throughout the empire. To ensure their aims, Ottoman decision-makers initiated a radical bureaucratic-military reform agenda and mobilized available fiscal, military and ideological resources at their disposal.

The majority of the existing scholarship tend to interpret the Ottoman reforms in an overly descriptive or superficial manner, therefore neglecting the Ottoman decision-makers’ perceptions, plans, and broader goals as well as the subsequent effects (and repercussions) of those policies within the empire. The “Eastern Question” literature, which is mainly based on European sources, often ignores the Ottoman agency and obscures the rather complex nature of Ottoman policy-making by assessing it within a facile “modernist-reactionary” bipolarity for the period in question. With my holistic approach and utilization of unused archival material, I will contribute to the existing knowledge about Ottoman policy-making and political-military transformation during the era in question.

I argue in my thesis that the imperial center consciously, if frantically, responded to the internal and external challenges by tightening its grip around its subjects and making far-reaching changes in its governmentality. Aided by an expanding and diversifying military-administrative bureaucracy, Ottoman rulers managed to collect more taxes, create and expand a disciplined army, limit the power of provincial notables, standardize governing practices and pragmatically used their newly established European embassies to achieve their foreign goals. The social and economic costs of these policies were also immense, as I clearly underline in my study. Many common subjects and members of the higher classes expressed neither optimism nor pleasure about the top-down reforms and state policies. They were heavily taxed, suffered from rampant inflation, while tens of thousands of men were pressed into the new military formations to serve until they became disabled, deserted or died.

This study was prepared to examine the detection criteria of the Kapıkulu infantry in Ottoman defterology and gravestone studies. The study was limited to the fourteenth century when the Kapıkulu infantry corps was formed and to the date of 14 June 1826, when it was abolished. To reveal the subject in detail, the sample of the research was determined as Ottoman period tombstones, archival documents, period chronicles, local and foreign travelogues, and the works of contemporary researchers.
At the end of the study, it was understood that contrary to what some researchers claim, the term yeniçeri includes neither only the infantry part of Kapıkulu nor all Kapıkulu, but that it has an independent feature just like the Cebeci, Topçu, Top Arabacı, Lağımcı and Humbaracı corps that make up the Kapıkulu infantry corps. This result showed that the statistics created so far are extremely reductionist and contain many problems and the errors in the studies are due to this reductionist perspective. Other results obtained at the end of the research are that titles such as beşe, râcil, bölükbaşı, hoods such as dardağan, kalafat, kuka and badges used to identify yeniçeries until today are also used for other corps outside of the yeniçeries, in other words, they are not certain. Therefore, it has been understood that the statistical tables created based on these criteria and the conclusions drawn based on these data should be rearranged.

This article examines the Bektashi lodges in Istanbul from the time the city was conquered to the times that the lodges were closed/transformed/or put under a more strict control after the abolition of the janissary army in 1826. The goal of this study is to investigate the history of the Bektashi lodges in Istanbul with reference to the institutionalization of Bektashism in general and of the Janissary army and to provide a contextual analysis of their history. We argue that the Bektashi sect, reorganized during the reign of Bayezid II, underwent an institutionalization similar to that of other Istanbul lodges. The second juncture of the history of the Bektashi lodges in Istanbul is the second half of the 18th century. This new phase in the history of the logdes was cut off with the 1826 intervention of the state.
Keywords: Bektashism, lodge, Istanbul, Bayezid II, Janissary army, waqf deeds,Karaağaç, Erikli Baba, Perişan Baba, Şehidlik, Durmuş Dede, Şahkulu Sultan, Karaca Ahmed Sultan, Yarımca Baba, Mürüvvet Baba, Karyağdı Baba, Kıncı Baba, Tahir Baba

“Şarkta uydurma efsane yapılmamıştır. Mutlaka bunun asılları vardır. Lâkin rivayetlerdeki farklar bu asılları efsaneleştirmiştir.”
(A. Süheyl Ünver, “Fatih Devri Fıkraları”, İstanbul Risaleleri, II, 135)

İstanbul’un fethi tarihin dönüm noktası sayılabilecek en önemli olaylardan biri olduğu için aynı zamanda üzerinde de en çok tartışılan tarihî meselelerden biri olmuştur. XVI. yüzyılda fethin “ṣulḥen mi, ʿanveten (savaşla) mı” gerçekleştiği tartışmasıyla başlayıp, günümüze dek farklı iddialar ekseninde çeşitlilik kazanan bu tartışmaların en önemlilerinden biri, hattâ belki de en önemlisi; fethe tanık olmuş Bizans’lı müverrih Yorgios Sfrancis’in (ö 1478’den sonra) uzun zamandır haksız gerekçelerle Makarios Melissinos’a atfedilen Chronicon Maius’unda yer alan “Ulubatlı Hasan” rivâyetinin efsâne mi, gerçek mi olduğu konusudur.

Sfrancis’in muhâsaranın iyice şiddetlendiği bir anda, Lopadion (Ulubat)’lı olduğunu bildirdiği “Hasan” adlı bir yeniçerinin surlara sancak dikerken şehid olması ânını ayrıntılı olarak aktaran bu rivayeti, ilk kez XX. yüzyılın başlarında Osmanlılar’da belirgin bir şekilde ön plâna çıkarılmış ve Ulubatlı Hasan’ın “İstanbul surlarına sancak diken ilk yeniçeri” olduğu bilgisi zamanla halk arasında bilinen en meşhur rivayet hâlini almıştır. Ne var ki rivayetin muhtasar bir kaynağın genişletilmiş versiyonunda yer alması; 1930’larda Yunan ve Romen akademik çevrelerinde kronikteki bilgilerin Safrancis’e ait olmadığı ve buna bağlı olarak son zamanlarda “Ulubatlı Hasan”ın da sonradan uydurulmuş “efsâne”ler arasında yer aldığı yönünde asılsız birtakım iddiaların ortaya çıkmasına sebebiyet vermiştir. Konuyu tartışan araştırmacılardan bir kısmı rivayeti tereddütsüz “efsâne” sayarken, kimileri ise bu konuda peşin bir hükme varılamayacağı, mevcut kıstasların rivayeti asılsız saymak için yeterli olmadığı yönünde nispeten daha temkinli bir yol izlemişlerdir.

Bu bildiride “Ulubatlı Hasan” rivâyeti literatürdeki diğer metin örnekleriyle karşılaştırılarak, kaynağı Chronicon Maius hakkındaki trajikomik iddialar bilimsel deliller ışığında yeniden masaya yatırılacak; konu ile ilgili tüm muhâlif yaklaşımlar farklı analitik bir yaklaşımla yeniden ele alınıp çözüme kavuşturulacak ve fethin en büyük şehidi olan Hasan’ın İstanbul’da tarihî yarımadanın merkezinde ortaya çıkan kabri, yıktırılan mescidi, Bursa Ulubat Gölü yakınlarında ve Edirne’deki vakıf köylerine ilişkin vakfiyesi, yaptırdığı hayır eserleri ve soy şeceresi üzerinde ayrıntılı bir şekilde durularak, esrarengiz kimliği bu tarihî ve topografik deliller ışığında tüm yönleriyle aydınlatılmaya çalışılacaktır.

This article’s main thesis is that, towards the end of its lifespan, the Janissary corps became an increasingly decentralized institution, a fact that redefined its political stance vis-à-vis the Ottoman government, its own central administration, and its involvement in provincial politics. In the course of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, its political power passed mainly into the hands of low-ranking officers who, following a series of reforms, took the opportunity to create strong bonds with local societies. Such bonds were defined by ‘bottom up’ networking processes which allowed the regiments in the provinces to follow a trajectory of increased administrative and financial emancipation from Istanbul. The result was the creation of various different organizational structures inside the corps, which developed their own distinct characteristics, but remained, at the same time, organically connected to one another through a common institutional and legitimizing frame of reference. By taking a close look at the case of the Janissaries of Crete, I thus argue that in order for us to understand the political role of the Janissaries in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, we have to start looking away from Istanbul and examine their history mainly from a provincial perspective.

Klasik dönemde Osmanlı Devleti’nde yeniçeriler; kapıkulu ocaklarının piyade sınıfında görevli, üç ayda bir ulûfe adıyla ücret alan, savaşa her an hazır olan ve İstanbul’da oturan seçkin askerlerdir. İstanbul dışında da az sayıda yeniçeri tâifesi taşradaki şehir merkezlerinde bulunan kalelerde muhafız olarak görevlendirilmişlerdir. Ancak 1559 yılında yaşanan Şehzâde Bâyezid vakası sonrasında, çeşitli nedenlerle taşraya yerleştirilen yeniçeri sayısında artış yaşanmıştır. Bu süreçten itibaren taşrada şehir halkı ile kaynaşarak evlilikler yapan, ticaret ve esnaflıkla uğraşan, kırsal alanlarda tarımsal üretimle meşgul olan ve çeşitli eminlikleri tasarruf eden yeniçeriler, askerlik dışı faaliyetleri benimsemişlerdir. Devletten aldıkları maaş ve vergi muafiyetleri de düşünüldüğünde, yeniçeriler taşrada sıradan reâyâya göre oldukça avantajlı konuma gelmişlerdir. Bu makalede, Osmanlı taşrasında var olan yeniçeri askerlerinin görevleri, görev dışı davranışları ve taşrada uğraştıkları iş alanları, yaşanan örnekleriyle incelemeye alınmaktadır.

Bu çalışmada öncelikle yeniçerilerin, son dönem verileri ile, pazarda edindikleri pozisyon aktarılmış ve toplumsal bir erk olarak tarihsel rollerine dikkat çekilmiştir. Daha sonra yeniçerilerin bu sosyal ve ekonomik nüfuzu ile birlikte kaldırılmasının Osmanlı toplumunda kalemiye, ilmiye ile askeriyeyi nasıl etkilediği ve bunun ekonomik anlamda ne gibi etkileri olduğu incelenmiştir. İlganın ekonomik yansımaları bu bağlamda tağşiş, müsadere, hazinede yeni kurumlaşma ve pazarda fiyat-talep-ücret konularını içermektedir. Ayrıca müsadere konusunda ilga sonrası Yeniçeri Ocağı emvalinin kaydedildiği Başmuhâsebe Darphane-i Âmire D.BŞM.DRB. d.16706 nolu deftere ait bilgiler ilk kez bu çalışmada aktarılmıştır.
Abstract
In this work, it was firstly focused on the position of janissaries in market in late period and their historic role as a social power. After that, it was evaluated that the elimination of janissaries, got penetration in social and economic fields, brought about the reflections on economy and 'kalemiye, ilmiye, askeriye' wthin social perpectives. Tağşiş/devaluation, confiscation, new intstitutionalization in treasure and price-demand-wage on the market was worked in economic reflections. Also within the confiscation, an account book registered D.BŞM.DRB.d.16706 of Başmuhâsebe Darphane-i Âmire in Ottoman Archive Catalogues of Prime Ministry was firstly used in this work.

Based on entries from the Turkish Archive of Herakleio, both published and unpublished, the paper studies a mutiny of the imperial janissaries of Candia (Kandiye, Herakleio) in 1762. The mutiny is being analyzed in correlation with a more general typology of military rebellions of this period. The paper tries to interpretate the dynamics of the mutiny and the attitude of the authorities; special emphasis is given to an alleged leader of the mutiny, Bölükbaşıoğlu Halil Beşe. For the sake of comparison, a similar rebellion in Candia in 1688 is studied; this latter event is mentioned by contemporary historiographical sources, while the judicial arhives illuminate some aspects of the case.

During his first years as sultan, Mahmud II faced direct threats to his life from the Janissaries and their allies in Istanbul. Although he was able to keep his life and throne during the Alemdar Incident of 1808, he endured continuous political harassment and humiliation at the hands of the Janissaries in the following years. Such bitter experiences left deep scars in Mahmud II's psyche and he developed a deep hatred for his tormentors. Even his well-planned victory in 1826 and the destruction of the Janissaries could not convince the sultan that the Janissary threat was over. As a result, Mahmud II urged his ministers and officials to be vigilant for any signs of Janissary conspiracy following the so-called Auspicious Event in 1826. As his hypersensitivity on the subject led him to believe any allegation of potential Janissary plots and reprimand his ministers for their negligence, government officials quickly realized that they had to appear more vigilant than the sultan if they were to protect their careers. Some even exploited the sultan's weakness by exaggerating rumors or feeble attempts at rebellion as empire-wide Janissary conspiracies, seeking to get into the sultan's good graces. This atmosphere of paranoia had serious consequences for ordinary people, as anyone accused of criticizing or voicing an opinion against the sultan's new regime risked being exiled or executed. Thus, the period between 1826 and 1830 witnessed the uncovering of alleged Janissary plots against Mahmud II's administration and the subsequent executions and exiles of former Janissaries and civilians.

Αυτό το άρθρο διερευνά την πολιτική ιστορία της Τουρκίας τα τελευταία διακόσια χρόνια σε τρία «resets». Τα reset εδώ εξετάζονται ως εικοσαετείς περίοδοι μειζόνων αναταραχών και μετασχηματισμών κατά τη διάρκεια των οποίων οι φατρίες που ιδιοποιούνται τη διαχείριση του κράτους, κάτω από διαρκείς συνθήκες έκτακτης ανάγκης, εξουδετερώνουν όποια εστία δύναμης περιορίζει την κρατική εξουσία και, καταπνίγουν τα πλουραλιστικά στοιχεία της κοινωνίας, που τελικά επιφέρουν πολιτιστικές αλλαγές. Στα δύο πρώτα reset, δηλαδή εκείνα των 1810-1830 και 1910-1930, η Ελλάδα και η Ρωσία έπαιξαν κεντρικό ρόλο. Οι τρέχουσες τεταμένες σχέσεις μεταξύ Ελλάδας και Τουρκίας, της οποίας το τρίτο reset ξεκίνησε το δεύτερο μισό της δεκαετίας του 2010, κάνουν την ανάλυση «reset» όλο και πιο σχετική.

Summary/Zusammenfassung:


Topic of the article is a lost Ottoman Banner, which was on display at the cathedral of Munich till the eve of Second World War. Captured in 1688 during the Great Turkish War by the Bavarian prince elector Max Emanuel, it was given to the church as a votive offering. The piece is documented in a lithography made in 1839. A close analysis of the banner reveals a number of outstanding details which allow to reconstruct the history and pupose of the object. Its iconography is heavily influenced by the religious ideas of the Sufi-order of the Bektashi, which were closely connected to the elite corpse of the Janissaries.
Furthermore the article highlights the later interpetations and instrumentalisations of that object during the counter reformation as well as during the Greek war of independence in the first decades of the 19th century.


Der Artikel hat eine heute verlorene osmanische Fahne zum Thema. Durch den bayerischen Kurfürsten Max Emanuel 1688 in Belgrad erbeutet, wurde das kostbare Seidenbanner wenig später, gleichermaßen als Trophäe wie als Votivgabe, in der Münchner Liebfrauenkirche aufgehängt. An seinem historischen Platz an einem der Mittelschiffpfeiler verblieb es trotz aller Umgestaltungen des Kirchenraumes bis in die erste Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die Ikonografie des Banners lässt sich über eine Lithografie aus dem Jahre 1839 präzise rekonstruieren. Von anderen vergleichbaren osmanischen Fahnen unterscheidet sich die hier vorgestellte durch eine Reihe von Merkmalen. Zum Einen ist dies die Datierung auf 1073 AH (1662/63) in der Inschrift des Saumes, zum Anderen mehrere ungewöhnliche Nennungen im kalligrafischen Dekor. Mit ihren explizit schiitischen Bezügen, verweist sie auf die Janitscharen und den eng mit diesen verbundenen Sufiorden der Bektaschi. Diese Verbindungen ermöglichen einen Deutungsversuch, der auch eine neues Licht auf eine ganze Reihe ähnlicher Fahnen wirft. Daneben wird die wechselhafte ideologische Instrumentalisierung der Trophäe von der Gegenreformation bis zum griechischen Unabhängigkeitskrieg beleuchtet.

Gagamitin sa papel na ito ang konsepto ng mandirigma at jihad bilang batayan ng paghalaw ng kabayanihan ng mga Janissary.  Bukod sa tanyag na tagumpay na kanilang nakamit nang mapabagsak ang Constantinople, gagamitin din sa papel na ito ang mga asal na itinuturo sa mga eskwelahan ng Janissary at ang kanilang gampanin sa lipunan ng Ottoman bilang mga halimbawa ng kanilang kabayanihan.

JANET
Start date: 1 February 2020
End date: 31 January 2025
Funded under: H2020-EU.1.1.
Overall budget: € 1,498,389
Hosted by: Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece
Principal Investigator: Yannis Spyropoulos

JaNet investigates the economic and sociopolitical role of the Janissaries in the 18th and early 19th centuries through their examination as a complex of interconnected networks in the ‘extended Mediterranean’ (including major Black Sea and Danubian ports). By studying the Janissary corps, the project brings forward a radically new historical analysis concerning, on the one hand, the role of Muslims in the Ottoman and wider Mediterranean commercial economy – a role largely ignored by the bibliography – and, on the other, the processes that led to the creation of diasporas and the dissemination of people and ideas among various Muslim communities in the area.