[135] Hammer, Geschichte, i. 232. Spandugino, 69, says that many were made such. Menavino, who was himself a page, says that very few were so treated, and only for punishment (Trattato, 138).
[136] Spandugino, 69; Busbecq, Life and Letters, i. 237.
[137] Menavino, 143; “Schaiui chiamati Bascia [pasha].”
[138] Busbecq, Life and Letters, i. 112. Selim I, married a princess, daughter of the Khan of the Crimean Tartars. This appears to have been the last of such alliances, of which there were a number in earlier times.
[139] D’Ohsson, vi. 9.
[140] Ibid. vii. 177. In 1537, Junis Bey (below, p. 265) says that Ayas had 600 slaves, Mustapha 200, Kassim 150, Barbarossa 100. But this account must contain misprints or errors; for Ramberti (below, p. 246) says that in 1534, Ibrahim had more than 6000 slaves, Ayas 2000, Kassim 1500, and Barbarossa about 4000. Bragadin, 103, said in 1526, that Ibrahim had 1500 slaves, Mustapha 700, Ayas 600. Junis Bey (256-258) says further that the Beylerbeys of Rumelia and Anatolia and Caramania had 1000 slaves each, the Beylerbey of Syria 2000, the Beylerbey of Cairo 4000, etc. Iskender Chelebi had 6000 slaves (Hammer, Geschichte, iii. 144). Geuffroy, 240, says of the viziers: “Tous ont saray de femmes et d’enfans comme ledict grant Turc.” See also Menavino, 143; and Ramberti’s description of Alvise Gritti’s household at the close of his third book.
[141] Hammer, Geschichte, iii. 157. Seven of his slaves became viziers and grand viziers, among them Mohammed Sokolli.
[142] Iskender Chelebi was followed to war by 1200 horsemen (Hammer, Geschichte, iii. 144). Rustem trained 200 carbineers as part of his household (Busbecq, Life and Letters, i. 242).
[143] Garzoni, 413, says that 1000 Spahis were assigned to the retinue of the grand vizier, and 500 to those of each of the other pashas.
[144] Tractatus, ch. vii.
[145] D’Ohsson, i. 49.
[146] In the early days non-Arab converts held a position of clientage, but they had never been slaves. In the Ottoman Empire new converts were particularly honored, so that this distinction was lost. A partial enfranchisement was possible, and might sometimes resemble the condition of a Roman freedman. Cf. D’Ohsson, vi. 28 ff.
[147] According to D’Ohsson, v. 86, no free-born Moslem could ever lawfully become a slave.
[148] D’Ohsson, vi. 24.
[149] Ibid.
[150] Ibid. iv. 300 ff.
[151] Spandugino, 180. It may be observed that Ottoman slavery bore no slight resemblance to the method of bondage which brought from Europe many ancestors of present-day Americans. “In the year 1730,” says Mrs. Susannah Willard Johnson (in her Narrative of Captivity reprinted Springfield, 1907, pp. 5-6) “my great-uncle, Colonel Josiah Willard, while at Boston, was invited to take a walk on the long-wharf, to view some transports who had just landed from Ireland; a number of gentlemen present were viewing the exercise of some lads who were placed on shore to exhibit their activity to those who wished to purchase. My uncle spied a boy of some vivacity, of about ten years of age, and who was the only one in the crew who spoke English: he bargained for him. I have never been able to learn the price; but as he was afterwards my husband, I am willing to suppose it a considerable sum.... He lived with Colonel Willard until he was twenty years of age, and then bought the other year of his time.” In this account a number of the characteristics of the Ottoman system can be observed. Young boys of Caucasian blood are taken from their native land; they are bought and sold; they are judged like young animals by appearance and physical activity; no taint attaches to their bondage; they may marry into the master’s family. The one noteworthy difference is that the bondage terminates at a definite age.
[152] Tractatus, “Orario Testimonialis”: “Denique domino meo ita carus eram, ut saepius in collocutione plurium, plusquam filium suum, quem unicum habebat, me diligere assereret,” etc.
[153] Postel, iii. 20, says that all the pages were considered children of the sultan, and were truly his adopted sons.
[154] Ricaut, 14.
[155] Postel, iii. 21.
[156] Ricaut, 16.
[157] Postel, iii. 21.
[159] Hammer, Staatsverfassung, 12.
[160] According to Sale’s translation, the Koran says (Sura 2: 257), “Let there be no violence in religion.” Palmer translates, “There is no compulsion in religion.” See D’Ohsson, vi. 59; Schiltberger, 73.
[161] Idris, fol. 107, quoted in Hammer’s Geschichte, i. 91.
[162] Quoted ibid. ii. 117.
[163] Ricaut, 147-148: “No people in the World have ever been more open to receive all sorts of Nations to them, than they, nor have used more arts to encrease the number of those that are called Turks.”
[164] Tractatus, ch. viii.
[165] Ricaut, 46.
[166] Bernardo, 369-370, and see also 359.
[167] Postel, iii. 21.
[168] Ibid. 20.
[169] Ricaut, 128 ff.
[170] The general Ottoman attitude on this point is shown by Schiltberger, 73: Mohammed “has also ordered, that when they overcome Christians, they should not kill them; but they should pervert them, and should thus spread and strengthen their own faith.” Tractatus, ch. xi, says, “Turci neminem cogunt Fidem suam negare, nec multum instant de hoc alicui persuadendo, nec magnam aestimationem faciunt de his qui negant.” The last clause of this testimony, however, is contrary to practically all other sources. Conversion seems sometimes to have been forced as an alternative to death when a Christian had offended greatly against the Mohammedan faith (Lonicerus, i. 123; see also D’Ohsson, vii. 327). Some writers, however, assert that circumcision, the outward mark of acceptance of Islam, was regularly enforced upon the tribute boys (Chesneau, 41; J. Soranzo, 245; Morosini, as quoted above, p. 41). Heidborn, 128, says that conversion was not anciently enforced on a large scale, except for the recruiting of Janissaries.
[171] Ricaut, 46 ff.
[172] Schiltberger, 74; La Broquière, 219; Spandugino, 249. Ricaut, 152, says that great inducement was offered the common people to become Turks; they obtained honor and the privilege to domineer and injure with impunity, and they became in the fashion.
[173] Tractatus, ch. xi, quoted above.
[174] D’Ohsson, vi. 59; Ricaut, 148.
[175] Tractatus, ch. v; Nicolay, 86.
[176] Ricaut, 284.
[178] Busbecq, Life and Letters, i. 235.
[179] Nicolay, 160-161.
[180] Menavino, 244.
[181] Tractatus, ch. xxi.
[182] Hammer, Geschichte, ii. 351.
[183] Georgevitz (before 1552), 40, “De Ordine Peditum”; Ranke, 19-20; Barbaro (1573), 305. 317. Selim II, on his accession granted to the Janissaries the formal privilege of entering their sons in the corps; for the Persian war of 1594 the corps was opened to other Turks and all Moslems. By 1592, the majority of the Janissaries were said to be sons of Turks; Bernardo, 332. See also Knolles (ed. 1687), 985.
[184] Postel, iii. 20.
[185] Kanun-namch of Mohammed II, printed in Hammer’s Staatsverfassung, 94.
[186] Hammer’s Geschichte, i. 94.
[188] Spandugino (1517), 108, says that the Janissaries are not allowed to marry. He was probably wrong. Certainly some were married soon after his time: Ramberti (1534), below, p. 249; Junis Bey (1537), below, p. 267; Nicolay (1551), 92.
[189] Ricaut, 366.
[190] The resemblance of the Janissaries to monks is noticed by Busbecq, Life and Letters, i. 88, and Tavernier, 12.
[191] Ricaut, 151.
[192] One careful observer thought that this might be true of the whole Ottoman nation. Ibid., but in the middle of the fifteenth century contrary testimony was given (Tractatus, ch. xi).
[194] Navagero, 50; Barbaro, 316; Nicolay, 84. J. Soranzo, 245, states that the tribute boys were all brought to Constantinople, circumcised, and brought before the Agha of the Janissaries. Record was made of the name of each, of his father’s name, and of his native place. Soranzo’s accuracy is questionable, as when he says that the greater part were put into palaces in Constantinople.
[195] Postel, iii. 17; Ricaut, 46.
[196] Ricaut, 74: “In whom appearing more strength of body than of mind, they are set apart for labor and menial services.”
[197] Busbecq, De Re Militari, 260.
[198] Spandugino, 104: the emperor chooses a few and sends the rest to the towns of the Turks of Anatolia to live with the lords and gentlemen.
[199] Spandugino speaks of 900; Junis Bey and Ramberti, 1400; Geuffroy, 1200; Postel, 1300 to 1500.
[200] Junis Bey and Ramberti, 300; Geuffroy, 300.
[201] Junis Bey and Ramberti, 400; Geuffroy, 400; Postel (iii. 20), 600 or 700.
[202] Junis Bey and Ramberti, 700; Geuffroy, 500; Postel (iii. 3), 700 or 800.
[203] Navagero, 42. See also Tanco, 205.
[204] Menavino, 13. Postel, iii. 17, says that, when presented, they were clothed in silk and cloth of gold or silver; but Ricaut, 49, says that their clothing and diet were simple.
[205] Menavino, 11 ff.
[206] Busbecq, De Re Militari, 262-263.
[207] Postel, iii. 2.
[208] Menavino, 126.
[209] Ricaut, chs. v-vi.
[210] Spandugino, 63. See also Nicolay, 84; and the quotations in the last section of Chapter i, above.
[211] D’Ohsson, vii. 34.
[212] Hammer (Geschichte, i. 232), by a singular perversion of the truth, asserts that the page system had its origin and primary purpose in the satisfaction of the unnatural lusts of Bayezid I and his successors. Not only does the whole structure and organization of the system disprove this, but the absence of reference to such a purpose in all contemporary writers is sufficient to settle the matter. The vice which takes its name from Sodom was very prevalent among the Ottomans, especially among those in high position (Spandugino, 186; Busbecq, Life and Letters, i. 232; Ricaut, 151, 211; D’Ohsson, iv. 473). The pages were apt to be afflicted by it, and were carefully watched to prevent it, and terribly punished if discovered (Ricaut, 60). Occasionally a sultan became enamored of a page (Ricaut, 61); but Suleiman seems to have been free from this vice (Busbecq, i. 159; Marini Sanuto, Diarii, December 6, 1523).
[213] Menavino, 126-128. He was a page from about 1505 to 1514 (ibid. 243-245).
[214] Ricaut, “To the Reader,” 45-62. This describes the system as it was about 1650.
[215] Postel, iii. 11.
[216] Ibid. 19; Ricaut, 50.
[217] Postel, iii. 10; Ricaut, 50.
[218] Ricaut, 51. The same custom was observed in the education of the princes and of all children of great officials (Spandugino, 179). Tanco, 197-198, says he has heard that Suleiman himself labored daily at a trade, so that even the Prince should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow; see also Jorga, ii. 343.
[219] Menavino, 126, 127.
[220] Postel, iii. 10.
[221] Ricaut, 59.
[222] Navagero, 43.
[223] Ricaut, 48, says that in the three colleges of education the eunuchs exercised very severe discipline beyond that of monks.
[224] Menavino, 127.
[225] Ramberti, below, pp. 244, 245; Junis Bey, below, p. 263; Ricaut, 49.
[226] Ricaut, 49: “Their first Lessons are silence, reverence, humble and modest behaviour, holding their heads downwards, and their hands across before them.”
[227] Ibid. 48.
[228] D’Ohsson, vii. 47.
[229] Ricaut, 51; D’Ohsson, vii. 34 ff. These chambers were the Kiler-odassi, or Pantry; the Khazineh-odassi, or Treasure Chamber; the Khas-odassi, or Inner Chamber. See below, pp. 126-128.
[230] Ricaut, 52.
[231] Postel, iii. 11.
[232] Spandugino, 62.
[233] Hammer, Geschichte, iii. 32.
[234] Ibid. 490.
[235] Ramberti (below, p. 244) says that they became Spahi-oghlans, Silihdars, and officials of higher degree according to their worth and to the favor which they had gained with the sultan; Junis Bey, below, p. 263.
[236] Menavino, 138.
[237] Ricaut, 71; Postel, i. 33; Nicolay, 64; D’Ohsson, vii. 64.
[238] Ramberti, below, p. 254 (“he marries them to Spahi-oghlans, or to others of the slaves of the Porte according to the degree and condition of both parties”); Junis Bey, below, p. 269; Geuffroy, 244; Chesneau, 40; Nicolay, 64.
[239] Trevisano, 130, speaks of 16,400; but this number does not seem sufficient to account for all.
[240] Chalcocondyles, 97; Spandugino, 103; Ramberti, 255; Junis Bey, 270; (they are sent “to dig earth in order to learn Turkish”); Zeno, 127; Geuffroy, 243; Navagero, 50. Chesneau, 44, states that those Ajem-oghlans who were levied in Anatolia were sent to gentlemen in Rumelia.
[242] Giovio, Commentarius, 78; Junis Bey, as above.
[243] Ramberti and Junis Bey, as above, say after three or four years; Geuffroy, 243, after four years. Navagero, 50, says that every two or three years, as the service demands, an officer takes those who are ready; some have served two or three, some four or five years. Trevisano, 130, says that they are left six or seven years.
[244] Ricaut, 77.
[245] Chalcocondyles, 97; Spandugino, 104; Navagero, 52.
[246] Navagero, 52; Postel, iii. 22, 25.
[247] Spandugino, 76.
[248] Ramberti, 254, says 5000; Junis Bey, 269, says 4000 or 5000; Geuffroy, 242, says 5000 or 6000; Trevisano, 129, says 6800; Garzoni, 415, says 6000; Postel, iii. 25, says 5000 to 7000; D. Barbarigo, 33, says 7600.
[250] Trevisano, 129.
[251] Giovio, Commentarius, 77.
[253] Postel, iii. 25.
[254] Postel, iii. 22, says that only those who had special privilege from the sultan were allowed to learn letters. Ricaut, 76, says that some of those in the palace service were taught to read and write. In D’Ohsson’s time (vii. 327), each oda had a hoja to teach reading and writing to those who wished.
[255] Junis Bey, 269, 270, says that they had 2 or 3 aspers per day at first, and more as they advanced, and that their chief was allowed 100,000 aspers a year for their food and clothing. Postel, iii. 23, says that their chief was allowed 10,000 aspers a day to keep them and pay them, and other money for their clothing.
[257] Spandugino, 104. Trevisano, 130, says that they became such at from 20 to 25 years old, according to their mind, value, or favor.
[258] Ricaut, 76. But those of the principal palace in Constantinople had greater opportunities; they might become Janissaries, Solaks, Kapujis, etc. (Ramberti, below, p. 245.)
[259] Chalcocondyles, 97.
[260] Trevisano, 130; Barbaro, 316; Garzoni, 397.
[261] Zinkeisen, iii. 228.
[262] Ricaut, 53; D’Ohsson, vii. 34-39.
[264] Junis Bey, as quoted above, p. 81, note 4.
[265] Chalcocondyles, 171; Barbaro, 305; Nicolay, 89 (“the wages of each are increased, according to the merit of their military valor”).
[266] Hammer, Geschichte, iii. 160.
[267] Tractatus, ch. viii.
[268] Postel, i. 121.
[269] Ibid. iii. 19.
[270] Tanco, 197, 206.
[271] Busbecq, Life and Letters, i. 105.
[272] Busbecq, Life and Letters, i. 154-155.
[273] Ricaut, 77.
[274] Spandugino, 185; Busbecq, Life and Letters, i. 108.
[275] Spandugino, 132.
[276] The grand vizier Rustem’s wealth is summed up in detail in Hammer’s Geschichte, iii. 386: “He himself left at his death an immense fortune; no grand vizier before him had amassed so much wealth. His estate consisted of 815 farms in Rumelia and Anatolia, 476 water mills, 1700 slaves, 2900 war horses, 1106 camels, 5000 richly embroidered coats and robes of honor, 8000 turbans, 1100 caps of cloth of gold, 2900 coats of mail, 2000 cuirasses, 600 saddles finished in silver, 500 others adorned with gold and precious stones, 1500 helmets plated with silver, 130 pairs of golden stirrups, 760 sabres adorned with precious stones, 1000 lances trimmed with silver, 800 Korans, 130 of which were set with diamonds, 5000 volumes of various works, 78,000 ducats, 32 precious stones representing a value of 112 donkey-loads (that is to say, 11,200,000 aspers); the ready money which was found in his house was estimated at 1000 loads (100,000,000 aspers, or 2,000,000 ducats.)”