Misplaced Pages

#646353

138-551: Under Ottoman rule, Serbs experienced subjugation, oppression and suppression of their religion and culture. Under the Ottoman tax system of devshirme , male children from Serb families were taken by the state as part of taxes due to the imperial government. These children were forcbly converted to Islam and made to serve as janissaries . The reign of Suleiman I has been described as the most famous period in Ottoman history . At

276-504: A detachment from the Sanjak of Smederevo . The Ottoman detachment was destroyed near Zrenjanin, and Ali Çavuş was dismissed upon returning to Belgrade. The rebels sacked Titel , and many Muslim-inhabited villages in the surroundings, killing many Muslims, and had a large part held prisoner in a church, forcing them to convert to Christianity, according to Mustafa Selaniki. The Muslim population of neighbouring areas which were not caught up in

414-460: A few exceptions. However, some Muslim families managed to smuggle their sons in anyway. The devshirme levy was not applied to the major cities of the empire, and children of local craftsmen in rural towns were also exempt, as it was considered that conscripting them would harm the economy. According to Bernard Lewis , the janissaries were mainly recruited from the Slavic and Albanian populations of

552-515: A hypothetical Thracian * Donaris . The Proto-Indo-European root of this presumed name is related to the Iranic word " don- "/" dan- ", while the supposed suffix -aris is encountered in the ancient name of the Ialomița River , Naparis , and in the unidentified Miliare river mentioned by Jordanes in his Getica . Gábor Vékony says that this hypothesis is not plausible, because

690-585: A meeting at Gyulafehérvár of his magnates regarding whether to support the Serb rebels; on 11 June the outcome was that they were not to break their subordinance to the Ottomans. The Transylvanian connection did however not stop; Đorđe Palotić stole armament which he sent to the rebels, and encouraged them to continue to fight; he subsequently promised that Báthory would soon appear to them. On 13 June from Vršac, Bishop Teodor, Ban Sava , and Velja Mironić promised, in

828-532: A need to "counteract the power of (Turkic) nobles by developing Christian vassal soldiers and converted kapıkulu as his personal troops, independent of the regular army." This elite force, which served the Ottoman Sultan directly, was called Kapıkulu Ocağı (The Hearth of the Porte Servants). They were divided into two main groups: cavalry and infantry. The cavalry was commonly known as

966-428: A pact to assassinate him by night, saying “If we kill this Turkish dog, then all of Christendom will be freed [from Ottoman tyranny]; but if we are caught, then we will become martyrs before God with the others.” When their plot was exposed, and Murad inquired what caused them to “dare attempt this,” they responded, “None other than our great sorrow for our fathers and dear friends.” He had the children slowly tortured over

1104-399: A quick defeat of the Ottoman resistance. The rebels sought to leave as soon as spoils were collected, however, the locals opposed as they feared Ottoman reprisal. V. Krestić notes that the Ottomans believed that the rebellion would be easy to suppress, appointing a lesser official, emin-i nüzül (grain procurer) Ali Çavuş, who had up until then collected extraordinary war taxes, as commander of

1242-400: A recruit was between 10 and 20 years of age. Mehmed Refik Beg mentioned that a youth with a bodily defect, no matter how slight, was never admitted into palace service, since Turks believed that a strong soul and a good mind could be found only in a perfect body. The selected children were dressed in red so that they could not easily escape on their way to Constantinople . The cost of

1380-535: Is 4,152 km (1,603 sq mi), of which 3,446 km (1,331 sq mi) are in Romania. If one includes the lagoons of Razim-Sinoe (1,015 km (392 sq mi) of which 865 km (334 sq mi) water surface), which are located south of the delta proper, but are related to it geologically and ecologically (their combined territory is part of the World Heritage Site),

1518-477: Is also an important source of hydropower and drinking water . The Danube river basin is home to such fish species as pike , zander , huchen , Wels catfish , burbot and tench . It is also home to numerous diverse carp and sturgeon , as well as salmon and trout . A few species of euryhaline fish, such as European seabass , mullet , and eel , inhabit the Danube Delta and the lower portion of

SECTION 10

#1732765950647

1656-612: Is divided into three main parts, separated by "gates" where the river is forced to cut through mountainous sections: Mean annual discharge on the hydrological stations (period from 2000 to 2023); 1 - Reni , Isaccea ; 2 - Silistra ; 3 - Pristol ; 4 - Batina , Bezdan ; 5 - Nagymaros , Szob ; 6 - Bratislava , Wolfsthal ; 7 - Untergriesbach Multiannual average, minimum and maximum discharge (water period from 1876 to 2010) Simulated water and suspended sediment results from climate-driven decadal study (with STD through specific decade): P – Simulated average precipitation in

1794-657: Is estimated that the Danube upper course will one day disappear entirely in favor of the Rhine, an event called stream capturing . The hydrological parameters of Danube are regularly monitored in Croatia at Batina , Dalj , Vukovar and Ilok . The Danube basin was the site of some of the earliest human cultures. The Danubian Neolithic cultures include the Linear Pottery cultures of the mid-Danube basin. Many sites of

1932-506: Is no prophet and that the Turkish religion is false. If there is one among them who has some little book or can teach them in some other manner something of God's world, they hear him as diligently as if he were their preacher. Greek scholar Janus Lascaris visited Constantinople in 1491 and met many janissaries who not only remembered their former religion and their native land but also favored their former coreligionists. The renegade Hersek,

2070-418: Is some evidence that urban Christian and Muslim parents resorted to bribery or sending their children to the country to assure the advancement in life that devshirme recruitment could bring. The boys were forced to convert to Islam. Muslims were not allowed into the system (with some exceptions), but some Muslim families smuggled their sons in anyway. According to Speros Vyronis, "The Ottomans took advantage of

2208-790: Is the second-longest river in Europe , after the Volga in Russia . It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe , from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea . A large and historically important river, it was once a frontier of the Roman Empire . In the 21st century, it connects ten European countries, running through their territories or marking a border. Originating in Germany ,

2346-686: Is to implement the Danube River Protection Convention by promoting and coordinating sustainable and equitable water management, including conservation, improvement, and rational use of waters and the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and the Danube Strategy . The Danube Commission is concerned with the maintenance and improvement of the river's navigation conditions. It was established in 1948 by seven countries bordering

2484-444: Is urgently necessary” and were made to “pray together without fail at four prescribed times every day.” As “for any little offense, they beat them cruelly with sticks, rarely hitting them less than a hundred times, and often as much as a thousand. After punishments the boys have to come to them and kiss their clothing and thank them for the cudgelings they have received. You can see, then, that moral degradation and humiliation are part of

2622-654: The Kapikulu Sipahi (The Cavalry of the Servants of the Porte ) and the infantry as the janissaries ( Yeni Çeri , meaning "the New Corps"). The devshirme conscripts were set apart from the janissaries in that they were not a cavalry group, rather exclusively infantry. At first, the soldiers serving in these corps were selected from the slaves captured during war. However, a new system commonly known as devshirme

2760-701: The Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodos (Argon. IV. 282). At the end of the Okeanos Potamos , is the holy island of Alba (Leuke, Pytho Nisi, Isle of Snakes ), sacred to the Pelasgian (and later, Greek) Apollo, greeting the sun rising in the east. Hecateus Abderitas refers to Apollo's island from the region of the Hyperboreans, in the Okeanos. It was on Leuke, in one version of his legend, that

2898-691: The Albanians of Himarë in the year 1581, addressed to the Pope reads: "Holiest father, if you could convince him and save us and the children of Greece, that are taken every day and are turned into Turks, if you could only do this, God may bless you. Amen”. In 1456 Greeks living on the western coast of Anatolia appealed to the Knights Hospitalers of Rhodes for help. We, who do dwell in Turkey ... inform your lordship that we are heavily vexed by

SECTION 20

#1732765950647

3036-479: The Balkans . Scouts were recruiting youngsters according to their talent and ability with school subjects, in addition to their personality, character and physical perfection. The Enderûn candidates were not supposed to be orphans or the only child in their family to ensure that the candidates had strong family values. They also had to not have already learned to speak Turkish or a craft or trade. The ideal age of

3174-464: The Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine . Once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire , the river passes through or touches the borders of 10 countries. Its drainage basin extends into nine more (ten if Kosovo is included). In addition to the bordering countries (see above), the drainage basin includes parts of nine more countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina (4.6% of

3312-576: The Bystroye Canal . In 2022, there was a major heat wave in Europe. As a result, there was less water flowing in the rivers. As the water level decreased, a number of ship wrecks from World War II emerged in the Danube River. Many of the ships were from Nazi Germany 's Black Sea Fleet and had been scuttled to stop them from falling into enemy hands. The International Commission for

3450-601: The Danube , in southern Banat, and V. Krestić notes that these conflicts were perhaps where the rebels had the greatest success. According to Ottoman chronicler Mustafa Selaniki , the rebellion began in Modava, led by an unnamed Christian (identified as the Serb "spahija Vukadin"), a ziamet -holder, who had a high rank in the sipahi organization; after losing his service and lands he went to Sigismund Báthory , from where he quickly returned with several officers who would help in

3588-713: The Danubian Limes was the northeastern border of the Empire, with occasional interruptions such as the fall of the Danubian Limes in 259. The crossing of the Danube into Dacia was achieved by the Imperium Romanum , first in two battles in 102 and then in 106 after the construction of a bridge in 101 near the garrison town of Drobeta at the Iron Gate. This victory over Dacia under Decebalus enabled

3726-635: The PIE * isro- , * sreu 'to flow'. In the Middle Ages, the Greek Tiras was borrowed into Italian as Tyrlo and into Turkic languages as Tyrla ; the latter was further borrowed into Romanian as a regionalism ( Turlă ). The Thraco- Phrygian name was Matoas , "the bringer of luck". The Middle Mongolian name for the Danube was transliterated as Tho-na in 1829 by Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat . The modern languages spoken in

3864-610: The Qanun , the law enacted by the Sultan, superseded sharia even though the latter was treated with respect. The devshirme was just one example in which the Sultan's wishes superseded the sharia (another example is that Ottoman sultans set maximum interest rates even though sharia totally prohibits interest ). James L. Gelvin explains that Ottoman jurists were able to get around that injunction with an extraordinarily creative legal manoeuvre by arguing that although Islamic tradition forbade

4002-585: The Seljuks or the contemporary European palace schools, Enderûn was unique with respect to the background of the student body and its meritocratic system. In the strict draft phase, students were taken forcefully from the Christian population of the Empire and were converted to Islam . Jews and Gypsies were exempted from devshirme and so were all Muslims . Those entrusted to find those children were scouts, who were specially-trained agents, throughout

4140-554: The Sultan . It counterbalanced the Turkish nobility, who sometimes opposed the Sultan. The system produced a considerable number of grand viziers from the 1400s to the 1600s. This was the second most powerful position in the Ottoman Empire, after the sultan. Initially, the grand viziers were exclusively of Turk origin, but after there were troubles between Sultan Mehmed II and the Turkish grand vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha

4278-436: The harem , many eunuchs of devshirme origin went on to hold important positions in the military and the government, such as grand viziers Hadım Ali Pasha , Sinan Borovinić , and Hadım Hasan Pasha . Ottoman officials would take male Christian children, aged 7 to 20, from Eastern , Southern and Southeastern Europe , and relocate them to Istanbul, where they were converted, circumcised, assimilated and trained to serve into

Uprising in Banat - Misplaced Pages Continue

4416-555: The 'slaves' to become both powerful and wealthy." According to Cleveland, the devshirme system offered "limitless opportunities to the young men who became a part of it." Basilike Papoulia wrote that "the devishirme was the 'forcible removal', in the form of a tribute, of children of the Christian subjects from their ethnic, religious and cultural environment and their transportation into the Turkish-Islamic environment with

4554-428: The 1650s, the number of janissaries had increased to 50,000, but by this time, the devshirme had largely been abandoned as a method of recruitment. The BBC notes the following regarding the devshirme system: "Although members of the devshirme class were technically slaves, they were of great importance to the Sultan because they owed him their absolute loyalty and became vital to his power. This status enabled some of

4692-553: The Balkans region, such as Albanians and Greeks . Since Muslim Bosnians were the only Muslim ethnic group allowed to be recruited, an armed guard was required to lead the Bosnians on their way to Istanbul to avoid any Turkish boys from being smuggled into their ranks. The early Ottoman emphasis on recruiting Greeks , Albanians , and South Slavs was a direct consequence of being centred on territories, in northwestern Anatolia and

4830-536: The Balkans. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica and the Encyclopaedia of Islam , in the early days of the empire, all Christians were enrolled indiscriminately. Later, those from Albania , Bosnia and Bulgaria were preferred. What is certain is that devshirme were primarily recruited from Christians living in the Balkans, particularly Serbs and Bosnians, as well as others from

4968-453: The Book . The practice of devshirme also involved forced conversions to Islam. This is disputed by Turkish historian Halil İnalcık , who argues that the devshirme were not slaves once converted to Islam. Some scholars point out that the early Ottoman Empire did not care about the details of sharia and thus did not see any problems with devshirme. During this time, the Ottomans believed that

5106-814: The Christian parents thought of the Janissaries: You understand, then, my lords and Christian gentlemen, what sorrow the Greeks bear, the fathers and the mothers who are separated from their children at the prime of life. Think ye of the heartrending sorrow! How many mothers scratch out their cheeks! How many fathers beat their breast with stones! What grief these Christians experience on account of their children who are separated from them while alive, and how many mothers say, “It would have been better to see them dead and buried in our church, rather than to have them taken alive in order to become Turks and abjure our faith. Better that you had died!” Stephen Gerlach gives

5244-773: The Danube basin all use names derived from the Latin name Danubius : Danube is an Old European river name derived from the Celtic ' danu ' or ' don ' (both Celtic gods), which itself derived from the Proto-Indo-European * deh₂nu . Other European river names from the same root include the Dunaj, Dzvina/ Daugava , Don , Donets , Dnieper , Dniestr , Dysna and Tana/Deatnu . In Rigvedic Sanskrit , danu (दनु) means "fluid, dewdrop" and danuja (दनु-ज) means "born from danu " or "born from dew-drops". In Avestan ,

5382-431: The Danube basin; T – Simulated average temperature in the Danube basin; Q – Simulated average discharge in the Danube River at delta; S – Simulated sediment load in the Danube River at delta ; Historical average flow to the present day; Measured and reconstructed average water flows from 1742. The reconstructed and observed streamflow (Q – m /s) at Ceatal Izmail for the 1742 to 2022: The land drained by

5520-1040: The Danube extends into many other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges and other shallow-draught boats. From its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are (as they enter): 18. Tisza (entering near Titel ) 19. Sava (entering at Belgrade ) 20. Timiș (river) (entering at Pančevo ) 21. Great Morava (entering near Smederevo ) 22. Mlava (entering near Kostolac ) 23. Karaš (entering near Banatska Palanka ) 24. Jiu (entering at Bechet ) 25. Iskar (entering near Gigen ) 26. Olt (entering at Turnu Măgurele ) 27. Osam (entering near Nikopol, Bulgaria ) 28. Yantra (entering near Svishtov ) 29. Argeș (entering at Oltenița ) 30. Ialomița 31. Siret (entering near Galați ) 32. Prut (entering near Galați ) The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals (shown below in bold), more than any other river in

5658-565: The Danube flows southeast for 2,850 km (1,770 mi), passing through or bordering Austria , Slovakia , Hungary , Croatia , Serbia , Romania , Bulgaria , Moldova , and Ukraine . Among the many cities on the river are four national capitals: Vienna , Bratislava , Budapest , and Belgrade . Its drainage basin amounts to 817,000 km (315,000 sq mi) and extends into nine more countries. The Danube's longest headstream Breg rises in Furtwangen im Schwarzwald , while

Uprising in Banat - Misplaced Pages Continue

5796-590: The Danube was variously known as Danubius , Danuvius , Ister or Hister . The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, except Slovene (the name of the Rhine is also masculine in Latin, most of the Slavic languages, as well as in German). The German Donau ( Early Modern German Donaw , Tonaw , Middle High German Tuonowe ) is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing

5934-610: The Danube's, today subsurface rivers carry much water from the Danube to the Rhine. On many days in the summer, when the Danube carries little water, it completely oozes away noisily into these underground channels at two locations in the Swabian Alb, which are referred to as the Donauversickerung ( Danube Sink ). Most of this water resurfaces only 12 km (7.5 mi) south at the Aachtopf , Germany's wellspring with

6072-522: The Danube. Today the Commission include riparian and non-riparian states. Although the headwaters of the Danube are relatively small today, geologically, the Danube is much older than the Rhine , with which its catchment area competes in today's southern Germany. This has a few interesting geological complications. Since the Rhine is the only river rising in the Alps mountains which flows north towards

6210-663: The Grand Vizier Koca Sinan Pasha to devote attention to Banat. He appointed Mehmed Pasha, the Beylerbey of Anatolia, the commander of an army (consisting of troops from the eyalets of Anatolia and Karaman, and also 3,000 Janissaries) that was planned to deal with the rebels in Zrenjanin. As news arrived of spreading of the uprising in the Temeşvar ( Timișoara ) area, Mustafa Pasha, the Beylerbey of Temeşvar,

6348-640: The Greeks borrowed the Istros form from the native Thracians. He proposes that the Romanian name is a loanword from a Turkic language ( Cuman or Pecheneg ). Classified as an international waterway , it originates in the town of Donaueschingen , in the Black Forest of Germany , at the confluence of the rivers Brigach and Breg . The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,730 km (1,700 mi), passing through four capital cities ( Vienna , Bratislava , Budapest , and Belgrade ) before emptying into

6486-539: The Habsburg part of Hungary. The next year, Crimean Tatars wintered in the Eyalet of Temeşvar , which brought new pillage and slavery, and according to contemporary statements no living being could be seen for three days of walking. The longer the war lasted, extraordinary war taxes rose. In 1596 a Serb uprising broke out in the eastern part of the Sanjak of Herzegovina , organized by the regional Orthodox leadership. It

6624-509: The Janissaries: "The conquered are slaves of the conquerors, to whom their goods, their women, and their children belong as lawful possession". According to scholars, the practice of devshirme was a clear violation of sharia or Islamic law. David Nicolle writes that since the boys were "effectively enslaved" under the devshirme system, this was a violation of the dhimmi protections guaranteed under Islamic law to People of

6762-566: The Janissary infantry corps or palace duties. Devshirme were rarely sold, though some could end up as slaves in private households. The fact that they were taken forcibly from their parents made the devshirme system resented by locals. However, revolts were rare, with the exception of a revolt against the devshirme in Albania in 1565. Ordered to cut all ties with their families, some managed to use their positions to help their families. There

6900-731: The North Sea, an invisible line beginning at Piz Lunghin divides large parts of southern Germany, which is sometimes referred to as the European Watershed . Before the last ice age in the Pleistocene , the Rhine started at the southwestern tip of the Black Forest, while the waters from the Alps that today feed the Rhine were carried east by the so-called Urdonau (original Danube). Parts of this ancient river's bed, which

7038-425: The Ottoman court until Mehmet II (see Çandarlı Halil ), the Ottoman ruling class slowly came to be ruled exclusively by the devshirme, creating a separate social class. This class of rulers was chosen from the brightest of devshirme and handpicked to serve in the palace institution, known as the Enderûn . They had to accompany the Sultan on campaigns, but exceptional service would be rewarded by assignments outside

SECTION 50

#1732765950647

7176-470: The Ottoman invasion. Vladimir Minorsky states, "The most striking manifestation of this fact is the unprecedented system of devshirme, i.e. the periodic conscription of 'tribute boys', by which the children of Christians were wrung from their families, churches, and communities to be molded into Ottoman praetorians owing their allegiance to the Sultan and the official faith of Islam." This system as explained by Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha , founder of

7314-424: The Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) is an organization that consists of 14 member states (Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Montenegro, and Ukraine) and the European Union . The commission, established in 1998, deals with the whole Danube river basin, which includes tributaries and groundwater resources. Its goal

7452-418: The Province of Dacia to be created, but in 271 it was abandoned by emperor Aurelian . Avars used the river as their southeastern border in the 6th century. Part of the rivers Danubius or Istros was also known as (together with the Black Sea) the Okeanos in ancient times, being called the Okeanos Potamos (Okeanos River). The lower Danube was also called the Keras Okeanoio (Gulf or Horn of Okeanos) in

7590-420: The Serb flag, as well as the sarcophagus and relics of Saint Sava located in the Mileševa monastery be brought by military convoy to Belgrade . Along the way, the Ottoman convoy had people killed in their path so that the rebels in the woods would hear of it. On 27 April, the Ottomans had the relics of Saint Sava publicly incinerated on a pyre on the Vračar plateau , and the ashes scattered, made to discourage

7728-471: The Serbian and the Romanian stretches of the Danube. However, the transgressions may not be considered acts of piracy, as defined according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , but rather instances of "river robbery". On the other hand, media reports say the crews on transport ships often steal and sell their own cargo and then blame the plundering on "pirates", and the alleged attacks are not piracy but small-time contraband theft along

7866-405: The Serbs. Archbishop Sava founded the Serbian Orthodox Church , Serbian ecclesiastical law and national literature, and has been compared to what Buddha is for Buddhism . He was canonized as a miracle-worker and his religious cult was assimilated into folk beliefs in Ottoman times. The veneration of his relics created tension between Serbs and the occupying Ottomans. In 1774, Sava was proclaimed

8004-541: The Sultan and admonishing against the kidnapping of boys: Be damned, O Emperor, be thrice damned For the evil you have done and the evil you do. You catch and shackle the old and the archpriests In order to take the children as Janissaries. Their parents weep and their sisters and brothers too And I cry until it pains me; As long as I live I shall cry, For last year it was my son and this year my brother. The Tübingen manuscript written by Andre Argyros and John Tholoites and given to Martin Crusius in 1585 shows what

8142-404: The Sultan themselves and practically formed their own aristocracy. The primary objective of the Palace School was to train the ablest children for leadership positions, either as military leaders or as high administrators to serve the Devlet . Although there are many resemblances between Enderûn and other palace schools of the previous civilizations, such as those of the Abbasids ,

8280-437: The Turk, and that they take away our children and make Muslims of them ... For this reason we beseech your lordship to take council that the most holy pope might send his ships to take us and our wives and children away from here, for we are suffering greatly from the Turk. The children were taken from their families and transported to Istanbul. Upon their arrival, they were forcibly converted to Islam, examined and made to serve

8418-497: The Turks and running away by ourselves among the mountains,” he writes, “but our youth did not permit us to do that.” Once when he and a group of other boys broke free and escaped, “the whole region pursued us, and having caught and bound us, they beat us and tortured us and dragged us behind horses.” It is said that: "Even those personally chosen by the Sultan found nothing admirable about their lot." After Ottoman Sultan Murad II took eight Christian youths into his service, they made

SECTION 60

#1732765950647

8556-403: The Younger , who became the first grand vizier to be executed, there was a rise of slave administrators devshirme. They were much easier to control for the sultans, as compared to free administrators of Turkish noble origin. They were also less subject to influence from court factions. From the very beginning, the Turcoman were a danger that undermined the Sultan's creation of a strong state. Thus,

8694-482: The Younger , who was the first grand vizier to be executed, there was a rise of slave administrators ( devshirme ). They were much easier for the sultans to control, compared to free administrators of Turkish aristocratic extraction. The devshirme also produced many of the Ottoman Empire's provincial governors, military commanders, and divans during the 1400s–1600s period. Sometimes, the devshirme recruits were castrated and became eunuchs . Although often destined for

8832-448: The aim of employing them in the service of the Palace, the army, and the state, whereby they were on the one hand to serve the Sultan as slaves and freedmen and on the other to form the ruling class of the State." Accordingly, Papoulia agrees with Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb and Harold Bowen, authors of Islamic Society and the West , that the devshirme was a penalization imposed on the Balkan peoples since their ancestors had resisted

8970-406: The army, rather than sons from Christian families. In 1594, Muslims were officially allowed to take the positions held by the devshirme and the system of recruiting Christians effectively stopped by 1648. An attempt to re-institute it in 1703 was resisted by its Ottoman members, who coveted the military and civilian posts. Finally, in the early days of Ahmet III 's reign, the practice of devshirme

9108-408: The bandit forays turned into an uprising. The aims of the uprising were expressed by the Orthodox clergy, headed by the bishop of Vršac, Teodor . After the operations in the Vršac area, a large Ottoman ship convoy with war material was attacked on the Syrmian side of the Danube, most likely by Syrmian hajduks. In April and May the rebels destroyed important Ottoman strongholds on the left waterside of

9246-488: The basin area), the Czech Republic (2.9%), Slovenia (2.0%), Montenegro (0.9%), Switzerland (0.2%), Italy (<0.15%), Poland (<0.1%), North Macedonia (<0.1%) and Albania (<0.1%). The total drainage basin is 801,463 km (309,447 sq mi) in area, and is home to 83 million people. The highest point of the drainage basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border , at 4,049 m (13,284 ft). The Danube River Basin

9384-439: The case of a Greek Mother from Panormus in Anatolia who had two boys and begged God every day to take them away because she would soon be forced to give up one of them. The distress expressed here was motivated not only by religious considerations, but also by the low opinion the Byzantines held for Turks (whom they called barbarians). In desperation the parents would appeal to the Pope and western powers for help. A petition of

9522-481: The city fortress on fire. They then defeated the Ottoman security at the dock of Hram and crew of the wooden fortress ( palanka ) in Pančevo . The Ottoman government sent out an army of 1,000 cavalry and infantry when news about the attacks reached Belgrade and Smederevo . In the ensuing battle near Pančevo on 26 May 1594, the rebel leader Vukadin and 1,000 men were killed, an old Serbian record states that "Serbs and Turks fought ... many Serbs fell". Immediately after

9660-407: The construction board for the church was established in 1895, the construction of the winning concept, based on Gračanica and Hagia Sophia , began in 1935. Construction stopped during World War II and the Communist rule, only to be restarted after permission in 1984; as of 2010, the exterior is finished and interior unfinished. The site where Saint Sava's relics were burnt, the Vračar plateau, became

9798-425: The course of a year before beheading them. On the other hand, since the devshirme could reach powerful positions, some Muslim families tried to have the recruiters take their sons so that they could achieve professional advancement. Sometimes people of both religion, or family in great needs, attempted to bribe scouts to take their children. In Epirus , a traditional folk song expressed this resentment by cursing

9936-449: The devshirme also served as a unifying factor for the Ottoman Empire. Greeks, Armenians, Albanians, and other ethnicities would see that the Sultan was Turkish, but his viziers were Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek and other ethnicities. The ethnic diversity in high-level and powerful positions of the Ottoman Empire helped to unite the diverse groups under its jurisdiction. They also prevented a hereditary aristocracy from forming but held sway over

10074-500: The devshirme service and their clothes were paid by their villages or communities. The boys were gathered into cohorts of a hundred or more to walk to Constantinople, where they were circumcised and divided between the palace schools and the military training. Anyone not chosen for the palace spent years being toughened by hard labor on farms in Anatolia until they were old enough for the military . The brightest youths who fit into

10212-459: The devshirme such as: marrying the boys at the age of 12, mutilating them or have both father and son convert to Islam. Conversion to Islam was used in Bosnia and Herzegovina to escape the system. In Albania and Epirus the practice led to a Christian revolt where the inhabitants killed the recruiting officials in the year 1565. In Naousa , after killing the recruiting officials the parents fled to

10350-812: The devshirme. Unlike the black eunuchs, who were usually castrated in their place of origin, the devshirme were castrated at the palace. The palace eunuchs who supervised them often came from the same background as the devshirme (the Balkans). A considerable number of eunuchs of devshirme origin went on to hold important positions in the government and the military, and many of them became grand vizier , like Hadım Ali Pasha , Sinan Borovinić , Hadım Hasan Pasha , Hadim Mesih Pasha and Hadım Mehmed Pasha . Others, like Sofu Hadım Ali Pasha , Hadım Şehabeddin , Hadım Yakup Pasha of Bosnia , Hadım Ali Pasha of Buda , Hadım Suleiman Pasha and his namesake Hadım Suleiman Pasha , became prominent admirals and generals. According to

10488-536: The distance to the Black Sea by 400 km (250 mi); the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal is about 171 km (106 mi), finished in 1992, linking the North Sea to the Black Sea. A Danube-Aegean canal has been proposed. Danube River cruise for sightseeing is popular, especially between Passau , Germany, to Budapest , Hungary. In 2010–12, shipping companies, especially from Ukraine, claimed that their vessels suffered from "regular pirate attacks " on

10626-419: The empire's largest single military corps. As a result, by the late 16th century, the devshirme system had become increasingly abandoned for less rigid recruitment methods, which allowed Muslims to enter directly into the janissary corps. In 1632, the janissaries attempted an unsuccessful coup against Murad IV , who then imposed a loyalty oath on them. In 1638 or 1648, the devshirme-based recruiting system of

10764-554: The empire. Exemption from this tribute was considered a privilege and not a penalty." Many scholars consider the practice of devshirme as violating Islamic law . David Nicolle writes that enslavement of Christian boys violates the dhimmi protections guaranteed in Islam, but Halil İnalcık argues that the devshirme were not slaves once converted to Islam. The boys were given a formal education, and trained in science, warfare and bureaucratic administration, and became advisers to

10902-407: The empire. The system produced infantry corps soldiers as well as civilian administrators and high-ranked military officials." Their village, district and province, parentage, date of birth, and physical appearance was recorded. Albertus Bobovius wrote in 1686 that diseases were common among the devshirme and that strict discipline was enforced. Although the influence of Turkic nobility continued in

11040-475: The end of his reign, however, the constant wars had taken its toll, damaging the economy. The faulty economic policies that followed shook the economy and with that, the foundations of Ottoman society; state officials quickly became poor, their pay being worthless akçe , and corruption and bribes were common. Mutiny struck throughout the Ottoman Empire, the rebellion of the capital troops in January 1593 assuring

11178-484: The enslavement of Christians, Balkan Christians were different because they had converted to Christianity after the advent of Islam. (This was true of most rural Christians in the Balkans, but not the Greeks.) William Gervase Clarence-Smith points out that the reasoning is not accepted in the Hanafi school of law, which the Ottoman Empire claimed to have practiced. Contemporary Ottoman chroniclers had mixed opinions on

11316-508: The establishment of this class counterbalanced the Turkish nobility, who sometimes opposed the Sultan. An early Greek source mentioning devshirme ( paidomazoma ) is a speech by Archbishop Isidore of Thessalonica , made on 28 February 1395, titled: "On the abduction of children according to sultan's order and on the Future Judgment". The speech includes references to the violent Islamization of children and their hard training in

11454-431: The general Christian fear of losing their children and used offers of devshirme exemption in negotiations for surrender of Christian lands. Such exemptions were included in the surrender terms granted to Jannina, Galata, Morea, Chios, etc. Christians who engaged in specialized activities important to the Ottoman state were exempted from the blood tax on their children by way of recognition of the importance of their labors for

11592-479: The general guidelines and had a strong primary education were then given to selected Muslim families across Anatolia to complete the enculturation process. They would later attend schools across Anatolia to complete their training for six to seven years to qualify as ordinary military officers . They would get the highest salaries amongst the administrators of the empire and very well respected in public. White eunuchs were sometimes recruited from among

11730-543: The giving up of his son for the Janissaries, he is immediately hanged from his door-sill, his blood being deemed unworthy. Sources show that it was not rare for the older youth to attempt to preserve their faith and some recollection of their homeland and their families. For instance, Stephan Gerlach writes: They gather together and one tells another of his native land and of what he heard in church or learned in school there, and they agree among themselves that Muhammad

11868-755: The gorge) by the Iron Gate II Hydroelectric Power Station . On 13 April 2006, a record peak discharge at Iron Gate Dam reached 15,400 m /s (540,000 cu ft/s). There are three artificial waterways built on the Danube: the Danube-Tisa-Danube Canal (DTD) in the Banat and Bačka regions ( Vojvodina , northern province of Serbia); the 64 km (40 mi) Danube-Black Sea Canal , between Cernavodă and Constanța (Romania) finished in 1984, shortens

12006-453: The government to seek out a new war of conquest to get out of the crisis. The population ( rayah , sr. raja ) in the Sanjak of Çanad suffered in this period, since the 1560s. Impoverished sipahi forced peasants to overwork themselves, and the sipahis imposed their own taxes on the peasants, despite laws preventing such actions. Tax collectors, as well, abused their position, taking higher taxes. Beys and vojvode (Christian chiefs) used

12144-471: The group arrived in their areas, while in several places they were forced to join as the rebels threatened to take their properties, and even death (which is contrary to stereotypes of the folk character of uprisal). In March, a group of rebels led by Petar Majzoš burnt down Vršac and robbed the population of neighbouring villages, then retreated to Transylvania. At the end of March, the rebels attacked and sacked Bocșa and Margina . In this period, it seems,

12282-533: The hero Achilles was buried (to this day, one of the mouths of the Danube is called Chilia). Old Romanian folk songs recount a white monastery on a white island with nine priests. Between the late 14th and late 19th centuries, the Ottoman Empire competed first with the Kingdom of Serbia , Second Bulgarian Empire , Kingdom of Hungary , Principality of Wallachia , Principality of Moldavia and later with

12420-423: The highest flow, an average of 8,500 L/s (300 cu ft/s), north of Lake Constance —thus feeding the Rhine. The European Water Divide applies only for those waters that pass beyond this point, and only during the days of the year when the Danube carries enough water to survive the sinkholes in the Donauversickerung. Since such large volumes of underground water erode much of the surrounding limestone, it

12558-415: The historian Cemal Kafadar, one of the main reasons for the decline of the devshirme system was that the size of the janissary corps had to be expanded to compensate for the decline in the importance of the sipahi cavalry forces, which itself was a result of changes in early modern warfare such as the introduction of firearms and increased importance of infantry. Indeed, the janissary corps would soon become

12696-457: The janissary corps formally came to an end. In an order sent in multiple copies to authorities throughout the European provinces in 1666, a devshirme recruitment target of between 300 and 320 was set for an area covering the whole of the central and western Balkans . On the accession of sultan Suleiman II in 1687, only 130 janissary inductees were graduated to the janissary ranks. The system

12834-747: The latter to accept Paulos Omeros, a 12-year-old boy from Chios, to save him from the devshirme. The recruitment of children took place every three to four years and at times even annually, according to the needs of the Sultan. The largest loss of children coincided with the peak of Ottoman expansion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries under the rule of Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent. According to historian William Gervase Clarence-Smith , Christian children were taken by Ottoman officials, every four to seven years, their age ranging from 7 to 20. Those younger than 8 were called şirhor (nursling) and beççe (child). One for every forty households

12972-466: The mountains but were later caught and executed in 1705. Any parent who refused to have their child taken as a slave was put to death, and children who attempted to resist being taken from their families as janissaries by fleeing would lead to the Turks arresting and then torturing their parents to death (Many children who attempted to flee on their own returned after hearing of their parents torture). Such

13110-562: The name of all their sipahi , knezes, and "all of Serbdom", to faithfully serve the Transylvanian ruler, in a letter to Mózes Székely , who held the frontier at that time. Meanwhile, the Zrenjanin group sought protection from the Viennese court, their envoy Đorđe Rac arrived at Hatvan on 10 June, meeting with general Teuffenbach, and then also Archduke Matthias at Esztergom . The Austrians sent two small detachments, one of which

13248-552: The new grounds of the National Library of Serbia and the Church of Saint Sava dedicated to the saint, in the 20th century. From its location, the church dominates Belgrade's cityscape , and has become a national symbol. The size of the uprising is illustrated in a Serbian epic poem : "The whole land has rebelled, six hundred villages arose, everybody pointed his gun against the emperor". The coat of arms of Vršac, which

13386-533: The northern barbarian Thracian and Illyrian tribes by advancing from Macedonia as far as the Danube in 336 BCE. Under the Romans, the Danube formed the border of the Empire with the tribes to the north almost from its source to its mouth. At the same time, it was a route for the transport of troops and the supply of settlements downstream. From 37 CE to the reign of the Emperor Valentinian I (364–375)

13524-400: The palace school ( Enderûn Mektebi ), where they were destined for a career within the palace itself and could attain the highest office of state, Grand Vizier , the Sultan's powerful chief minister and military deputy. In the beginning of the Ottoman Empire, this office was held only by Turks. However, after there were problems between sultan Mehmed II and the Turkish Çandarlı Halil Pasha

13662-486: The palace. Those chosen for the scribe institution, known as kalemiye , were also granted prestigious positions. At the religious institution, İlmiye , all orthodox Muslim clergy of the Ottoman Empire were educated and sent to provinces or served in the capital. The children were subjected to a draconian training system: “They make them drudge day and night, and they give them no bed to sleep on and very little food.” They were allowed to “speak to each other only when it

13800-452: The patron saint of all Serbs. In the 19th century the cult was revived in the context of nationalism with the prospect of independence from the Ottomans, "representing and reproducing powerful images of a national Golden Age, of national reconciliation and unification, and of martyrdom for the church and nation". After Serbia gained full independence, a cathedral dedicated to the saint was planned, part of modernization plans of Belgrade. Although

13938-401: The population's houses, tools, and animals, and ate free of charge, which was eventually prevented by government order. A result of issues like these led to a massive migration of the population to Transylvania in 1583. Records show the worsening of the population's status, and deteriorating economy ( inflation ). It could be concluded from Ottoman sources that the main initiators and leaders of

14076-717: The practice. An Ottoman historian of the 1500s, Mustafa Âlî , admitted that devshirme violated sharia but was allowed only out of necessity. Others argued the Muslim conqueror had the right to one fifth of war booty and could thus take the Christian boys; however, Islamic law allows no such booty from communities that had submitted peacefully to conquest and certainly not from their descendants. The devshirme were collected once every four or five years from rural provinces in Eastern Europe , Southeastern Europe and Anatolia . They were mainly collected from Christian subjects, with

14214-616: The results of the uprising in 1807. In 1826, he created the basis of a new modern army, the Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye , which caused a revolt among the janissaries. The authorities kept the janissaries in their barracks and slaughtered thousands of them. That development entered the Ottoman history annals as the Auspicious Incident . Danube The Danube ( / ˈ d æ n . j uː b / DAN -yoob ; see also other names )

14352-430: The retreat of Ottoman troops, the remnants of defeated rebels, and rebel groups who had previously devastated the place of Ohat, attacked Beçkerek (Zrenjanin) , the rich town built by Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (1506–1579) as his waqf (endowment). A Western source claims that the rebels had before Ohat conquered Ineu and Világosvár . At Zrenjanin, the rebels had the support of the local population, leading to

14490-572: The river carries its name from its source confluence in the palace park in Donaueschingen onwards. Since ancient times, the Danube has been a traditional trade route in Europe. Today, 2,415 km (1,501 mi) of its total length are navigable. The Danube is linked to the North Sea via the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal , connecting the Danube at Kelheim with the Main at Bamberg . The river

14628-520: The river has been part of a trans-European waterway from Rotterdam on the North Sea to Sulina on the Black Sea, a distance of 3,500 km (2,200 mi). In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors , routes in Central and Eastern Europe that required major investment over the following ten to fifteen years. The amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on

14766-698: The river was made difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War . Clearance of the resulting debris was completed in 2002, and a temporary pontoon bridge that hampered navigation was removed in 2005. At the Iron Gate , the Danube flows through a gorge that forms part of the boundary between Serbia and Romania; it contains the Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station dam, followed at about 60 km (37 mi) downstream (outside

14904-658: The river. The Danube Delta ( Romanian : Delta Dunării pronounced [ˈdelta ˈdunərij] ; Ukrainian : Дельта Дунаю , romanized :  Del'ta Dunayu ) is the largest river delta in the European Union . The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania (Tulcea county), while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine (Odesa Oblast). The approximate surface

15042-643: The river. Today the river carries its name from its source confluence in Donaueschingen , Germany , to its discharge into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine . The river was known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros ( Ἴστρος ) from a root possibly also encountered in the ancient name of the Dniester ( Danaster in Latin, Tiras in Greek) and akin to Iranic turos 'swift' and Sanskrit iṣiras ( इषिरस् ) 'swift', from

15180-511: The river. Members include representatives from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Serbia; it meets regularly twice a year. It also convenes groups of experts to consider items provided for in the commission's working plans. The commission dates to the Paris Conferences of 1856 and 1921, which established for the first time an international regime to safeguard free navigation on

15318-653: The same word means "river". The Finnish word for Danube is Tonava , which is most likely derived from the name of the river in German , Donau . Its Sámi name Deatnu means "Great River". It is possible that dānu in Scythian as in Avestan was a generic word for "river": Dnieper and Dniestr , from Danapris and Danastius , are presumed to continue Scythian * dānu apara "far river" and * dānu nazdya- "near river", respectively. In Latin,

15456-644: The sixth-to-third millennium BCE Vinča culture (Vinča, Serbia), are sited along the Danube. The third millennium BCE Vučedol culture (from the Vučedol site near Vukovar , Croatia ) is famous for its ceramics. Darius the Great , king of Persia , crossed the river in the late 6th century BCE to invade European Scythia and to subdue the Scythians . Alexander the Great defeated the Triballian king Syrmus and

15594-586: The southern Balkans, where those ethnic groups were prevalent. Jews were exempt from this service. Armenians are also believed to have been exempt from the levy by many scholars, although a 1997 publication that examined Armenian colophons from the 15th to the 17th centuries and foreign travelers of the time concluded that Armenians were not exempt. Boys who were orphans or were their family's only son were exempt. Well-known examples of Ottomans who had been recruited as devshirme include Skanderbeg , Sinan Pasha and Sokollu Mehmed Pasha . The diversity of

15732-415: The suffix -ouwe "wetland". Romanian differs from other surrounding languages in designating the river with a feminine term, Dunărea ( IPA: [ˈdunəre̯a] ). This form was not inherited from Latin, although Romanian is a Romance language. To explain the loss of the Latin name, scholars who suppose that Romanian developed near the large river propose that the Romanian name descends from

15870-468: The sultan's relative by marriage, told him that he regretted having left the religion of his fathers and that he prayed at night before the cross which he kept carefully concealed. In his memoir, Konstantin Mihailović (1430–1501), a Serbian who was abducted in his youth and marched away by the Turks, saw nothing “prestigious” or “lucrative” about becoming a janissary. “We always thought about killing

16008-481: The sultan, elite infantry, generals in the army, admirals in the navy, and bureaucrats working on finance in the Ottoman Empire. They were separated according to ability and could rise in rank based on merit. The most talented, the ichoghlani (Turkish iç oğlanı ) were trained for the highest positions in the empire. Others joined the military, including the famed janissaries . The practice began to die out as Ottoman soldiers preferred recruiting their own sons into

16146-490: The total area of the Danube Delta reaches 5,165 km (1,994 sq mi). The Danube Delta is also the best-preserved river delta in Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 1991) and a Ramsar Site . Its lakes and marshes support 45 freshwater fish species. Its wetlands support vast flocks of migratory birds of over 300 species, including the endangered pygmy cormorant ( Phalacrocorax pygmaeus ). These are threatened by rival canalization and drainage schemes such as

16284-476: The training system,” writes 16th century Italian diplomat Giovan Francesco Morosini (cardinal) . They were “degraded to the level of animals” and showed a “dog-like devotion to the sultan”, writes Vasiliki Papouli. Many possibly suffered from Stockholm Syndrome. Tavernier noted in 1678 that the janissaries looked more like a religious order than a military corps. The members of the organization were not banned from marriage, as Tavernier further noted, but it

16422-634: The uncertain outcome of fighting in Upper Hungary in the beginning of the Long Turkish War (1593–1606) woke up internal problems and also jeopardized Ottoman rule in the vassal principalities of Transylvania , Wallachia , and Moldavia . This also created conditions for the Serb uprising in Banat in 1594. Smaller groups of Ottoman Christian martolosi and some sipahi went rogue when Christian armies conquered Filek and Nógrád during

16560-473: The uprising and establish military organization. In mid-May, Bishop Teodor led a mission which asked of aid from Sigismund Báthory, and in return they offered him the rule of the Serbian throne, however, Báthory insisted on submission to the Ottoman sultan and was unable to meet their demands. The first large success of the rebels was the attack on Modava on the Danube, where they killed the Ottoman crew and set

16698-461: The uprising once belonged to the Christian layers in Ottoman military service. After the Ottoman conquest of Gyula in 1566, these began to lose their privileges and became part of the lower class ( raja ); a part moved to Transylvania and the frontier parts of the empire, a part stayed, while a large number joined hajduk bands. The defeat of the Ottomans at the Battle of Sisak (22 June 1593) and

16836-516: The uprising withdrew to fortified cities. Cut off to the south and east, the few Muslims of the Kanjiža area most likely took to Csanád and Segedin . Anticipating an Ottoman attack, the rebels asked for help from Transylvania and the Austrians. Rebel requirements were sent from Vršac and Zrenjanin, which points to that there were two independent centres of the rebels. In early June, Bathory summoned

16974-745: The use of dogs and falcons. A reference to devshirme is made in a poem composed c.  1550 in Greek by Ioannes Axayiolis, who appeals to Emperor Charles V of Germany to liberate the Christians from the Turks. The text is found in the Codex Vaticanus Graecus of 1624. In another account, the Roman Catholic bishop of Chios in 1646 writes to the director of the Catholic Greek Gymnasion of Rome asking

17112-512: The winter of 1593–94. They gathered in the frontier towards Transylvania (ruled by Ottoman vassal Sigismund Báthory ), where numerous hajduk bands were active before the war, and received help from Đorđe Palotić, the Ban of Lugos , and Ferenc Geszti , one of the main Transylvanian commanders. At the beginning the group raided merchant caravans, until their numbers grew and they started attacking lone towers and chardaks . The raja approached only when

17250-504: The world. Ordered from the source to the mouth they are: The Danube is navigable by ocean ships from the Black Sea to Brăila in Romania (the maritime river sector), and further on by river ships to Kelheim , Bavaria , Germany; smaller craft can navigate further upstream to Ulm , Württemberg , Germany. About 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. Since the completion of the German Rhine–Main–Danube Canal in 1992,

17388-416: Was abolished. The devshirme (from the Turkish word meaning 'to collect') came up out of the kul system of slavery that developed in the early centuries of the Ottoman Empire, and which reached this final development during the reign of Sultan Bayazit I . The kul were mostly prisoners from war, hostages or slaves that were purchased by the state. The Ottoman Empire, beginning with Murad I , felt

17526-514: Was chosen, they had to be unmarried and once taken were ordered to cut all ties with their family. Christian parents undeniably resented the forced recruitment of their children, as a result they would beg and often seek to buy their children out of the levy. The Balkan peasantry tried to evade the tribute collectors, with many attempting to substitute their children in Bosnia. Many sources (including Paolo Giovio ) mention different ways to avoid

17664-491: Was finally abolished in the early part of Ahmet III 's reign (1703–1730). After Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, there was a reform movement in Sultan Selim III 's regime to reduce the numbers of the askeri class, who were the first class citizens or military class (also called janissaries). Selim was taken prisoner and murdered by the janissaries. The successor to the sultan, Mahmud II , was patient but remembered

17802-518: Was first recorded in 1804, includes a decapitated Turk head on a sabre above the Vršac Fortress, which is believed to signify Janko Halabura's duel victory in 1594. Bishop Teodor was canonized on 29 May 1994 as a hieromartyr ( sveštenomučenik ), with his feast day on 29 May [ O.S. 16 May]. In 2009 the Vršac central square was named "St. Teodor of Vršac". On 28 October 2012, a memorial plaque

17940-405: Was killed off by Crimean Tatars on the way, while Transylvania's support came down to continued support in the form of officers and moral support. Meanwhile, the war on the front switched noticeably in the favour of the Ottomans. The arrival of Crimean Tatars led by Khan Ğazı II Giray forced the Christian armies to raise the sieges of Esztergom and Hatvan and retreat into Upper Hungary . This led

18078-532: Was much larger than today's Danube, can still be seen in (now waterless) canyons in today's landscape of the Swabian Alb . After the Upper Rhine valley had been eroded, most waters from the Alps changed their direction and began feeding the Rhine. Today's upper Danube is thus an underfit stream . Since the Swabian Alb is largely shaped of porous limestone , and since the Rhine's level is much lower than

18216-466: Was ordered to immediately head from Buda for Banat. No serious resistance was given by the rebels, defeated by 10 July 1594. Ottoman reprisal was daunting. After battles around Zrenjanin the army sacked and burnt villages all the way to the Mureș river (see also Pomorišje ). Many settlements were abandoned, and never rebuilt, as the population was either killed or taken slaves, or fled to Transylvania and

18354-692: Was put up at the Church of the Holy Archangel Michael in Zrenjanin, honouring Teodor and the rebels. A memorial cross and a red flag with the figure of Saint Sava was erected by the church. A historical drama play titled Enchanted Castle surrounding the Vršac Castle includes the character of Janko Halabura. Devshirme Devshirme ( Ottoman Turkish : دوشیرمه , romanized :  devşirme , lit.   'collecting', usually translated as "child levy" or "blood tax" )

18492-584: Was short-lived, the defeated rebels being forced to capitulate due to lack of foreign support, having likewise requested help from the Christian European states. It remains unclear when St. Sava's remains were brought to Belgrade and incinerated. It was either during the uprising or a year after. In an act of retaliation, Grand Vizier Koca Sinan Pasha ordered the green flag of the Prophet Muhammed to be brought from Damascus to counter

18630-524: Was soon adopted. In this system, children of the rural Christian populations of the Balkans were conscripted before adolescence and were brought up as Muslims. Upon reaching adolescence, these children were enrolled in one of the four imperial institutions: the palace, the scribes, the Muslim clergy, and the military. Those enrolled in the military would become either part of the Janissary corps (1363), or part of another corps. The most promising were sent to

18768-426: Was the Ottoman practice of forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects and raising them in the religion of Islam . Those coming from the Balkans came primarily from noble Balkan families and rayah (poor) classes. It is first mentioned in written records in 1438, but probably started earlier. It created a faction of soldiers and officials loyal to

18906-432: Was the case of an Athenian boy who returned from hiding to save his father's life but chose to die himself rather than abandon his faith and convert to Islam. A firman in 1601 gave strict orders to Ottoman officials to kill any parent that resisted: To enforce the command of the known and holy fetva [fatwa] of Seyhul [Shaikh]-Islam. In accordance with this whenever some one of the infidel parents or some other should oppose

19044-414: Was very uncommon for them. He went on to write that their numbers had increased to a hundred thousand but only due to a degeneration of regulations, with many of them in fact being "fake" janissaries, posing as such for tax exemptions and other social privileges. He noted that the actual number of janissaries was in fact much lower. Shaw writes that their number was 30,000 under Suleiman the Magnificent . By

#646353