The janissaries are probably one of the most famous military corps in world history. Nevertheless, they were only a part of the Ottoman army and not even the most numerous one. At any period in the Ottoman history, they coexisted with a series of other military units, some of them created earlier (hence the name of yeni çeri, meaning “new troops”), others emerging in later times. All of these corps were of different natures as regards their modes of recruitment, the status of their members, their specific role in war, their method of remuneration, and so on. I shall concentrate on the corps (ocak) of the janissaries. Over several centuries, they were both a cause of terror and a source of admiration for the West, but they were also a danger for the Ottoman rulers themselves, due to their tendency to rebel. Beyond these stereotypes, one has to keep in mind that they did not offer only one face during all their long history. On the contrary, they were in a process of constant change, especially as far as their recruitment sources and military value were concerned.

Origins

The janissaries were established in the second half of the fourteenth century, probably under the reign of Sultan Murad I (there is some discussion on this point as well as on the origins of the corps in general, which remain somewhat obscure).

From the beginning, the janissary corps was an infantry unit and a standing army (which not all the infantry components of the Ottoman army were). Furthermore, its members were not free men. They were slaves, even if of a particular kind: they were slaves of the sultan (kapı kulu, hünkâr kulu). I shall return to the origins of these slaves. Initially, they were not allowed to get married. Later, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, this ban would be abolished by Sultan Selim I. From then on, there would be two kinds of janissaries, married ones and bachelors. Only the latter would continue to live in the rooms (oda) of the barracks. There is no doubt that this change was of great consequence for the nature of this army.