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The Kapıkulu Corps and Janissaries
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According to legend the Kapikulu Corps was set
up by Kara Halil Candarli, brother in law of Sheikh Edebali.Its
infantry units or Janissaries were supposedly founded in 1326 when
the recruits were blessed by Haci Bektas.]anissaries were recruited
almost exclusİvely from ex-Christian converts, and so it is interesting
that the Bektaşis should have adopted so many Christian attitudes
and rituals.Their founder and their patron saint both became identified
with Greek Orthodox saints, while many Janissaries also carried
quotations from the Gospel as lucky charms. Prisoners captured during
gazi raids provided plenty of manpower during the 14th century ,
and not until 1 438 was the devşirmei instigated. This was a kind
of human levy; although against Muslim law, it proved unavoidable.
The devJirme was even popular in some areas. Bosnian Muslims arranged
to be included, though Muslims were normally exempt, while in poor
regions parents sometimes bribed officials to take their sons and
so give them better prospects in life. Back in the capital the most
intelligent were chosen for training as içoğlanı,pages in the Topkapi
Palace,while the rest went to work on farms where they learned Turkish
and the Muslim faith before becoming Janissaries. The iç oğlani
were trained for up to seven years in palace schools which concentrated
on character-building, leadership, miIitary and athletic prowess,
lan- guages, religion, science, and a creative art of the pupil's
choosing. Three further examinations selected men for the Kapikulu
cavalry , to be Kapikulu officers and, at the top of the tree, to
become milİtary or administrative leaders. All remained bachelors
until their training ended, when most married women who had been
through a parallel schooling in the Palace harem.Unlike their christian
foes, the Ottoman Turks rarely killed captives and a large number
of young un-ransomed prisioners were considered a waste of military
talent.The best were incorporated into the cavalry six regiments,
and the Ottoman rulers also created an elite infantry regiments
called Yeniceri
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The Janissaries
The Janissaries.-Two notable institutions created
by the Ottoman sultans were the military organization of the Janissaries
and the civil service, which has been aptly called the "Ruling
Institution" by Professor Lybyer. These institutions evolved
from the practice by the Ottoman leaders in Anatolia of employing
captured prisoners as mercenary troops. Later on, during the conquest
of the Balkans, the Turks, with the religious sanction of the grand
mufti, took as tribute from the Christian population a percentage
of the male children. These became the "slaves" of the
sultan. Completely severed from their Christian families, these
children were brought up as Moslems and imbued with religious devotion
to Islam and loyalty to the sultan. The more able were enrolled
in the palace corps of pages and trained to become administrators
and officials in the state bureaucracy, the Ruling Institution.
The remainder were given a military education and became members
of the famous Janissary corps, recognized in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries as the best trained and most effective soldiers of Europe.
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