Children in Slavery through the Ages

7. Becoming a Devsirme: The Training of Conscripted Children in the Ottoman Empire

119 7 becoming a devşirme The Training of Conscripted Children in the Ottoman Empire gulay yilmaz For centuries the military-administrative positions of the Ottoman state were manned by slaves who were carefully recruited and painstakingly educated. Different variations of this institution have existed in Islamic societies since the ‘Abbasid caliphate—the traditional source of the enslaved militaryadministrative stratum had always been war captives. The Ottomans, however, enslaved young Christians within their empire through a method called the devşirme system.1 According to the prevailing paradigm, the devşirme were privileged vis- à-vis the masses and completely loyal to authority, enabling the autocratic regime of the sultan to be effective in all spheres of life. The unquestioned loyalty of the slave-based military-administrative strata, which contrasted starkly with the position of the freeman in the West, was the most crucial strand of the orientalist argument, which asserts that Eastern societies lacked autonomous institutions. This argument is the basis of the Oriental despot model in the literature. The orientalist paradigm depicted Ottoman society as having a sharp dichotomy—the ruling elite bolstered by the devşirme system versus the ruled, that is, the tax-paying re‘aya. It was the unquestioned loyalty of the devşirme that underlay the despotic powers of the sultan over Ottoman society, in which the re‘aya were tranquil and obedient. This essentially obedient and loyal nature of both groups is given as the core reason why Ottoman society was unable to create the freedom that was considered the most significant feature of the urban culture of the West. 120 gulay yilmaz Scholarly criticism of this view of the devşirme emerged when closer examination of the military-administrative strata revealed the more intricate links of this class to the sultanate and society. Delineating the various types of loyalties a devşirme developed in Ottoman society, and considering the change in the recruitment methods that transformed the militaryadministrative strata during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries , refuted the orientalist depiction of Ottoman society as being divided into neat opposing groups. the devşirme system The practice of allotting one-fifth of war captives as booty to the sultan for use as soldiers was followed in the Ottoman Empire from the beginning. It derived from earlier usage in Islamic societies, and had been determined by Islamic law.2 In the Ottoman Empire, this tradition was formalized in the Pençik Law—pençik, a Persian word, means one-fifth.3 However, rapid Ottoman expansion during the fifteenth century increased the demand for more soldiers, and Ottoman officials were forced to search for new sources for conscription. After the Battle of Ankara in 1402, state officials decided to conscript the non-Muslim youth of the empire to form a new military force, called the janissary army (the New Corps). The system was institutionalized under the Kavanin-i Yeniçeriyan,4 or Janissary Law, which is the main primary source for this study. Of all the institutions of the Ottoman state, the devşirme has perhaps been the most debated by scholars, with the main issue being its legality. According to the shari‘a, non-Muslims living under the authority and supremacy of the Islamic state received zımmi (protected) status and were treated differently than harbis, or non-Muslims living outside the empire, that is—in the dar-ül harb (domain of war). The non-Muslim societies of the empire were thus protected.5 Some scholars have therefore interpreted the devşirme system as an infringement on zımmi status,6 while others have stressed the fact that devşirme boys were conscripted from among those who had never been granted genuine zımmi status; thus, this practice did not contradict Islamic law.7 The devşirmes were conscripted from among the zımmis of the empire, as opposed to the practice of taking one-fifth of the non-Muslim youth of newly conquered areas. Plus, the situation is complicated by the fact that the Ottoman state solidified the idea of conscription among the zımmis of the empire as allowable by law, claiming that it was a form of tribute in kind. This has led many to conclude that, even though the devşirmes were conscripted among the zımmis, this was not against Islamic law. the training of conscripted children in the ottoman empire 121 On the other hand, the legality of the pençik system, which continued to be practiced alongside...