Origin of the janissaries
Murad I of the fledgling Ottoman Empire founded the corps around 1330. It was initially formed of non-Muslims, especially Christian youths and prisoners-of-war, reminiscent of Mameluks. Murad may have also used futuwa groups as a model. Such janissaries became the first Ottoman standing army, replacing forces mostly composed of tribal warriors whose loyalty and morale could not always be trusted. Besides, no self-respecting free warrior would have agreed to serve as a lowly infantryman.
Janissary training and way of life
The first janissary units comprised war captives and slaves. After the 1380s Sultan Selim I filled their ranks with the results of taxation in human form called devshirmeh. The sultan’s men would conscript a number of non-Muslim, usually Christian, boys – at first at random, later by strict selection – and take them to be trained. In later centuries they seem to have preferred Albanians, Serbs and Bulgarians. Usually they would select about 1 in 40 boys of ages 7-14 but the numbers could be changed to correspond with the need for soldiers. Later they would extend the devshirmeh to Greece and Hungary. Of course, residents could hardly appreciate the custom.
Janissaries trained under strict discipline with hard labour and in practically monastic conditions in acemi oglan schools, where they were expected to remain celibate and were at least encouraged to convert to Islam. Most did. For all practical purposes, janissaries belonged to the sultan. Unlike free Muslims, they were expressly forbidden to wear beards, only a moustache. Janissaries were taught to consider the corps as their home and family and the sultan as their de facto father. Only those who proved strong enough earned the rank of a true janissary at the age of 24 - 25. The regiment inherited the property of dead janissaries.
Janissaries also learned to follow the dictates of the dervish saint Haji Bektash who had blessed the first troops. Bektashi served as a kind of chaplain for janissaries. In this and in their secluded life, janissaries resembled Christian knightly orders like the Johannites of Rhodes.
In return for their loyalty and their fervour in war Janissaries gained privileges and benefits. Originally they received pay only in wartime and in mid-18th century they could work as law-enforcers or as tradesmen in peaceful conditions – although they always lived in barracks. Still, they enjoyed high living standards, exemption from taxes and respected social status. Many of them became administrators and scholars. Retired and invalidated janissaries even received pensions.
