Misplaced Pages

#553446

90-846: Three causes of the Edirne Incident were the Treaty of Karlowitz , the rise of Seyhulislam Feyzullah Efendi and the Ottoman practice of tax farming . The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed on January 16, 1699. This treaty was signed in response to the Ottoman wars with the Habsburgs , the Venetians , the Poles and the Russians . The Treaty of Karlowitz ended a fifteen-year period of war in

180-478: A Janissary revolt deposed Sultan Selim III , who had tried to modernize the army along Western European lines. This modern army that Selim III created was called Nizam-ı Cedid . His supporters failed to recapture power before Mustafa IV had him killed, but elevated Mahmud II to the throne in 1808. When the Janissaries threatened to oust Mahmud II, he had the captured Mustafa executed and eventually came to

270-404: A compromise with the Janissaries. Ever mindful of the threat that the Janissaries posed, the sultan spent the next years discreetly securing his position. The Janissaries' abuse of power, military ineffectiveness, resistance to reform, and the cost of salaries to 135,000 men, many of whom were not actually serving soldiers, had all become intolerable. By 1826, the sultan was ready to move against

360-765: A further year under a truce agreed at Karlowitz culminated in the Treaty of Constantinople of 1700 in which the Sultan ceded the Azov region to Peter the Great . (Russia had to return the territories eleven years later after the failed Pruth River Campaign and the Treaty of the Pruth in 1711.) Commissions were set up to devise the new borders between the Austrians and the Turks, with some parts disputed until 1703. Largely through

450-421: A method of recruitment. The prescribed daily rate of pay for entry-level Janissaries in the time of Ahmet I was three Akçes . Promotion to a cavalry regiment implied a minimum salary of 10 Akçes. Janissaries received a sum of 12 Akçes every three months for clothing incidentals and 30 Akçes for weaponry, with an additional allowance for ammunition as well. For all practical purposes, Janissaries belonged to

540-839: A military conflict with Ottomans. Venice obtained most of Dalmatia along with the Morea (the Peloponnese peninsula of southern Greece ) though the Morea was restored to the Turks within 20 years by the Treaty of Passarowitz . There was no agreement about the Holy Sepulchre although it was discussed in Karlowitz. The Ottomans retained Belgrade , the Banat of Temesvár (now Timișoara ), as well as suzerainty over Wallachia and Moldavia . Negotiations with Tsardom of Russia for

630-609: A moustache. These rules were obeyed by Janissaries, at least until the 18th century when they also began to engage in other crafts and trades, breaking another of the original rules. In the late 16th century a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Janissary Corps and permitted Janissary children to become members of the Corps, a practice strictly forbidden for 200 years. Consequently, succession rules, formerly strict, became open to interpretation. They gained their own power but kept

720-705: A move known as the Slaughter of the Knezes . According to historical sources of the city of Valjevo , the heads of the murdered men were put on public display in the central square to serve as an example to those who might plot against the rule of the Janissaries. The event triggered the start of the Serbian Revolution with the First Serbian Uprising aimed at putting an end to the 370 years of Ottoman occupation of modern Serbia . In 1807,

810-399: A new sultan ." This final demand was a means through which the janissaries exerted direct control over the sultan. The janissaries were essentially emphasizing their ability to remove a sultan from power or to reinstate a new sultan. When the violence ended, “the ceremony of submission by which the Janissaries swore allegiance to the new sultan was a theatrical gesture masking the real power of

900-455: A number of ways. They wore unique uniforms , were paid regular salaries (including bonuses) for their service, marched to music (the mehter ), lived in barracks and were the first corps to make extensive use of firearms. A Janissary battalion was a close-knit community, effectively the soldier's family. By tradition, the Sultan himself, after authorizing the payments to the Janissaries, visited

990-552: A process that has been described as "civilianization". The janissaries were a formidable military unit in the early centuries, but as Western Europe modernized its military organization and technology, the janissaries became a reactionary force that resisted all change within the Ottoman army. Steadily the Ottoman military power became outdated, but when the janissaries felt their privileges were being threatened, or outsiders wanted to modernize them, or they might be superseded by their cavalry rivals , they would rise in rebellion. By

SECTION 10

#1732781157554

1080-463: A result of the sultan taking his traditional one-fifth share of his army's plunder in kind rather than monetarily; however, the continuing enslaving of dhimmi constituted a continuing abuse of a subject population. For a while, the Ottoman government supplied the Janissary corps with recruits from the devşirme system. Children were drafted at a young age and turned into soldiers in an attempt to make

1170-482: 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 of non-Muslim origin because it was not permissible to enslave a Muslim. It was a similar system to the Iranian Safavid , Afsharid , and Qajar era ghilmans , who were drawn from converted Circassians , Georgians , and Armenians , and in

1260-752: A series of wars with the Safavid Empire and, after 1593, with the Habsburg monarchy . By 1609, the size of the corps had stabilized at approximately 40,000 men, but increased again later in the century, during the period of the Cretan War (1645–1669) and particularly the War of the Holy League (1683–1699). During the initial period of formation, Janissaries were expert archers , but they began adopting firearms as soon as such became available during

1350-406: A state salary like the rest of the ulema, who received a stream of requests from central government to certify (usually in the form of a written judgement or Fatwa) that proposed government action conformed to Sharia law. On 22 August 1703, Mustafa II was deposed (back into the seraglio), and his brother Ahmed III became the new sultan. Feyzullah Efendi was killed by the rebels. Although Mustafa II

1440-546: The Balkans (predominantly Albanians , Bulgarians , Croats , Greeks , Romanians , Serbs , and Ukrainians ) were taken, levied, subjected to forced circumcision and forced conversion to Islam (in contradiction to traditional Islamic law, which forbids forced conversion), and incorporated into the Ottoman army . They became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical slaves , they were paid regular salaries. Forbidden to marry before

1530-530: The Bosnia Eyalet . That corresponded to much of Hungary , Croatia and Slavonia . The Principality of Transylvania remained nominally independent but was subject to the direct rule of Austrian governors. Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth recovered Podolia with the undestroyed fortress at Kamianets-Podilskyi (Although the fortress in Kamianets was not recaptured in the 1698 campaign ). Therefore,

1620-475: The Habsburg monarchy to its largest extent to that point, cementing Archduchy of Austria as a dominant regional power. It was later increased further in size by the acquisition of Polish territories in 1772 and 1795, by the annexation of Dalmatia in 1815, and by the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908. The treaty was a watershed moment in the history of the Ottoman Empire, which for

1710-476: The Ottoman sultan 's household troops. They were the first modern standing army , and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms , adopted during the reign of Murad II . The corps was established under either Sultans Orhan or Murad I , and dismantled by Mahmud II in 1826. Janissaries began as elite corps made up through the devşirme system of child levy enslavement, by which indigenous European Christian boys from

1800-769: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , the Republic of Venice and Peter the Great , Tsar of Russia , a peace treaty was signed on 26 January 1699. On the basis of uti possidetis , the treaty confirmed the territorial holdings of each power. The Habsburgs received from the Ottomans the Eğri Eyalet , Varat Eyalet , much of the Budin Eyalet , the northern part of the Temeşvar Eyalet and parts of

1890-527: The Turkish style . Examples include Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 (c. 1783), Beethoven's incidental music for The Ruins of Athens (1811), and the final movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 , although the Beethoven example is now considered a march rather than Alla turca. Sultan Mahmud II abolished the mehter band in 1826 along with the Janissary corps. Mahmud replaced the mehter band in 1828 with

SECTION 20

#1732781157554

1980-420: The acemi oğlan , as well as avoiding the physical selection, thereby reducing their military value. When Janissaries could practically extort money from the Sultan and business and family life replaced martial fervour, their effectiveness as combat troops decreased. The northern borders of the Ottoman Empire slowly began to shrink southwards after the second Battle of Vienna in 1683. In 1449, they revolted for

2070-483: The dervish saint Haji Bektash Veli , disciples of whom had blessed the first troops. Bektashi Order served as a kind of chaplain for Janissaries. In this and in their secluded life, Janissaries resembled Christian military orders like the Knights Hospitaller . As a symbol of their devotion to the order, Janissaries wore special hats called "börk". These hats also had a holding place in front, called

2160-412: 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 feudal lord who defected and led a 25‑year Albanian revolt against

2250-404: The devşirme was extended to include Armenians , Bulgarians , Croats , Hungarians , Serbs and later Bosniaks , and, in rare instances, Romanians , Georgians , Circassians , Ukrainians and southern Russians . This "child levy" system was regularly implemented during the 15th-16th centuries, the first two centuries of its existence. Some historians argue this system contributed to

2340-421: The janissaries and the kadis. The janissaries’ power over the sultan was demonstrated not only through their attack, but also through their ability to economically manipulate Sultan Ahmed III. The kadis’ revealed their power over the sultan through their interpretation of Islamic law . As the kadis were the most accessible Ottoman leaders in the provinces, their growing power over the sultanate contributed to

2430-418: The "kaşıklık", for a spoon. This symbolized the "kaşık kardeşliği", or the "brotherhood of the spoon", which reflected a sense of comradeship among the Janissaries who ate, slept, fought and died together. When a non-Muslim boy was recruited under the devşirme system, he would first be sent to selected Turkish families in the provinces to learn Turkish , the rules of Islam (i.e. to be converted to Islam) and

2520-472: The 1440s. The siege of Vienna in 1529 confirmed the reputation of their engineers, e.g. sappers , and miners . In melee combat, they used axes and kilijs . Originally in peacetime, they could carry only clubs or daggers , unless they served as border troops. Turkish yatagan swords were the signature weapon of the Janissaries, almost a symbol of the corps. Janissaries who guarded the palace (Zülüflü Baltacılar) carried long-shafted axes and halberds . By

2610-485: The 1453 capture of Constantinople , the defeat of the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo and wars against Hungary and Austria . Janissary troops were always led to the battle by the Sultan himself, and always had a share of the loot . The Janissary corps was the only infantry division of the Ottoman army. In battle the Janissaries' main mission was to protect the Sultan, using cannon and smaller firearms, and holding

2700-489: The 17th century. In response to foreign threats, the Ottoman government chose to rapidly expand the size of the corps after the 1570s. Janissaries spent shorter periods of time in training as acemi oğlan s, as the average age of recruitment increased from 13.5 in the 1490s to 16.6 in 1603. This reflected not only the Ottomans' greater need for manpower but also the shorter training time necessary to produce skilled musketeers in comparison with archers. However, this change alone

2790-460: The Janissaries in favour of a more modern military. The sultan informed them, through a fatwa , that he was forming a new army, organised and trained along modern European lines. As predicted, they mutinied, advancing on the sultan's palace. In the ensuing fight, the Janissaries' barracks were set aflame by artillery fire, resulting in 4,000 Janissary fatalities. The survivors were either exiled or executed, and their possessions were confiscated by

Edirne Incident - Misplaced Pages Continue

2880-470: The Janissary corps in 15th century. The Janissaries were kapıkulları (sing. kapıkulu ), "door servants" or "slaves of the Porte ", neither freemen nor ordinary slaves ( köle ). They were subjected to strict discipline, but were paid salaries and pensions upon retirement and formed their own distinctive social class. As such, they became one of the ruling classes of the Ottoman Empire, rivalling

2970-416: The Ottoman military. In the classical period, Janissaries were only one-tenth of the overall Ottoman army, while the traditional Turkish cavalry made up the rest of the main battle force. According to David Nicolle , the number of Janissaries in the 14th century was 1,000 and about 6,000 in 1475. The same source estimates the number of Timarli Sipahi , the provincial cavalry which constituted the main force of

3060-403: The Ottoman states efforts at conversion and "Islamization" of its non-Muslim populations. Radushev states this recruitment system can be bisected into two periods, its first, or classical period, encompassing those first two centuries of regular execution and utilization to supply recruits; and a second period which more focuses on its gradual change, decline, and ultimate abandonment, beginning in

3150-598: 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. The Janissaries were no exception to the weakening of central imperial authority in the 18th century. Trade and commercial activity replaced the disciplined military service of earlier centuries, and the Janissaries were willing to engage in violent acts of rebellion to protect their private interests in an increasingly decentralized and chaotic Ottoman Empire. The Janissary corps were distinctive in

3240-406: The Sultan and they were regarded as the protectors of the throne and the Sultan. Janissaries were taught to consider the corps their home and family, and the Sultan as their father. Only those who proved strong enough earned the rank of true Janissary at the age of 24 or 25. The Odjak inherited the property of dead Janissaries, thus acquiring wealth. Janissaries also learned to follow the dictates of

3330-752: The Sultan. This event is now called the Auspicious Incident . The last of the Janissaries were then put to death by decapitation in what was later called the Tower of Blood , in Thessaloniki . After the Janissaries were disbanded by Mahmud II, he then created a new army soon after recruiting 12,000 troops. This new army was formally named the Trained Victorious Soldiers of Muhammad, the Mansure Army for short. By 1830,

3420-532: The Topkapi court received a pay raise as well). Sultan Selim II gave Janissaries permission to marry in 1566, undermining the exclusivity of loyalty to the dynasty. By 1622, the Janissaries were a "serious threat" to the stability of the Empire. Through their "greed and indiscipline", they were now a law unto themselves and, against modern European armies, ineffective on the battlefield as a fighting force. In 1622,

3510-487: 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 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

3600-463: The aftermath of the Ottomans' failed siege of Vienna in 1683. The peace negotiations began only after numerous and urgent Ottoman requests for peace and diplomatic efforts by England and the Dutch Republic . The Ottomans had been desperate to end the war after “the army under the sultan was annihilated by Eugene of Savoy in open field confrontations” ( Battle of Zenta ). The treaty outlines

3690-445: The age of 40 or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the Ottoman sultan was expected. By the seventeenth century, due to a dramatic increase in the size of the Ottoman standing army, the corps' initially strict recruitment policy was relaxed. Civilians bought their way into it in order to benefit from the improved socio-economic status it conferred upon them. Consequently, the corps gradually lost its military character, undergoing

Edirne Incident - Misplaced Pages Continue

3780-530: The area. However, the salaries of the army members had been delayed, and the subunit of the janissaries responsible for logistics, named Cebeci , revolted on 17 July 1703 demanding full payment before the operation. The Edirne Incident, also called the Revolt of 1703, broke out in Constantinople . This revolt began among the janissaries "who complained of overdue pay, and of the sultan’s absence." Although

3870-548: The areas lost 27 years earlier in the Treaty of Buchach in 1672 were regained. In return, Commonwealth gave back captured fortresses in Moldova . The treaty also assumed the release of prisoners, the displacement of the Buda Tatars from Moldova, the end of Tatar raids, the rendition of fugitives (Cossacks to Commonwealth, Moldovans to Ottomans) and the cessation of tribute payments by Commonwealth. Commonwealth never again had

3960-413: The army at 40,000. Beginning in the 1530s, the size of the Janissary corps began to dramatically expand, a result of the rapid conquests the Ottomans were carrying out during those years. Janissaries were used extensively to garrison fortresses and for siege warfare, which was becoming increasingly important for the Ottoman military. The pace of expansion increased after the 1570s, due to the initiation of

4050-808: The army expanded to 27,000 troops and included the Sipahi cavalry. By 1838, all Ottoman fighting corps were included and the army changed its name to the Ordered troops. This military corps lasted until the end of the empire's history. The military music of the Janissaries was noted for its powerful percussion and shrill winds combining kös (giant timpani ), davul (bass drum), zurna (a loud shawm ), naffir , or boru (natural trumpet), çevgan bells , triangle (a borrowing from Europe), and cymbals ( zil ), among others. Janissary music influenced European classical musicians such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven , both of whom composed music in

4140-486: The barracks dressed as a janissary trooper, and received his pay alongside the other men of the First Division. They also served as policemen, palace guards, and firefighters during peacetime. The Janissaries also enjoyed far better support on campaign than other armies of the time. They were part of a well-organized military machine, in which one support corps prepared the roads while others pitched tents and baked

4230-436: The bread. Their weapons and ammunition were transported and re-supplied by the cebeci corps. They campaigned with their own medical teams of Muslim and Jewish surgeons and their sick and wounded were evacuated to dedicated mobile hospitals set up behind the lines. These differences, along with an impressive war-record, made the Janissaries a subject of interest and study by foreigners during their own time. Although eventually

4320-482: The capital of the empire in Constantinople. Economically, the Ottomans were still in trouble. Sari Mehmed Pasha, chief financial officer six times between 1703 and 1716, was said to have melted the palace silver to make up the accession payment for Ahmet III. The accession payment was the payment that the new sultan had to pay to the janissaries as part of their confirmation of his sultanate. This payment that

4410-470: The centre of the army against enemy attack during the strategic fake forfeit of Turkish cavalry. The Janissary corps also included smaller expert teams: explosive experts, engineers and technicians, sharpshooters (with arrow and rifle) and sappers who dug tunnels under fortresses, etc. As Janissaries became aware of their own importance, they began to desire a better life. By the early 17th century, Janissaries had such prestige and influence that they dominated

4500-644: The concept of a modern army incorporated and surpassed most of the distinctions of the Janissaries and the corps was eventually dissolved, the image of the Janissary has remained as one of the symbols of the Ottomans in the western psyche. By the mid-18th century, they had taken up many trades and gained the right to marry and enroll their children in the corps and very few continued to live in the barracks. Many of them became administrators and scholars. Retired or discharged Janissaries received pensions, and their children were also looked after. The first Janissary units were formed from prisoners of war and slaves, probably as

4590-481: The corps to control events in the imperial capital.” As a result of the Edirne Incident, Mustafa II was removed from power. Mustafa II was not physically harmed by the rebels. After he was removed from the sultanate , he “spent the remainder of his life secluded in the palace”. Mustafa II was replaced by his brother Ahmed III . After he was declared sultan, Ahmed III went on the hajj and did not return home to Constantinople until 1706. Sultan Ahmed III reestablished

SECTION 50

#1732781157554

4680-633: The corps was organized and led by a commander, the ağa . The corps was divided into three sub-corps: In addition there were also 34 orta s of the ajemi (cadets). A semi-autonomous Janissary corps was permanently based in Algiers , called the Odjak of Algiers . Originally Janissaries could be promoted only through seniority and within their own orta . They could leave the unit only to assume command of another. Only Janissaries' own commanding officers could punish them. The rank names were based on positions in

4770-669: The customs and cultures of Ottoman society. After completing this period, acemi (new recruit) boys were gathered for training at the Enderun "acemi oğlan" school in the capital city. There, young cadets would be selected for their talents in different areas to train as engineers, artisans, riflemen, clerics, archers, artillery, and so forth. Janissaries trained under strict discipline with hard labour and in practically monastic conditions in acemi oğlan ("rookie" or "cadet") schools, where they were expected to remain celibate . Unlike other Muslims, they were expressly forbidden to wear beards, only

4860-494: The early 16th century, the Janissaries were equipped with and were skilled with muskets . In particular, they used a massive "trench gun", firing an 80-millimetre (3.1 in) ball, which was "feared by their enemies". Janissaries also made extensive use of early grenades and hand cannons , such as the abus gun . Pistols were not initially popular, but they became so after the Cretan War (1645–1669) . The Ottoman Empire used Janissaries in all its major campaigns, including

4950-538: The efforts of the Habsburg commissioner, Luigi Ferdinando Marsili , the Croatian and Bihać borders were agreed by mid-1700 and that at Temesvár by early 1701, leading to a border demarcated by physical landmarks for the first time. The acquisition of some 60,000 square miles (160,000 km ) of Hungarian territories at Karlowitz and of the Banat of Temesvár 18 years later by the Treaty of Passarowitz , enlarged

5040-584: The end of Ottoman control in much of Central Europe , with their first major territorial losses in Europe, beginning the reversal of four centuries of expansion (1299–1683). The treaty established the Habsburg monarchy as the dominant power of the region. Following a two-month congress between the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Holy League of 1684 , a coalition of the Holy Roman Empire ,

5130-584: The first time lost substantial amounts of territory after three-and-a-half centuries of expansionism in Europe. Although the Ottoman borders in the region would wax and wane over the next 100 years, never again would there be any further acquisition of territory on a scale seen during the reigns of Mehmed the Conqueror , Selim the Grim , or Suleiman the Magnificent in the 15th-16th centuries. Indeed, after

5220-555: The first time, demanding higher wages, which they obtained. The stage was set for a decadent evolution, like that of the Streltsy of Tsar Peter 's Russia or that of the Praetorian Guard which proved the greatest threat to Roman emperors, rather than effective protection. After 1451, every new Sultan felt obligated to pay each Janissary a reward and raise his pay rank (although since early Ottoman times, every other member of

5310-540: The geopolitical power of the Ottoman Empire. “With the Treaty of Karlowitz, the Ottoman Empire ceased to be a dominating power in Central and Eastern Europe and began to take a defensive position to its Christian neighbors.” After the signing of the Treaty of Karlowitz , Sultan Mustafa II retreated to Edirne and “left political and administrative affairs to Seyhulislam Feyzullah Efendi.” The Sultan’s move to Edirne in 1701

5400-401: The government. They could mutiny, dictate policy, and hinder efforts to modernize the army structure. Additionally, the Janissaries found they could change Sultans as they wished through palace coups . New rules allowed them to own land and establish businesses. They would also limit the enlistment of new Janissaries to their own sons who did not have to go through the original training period in

5490-416: The houses of the senior government officers and began controlling the capital for several weeks. Although they sent a group of representatives to Edirne, Feyzullah Efendi jailed them. This provoked the rebels, and they began to march to Edirne. The sultan announced that he had deposed Feyzullah Efendi. But it was too late and the rebels decided to dethrone Mustafa II . The sultan tried to form a defense line at

SECTION 60

#1732781157554

5580-791: The increasing decentralization of power within the Ottoman Empire. Treaty of Karlowitz The Treaty of Karlowitz , concluding the Great Turkish War of 1683–1697, in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Holy League at the Battle of Zenta , was signed in Karlowitz, in the Military Frontier of the Habsburg Monarchy (present-day Sremski Karlovci , Serbia ), on 26 January 1699. Also known as "The Austrian treaty that saved Europe", it marks

5670-413: The kitchen staff or Sultan's royal hunters; 64th and 65th Orta 'Greyhound Keepers' comprised as the only Janissary cavalry, perhaps to emphasise that Janissaries were servants of the Sultan. Local Janissaries, stationed in a town or city for a long time, were known as yerliyyas . Even though the Janissaries were part of the royal army and personal guards of the sultan, the corps was not the main force of

5760-474: The levy of the winter of 1603-1604 from Bosnia and Albania wrote to draw attention to some children as possibly being Jewish ( şekine-i arz-ı yahudi ). According to the Encyclopedia Britannica , "in early days, all Christians were enrolled indiscriminately. Later, those from what is now Albania , Bosnia , Greece and Bulgaria were preferred." Bektashism became the official order of

5850-516: The mid-1700s the Ottoman frontier was largely delimited to the south of the Sava River and the Balkans proper, and would be further pushed south as the 19th century began. Janissaries A janissary ( Ottoman Turkish : یڭیچری , romanized :  yeŋiçeri , [je.ˈŋi.t͡ʃe.ɾ̞i] , lit.   ' new soldier ' ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed

5940-627: The notorious Seven Towers : he was murdered shortly afterward. The extravagant parties of the Ottoman ruling classes during the Tulip Period caused a lot of unrest among the Ottoman population. In September 1730, janissaries headed by Patrona Halil backed in Istanbul a rebellion by 12,000 Albanian troops which caused the abdication of Sultan Ahmed III and the death of the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim . The rebellion

6030-472: The outskirts of Edirne. But even the sultan's soldiers joined the rebels. "Military confrontation outside of Edirne was avoided as the imperial loyalists, mostly troops recruited from the Balkan countryside, deserted Mustafa and joined the ranks from Constantinople." The demands of the rebels were articulated by the ulema through the kadi judges who were “the most consistent representation of Ottoman rule in

6120-456: The peace treaties and conceding so much territory to the Christian powers.” The kadi judiciary essentially declared Mustafa II unfit for the sultanate . This style of Islamic judicial ruling is called fetva . The clergy or ulema (Arabic plural for knowledgeable person) were all Sunni Muslims. At the head stood the seyhulislam (chief mufti) appointed by the sultan and paid

6210-671: The post-war agreements between the Ottomans, the Venetians, the Poles and the Habsburgs . A peace treaty with Russia was not signed until July 1700. The Treaty of Karlowitz forced the Ottomans to surrender a significant amount of territory to the Habsburgs and the Venetians. The Habsburgs gained Hungary, Croatia and Transylvania from the Ottomans. The Venetians received Dalmatia and Morea . The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth gained Podolia . These territorial losses had drastic effects on

6300-402: The power of the sultans had been respected and even feared, this was no longer true after the numerous Ottoman defeats in the wars of 1683–1718.” The economic manipulation of Sultan Ahmed III also demonstrated a decline of the power of the sultanate. The continued weakening of the sultanate contributed to the strengthening of provincial powers. The Edirne Incident strengthened the power of both

6390-588: The previous 300 years. 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, and according to some scholars the corps shared responsibility for the political stagnation of Istanbul. Greek historian Dimitri Kitsikis in his book Türk Yunan İmparatorluğu ("Turco-Greek Empire") states that many Bosnian Christian families were willing to comply with

6480-474: The provinces because tax farmers would use their brief power to bleed their area dry. By auctioning of the ability to collect taxes from a region for a lifetime, the central government maintained regional support because the regional elite became dependent on the central government. “Very quickly, by 1703, these lifetime tax farms had spread and came into wide use in the Balkan , Anatolian , and Arab provinces alike” (Ottoman Empire 1700–1922, p. 48). Nonetheless,

6570-510: The provinces.” The kadis posed and answered four questions regarding the situation at hand. “The first concerned Mustafa II's neglect of his ‘trust’ in looking after his subjects, ‘allowing injustice and inequity to reign’ while he went hunting, wasting the public treasury. The second legitimated the right of a Muslim community to stand up to an unjust ruler. The third condemned those who sided with an unjust ruler. The fourth charged Mustafa II ‘… with having compromised his mandate by accepting

6660-407: The religious arm of the household, establishing corporate relationships traditionally the domain and prerogative of the vizierial and pasha households.” Grand Vizier Elmas Mehmed Pasha 's 1695 economic reform led to the existence of lifetime tax farming . For centuries, there had been yearly auctions to determine who would be allowed to collect regional taxes for that year. This was detrimental to

6750-418: The revolt began with the janissaries, it soon grew to include civilians, lower-ranking soldiers, artisans as well as members of the ulema . These groups were frustrated with the sultan's attempt to mask the loss political legitimacy and the rise of Seyhulislam Feyzullah Efendi . With the support of other army units as well as some Constantinople citizens and most ulema (religious leaders), the rebels plundered

6840-469: The same way as with the Ottoman's Janissaries who had to replace the unreliable ghazis . They were initially created as a counterbalance to the tribal, ethnic and favoured interests the Qizilbash gave, which make a system imbalanced. 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

6930-424: The soldiers faithful to the sultan. The social status of devşirme recruits took on an immediate positive change, acquiring a greater guarantee of governmental rights and financial opportunities. In poor areas officials were bribed by parents to make them take their sons, thus they would have better chances in life. Initially the recruiters favoured Greeks and Albanians . As borders of the Ottoman Empire expanded,

7020-441: The strongest sons of the sultan's Christian subjects. These boys (usually between the ages of 10 and 20) were then taken from their parents, circumcised , and sent to Turkish families in the provinces to be raised as Muslims and learn Turkish language and customs. Once their military training began, they were subjected to severe discipline, being prohibited from growing a beard, taking up a skill other than soldiering, and marrying. As

7110-416: The sultan was required to make to the janissaries was simply another addition to the financial troubles that the empire was already experiencing. The defeat of Mustafa II in battle, the detrimental conditions of the Treaty of Karlowitz and his expulsion from power all contributed to the general decline of the sultanate as an institution. “While in the sixteenth century or even the early seventeenth century,

7200-404: The system from changing in other progressive ways. Even after the rapid expansion of the size of the corps at the end of the sixteenth century, the Janissaries continued to undergo strict training and discipline. The Janissaries experimented with new forms of battlefield tactics, and in 1605 became one of the first armies in Europe to implement rotating lines of volley fire in battle. The corps

7290-466: The teenage Sultan Osman II , after a defeat during war against Poland, determined to curb Janissaries' excesses. Outraged at becoming "subject to his own slaves", he tried to disband the Janissary corps, blaming it for the disaster during the Polish war. In the spring, hearing rumours that the Sultan was preparing to move against them, the Janissaries revolted and took the Sultan captive, imprisoning him in

7380-412: The time of Murad's father, Sultan Orhan ( r.   c.  1324  – 1362 ). The Ottoman Turks instituted a tax of one-fifth on all slaves taken in war , and from this pool of manpower the sultans first constructed the Janissary corps as a personal army loyal only to the Ottoman sultan . From the 1380s to 1648, the Janissaries were gathered through the devşirme system, which

7470-455: The time the janissaries were suppressed, it was too late for Ottoman military power to catch up with the West. The corps was abolished by Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident , in which 6,000 or more were executed. The Janissary force was formed in the fourteenth century, either during the rule of Murad I ( r.  1362–1389 ), the third sultan of the Ottoman Empire , or during

7560-549: The transition from yearly to lifetime terms did not benefit the economy. Only about one-fifth of the taxes collected by tax farmers ever made it to the central government. Consequently, the central government did not have sufficient funds to pay its military. The Ottoman Empire was backing a candidate to the throne during a civil war in the Kingdom of Imereti in Georgia. The Porte decided to send an army to be effective in

7650-408: Was a political attempt to shield the effects of the treaty from the public. The Sultan’s absence and the leadership of Seyhulislam Feyzullah Efendi were not supported by the janissaries. Seyhulislam Feyzullah Efendi’s “corruption and nepotism, excessive even for the time, and his influence over the sultan [were] considered too great. Furthermore, he overstepped the boundaries of his position as head of

7740-472: Was abolished in 1648. This was the taking (enslaving) of non-Muslim boys, notably Anatolian and Balkan Christians; Jews were never subject to devşirme . There is however evidence that Jews tried to enroll into the system. Jews were not allowed in the janissary army, and so in suspected cases, the entire batch would be sent to the Imperial Arsenal as indentured laborers. Ottoman documents from

7830-616: Was crushed in three weeks with the massacre of 7,000 rebels, but it marked the end of the Tulip Era and the beginning of Sultan Mahmud I 's reign. In 1804, the Dahias, the Janissary junta that ruled Serbia at the time, having taken power in the 'l Sanjak of Smederevo in defiance of the Sultan, feared that the Sultan would make use of the Serbs to oust them. To forestall this they decided to execute all prominent nobles throughout Central Serbia,

7920-425: Was not enough to produce the necessary manpower, and consequently the traditional limitation of recruitment to boys conscripted in the devşirme was lifted. Membership was opened up to free-born Muslims, both recruits hand-picked by the commander of the Janissaries, as well as the sons of current members of the Ottoman standing army. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the devşirme had largely been abandoned as

8010-470: Was organized into ortas (literally, "centers"). An orta (equivalent to a battalion ) was headed by a çorbaci . All orta s together comprised the Janissary corps proper and its organization, named ocak (literally, "hearth"). Suleiman I had 165 orta s and the number increased over time to 196. While the Sultan was the supreme commander of the Ottoman Army and of the Janissaries in particular,

8100-402: Was replaced as the sultan, the revolt continued in Constantinople. The violence continued for three problematic reasons: “the lack of discipline and control over the disorder and destruction; the dissolution of rebel unity, amidst rivalries concerning the balance of power; and finally competition for the coronation accession gifts, the traditional reward for the janissary pledge of allegiance to

#553446