• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
Ethnic-Regional (Cins) Solidarity in the Seventeenth-Century Ottoman EstablishmentAuthor(s): Metin Ibrahim KuntSource:
International Journal of Middle East Studies,
Vol. 5, No. 3 (Jun., 1974), pp. 233-239Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/162376
Accessed: 11/04/2009 02:17
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup.Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with thescholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform thatpromotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Cambridge University Press
is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
 International Journal of Middle East Studies.
http://www.jstor.org
 
Int.J.Middle EastStud.5
(I974),
233-239Printed in Great Britain
MetinIbrahim Kunt
ETHNIC-REGIONAL(Cins)SOLIDARITYINTHESEVENTEENTH-CENTURYOTTOMANESTABLISHMENT
Similartomany previousandcontemporaryIslamicstates,thebasis of classicalOttoman administrationandmilitarywas ahighlyelaboratesystemofslavery.XSlaves,carefullyrecruitedandeducated,madeupthebulkof thecentralarmyandfilledmanyof theadministrativepostsoftheempire.To thetraditionalsourcesofslavestheOttomansaddeda newone:thelevyof children fromnon-urban,mostlyChristiansubjectsof theempire(devSirme).The motive behindthis elaboratesystemof 'slavesofthe sultan' isobvious:toprovidethe sultanandthe centralgovernmentwithanefficient,well-trained andloyalprofessionalarmy.Thebasis of theloyaltywas thattheoreticallytheywere without root andwithoutties.Towhatextent did this theoretical absoluteloyaltyobtain inreality?When thehuman element is takenintoconsiderationitis notdifficulttoimaginethattherewere, indeed,manybreaches.DavidAyalon'sstudiesinthehistoryof theMam-luk institution andtheMamluk Sultanate haveshown,forexample,the ties ayoungslave formedearlyinhis career: with hismaster,histutor,and hisfellow slaves whohappenedtobe inthesamehousehold,ortrainingunderthesupervisionofthesametutor.2These tieswerestrongandlong-lasting.Notonlythe sultanbutalso alldignitariesofthe statehadtheir ownslaves,in the OttomanEmpireas well as intheMamluk Sultanate.Itwas natural for each master tolookafter hisownsonsandslaves,tosecurethemafootingintheestablishment,andhelpthemonin theircareers.3Anotherfactor whichseemstohaveplayedasignificantpartinshapingthecareer of anindividual slave washis ethnicand/orregionaloriginandhis rela-tions with others of thesamebackgroundintheOttoman world. InthisessayI willattempttopointout theimplicationsofsolidaritybasedonoriginin
I
The mainargumentof thisarticle waspresentedattheFourth AnnualMeet-ingof theMiddle EastStudiesAssociation,heldinColumbus, Ohio,inNovember
I970.
2
EspeciallyL'Esclavageu MamlukJerusalem,
95I).
3
Thesignificanceofthe MamlukhouseholdsnEgyptianpoliticsafter theOttomanconquestisdemonstratedbyProfessorAyaloninhis'Studiesinal-Jabarti',ournalof
the Economicand SocialHistoryoftheOrient,vol.
iI(I960).
MorerecentlyPaulG.
Forandhasdiscussed The Relationof theSlave andtheClienttothe Master orPatron',
InternationalJournalofMiddle EastStudies,vol.
II
(97I).
I6-2
233
 
234Metin Ibrahim KuntOttomansociety.IIt should be stressedthathere we are concerned withthisphenomenononlyasitobtainedwithinasmallgroupof'Ottomans'-the eliteof theempire.2Thetopicattractedmyattentionduringthecourse ofmyresearchinto the career ofthemid-seventeenth-century grandvezirK6priiliiMehmedPapa.Asmyexamplesare drawnonlyfrom theseventeenthcentury,so shallmyremarksbelimited tothatperiod.Nevertheless,itwouldnot beunreasonabletosupposethat such asolidarity,basedasitwasonhumannature,must haveobtainedin otherperiodsof Ottomanhistory, perhapsinvarying degreesofintensity.Theoretically,a slave wasbroughtinto thesystemat anearly ageso thathisidentityasaMuslimOttoman could be establishedirreversibly.Howsuccessfulthe Ottomansystemwas inthistask isacentralquestionwhich hashardlybeenposedbymodernscholarship.Theprevalentassumptionhasbeenthatthebackgroundof the individual slave was oflittleimportancein hislifeasanOttoman.Ithas,forinstance,been assertedthat 'soperfectlydid the PalaceSchoolmoldaliensofwidely divergentraceandcreedtothe Turkishtype,andsothoroughgoingwas theprocessofassimilation,thatthere areon record fewinstancesof rebelsorrenegadesamongofficialseducated within itswalls'.3Intheirstudyof OttomanstateandsocietyGibbandBowenstatethatthechildrenenrolledthroughdevfirmewere'almostentirelycutoff from theirformerasso-ciations'.4 Thesincerityof conversionofslaveboyshas beenquestionedin theclassicworkofLybyer,butonlyinthereligioussense: 'It waspossibleto holdfast to an inward beliefinthesuperiorityofChristianitythroughmanyyearsspentinthesultan's survice...Theprobabilityisthatlargenumbers ofthesultan's slavesweremerelynominal Mohammedansinreligiousbelief,thoughthey necessarilyfollowedthelargerpartof theMoslem schemeoflife.'sThe children leviedthroughtheprocessofdevqirmewereusuallyfourteen toeighteenyearsofage;6slaveswhowerebroughtinto theOttomanworldthrough
I
I wouldliketoexpressmythanks toProfessorLeonCarlBrownforlettingmeseeportionsofthetypescriptof hisforthcoming studyof Tunisiaintheearlynineteenthcentury,wherehediscernsa similar situation(chapter
III,
pp.76ff.).
2
The term'Ottoman'signifies'thosewhoqualifiedfor first-class statusinthatsocietybyservingthereligion(beingMuslim), servingthe state(holdingapositionthatgavethema stateincome andaprivilegedtaxstatus),andknowingtheOttomanWay (usingtheOttomanTurkishlanguageandconformingto the mannersandcustomsofthesocietythat usedOttomanTurkish)';Mubadele,ed. andtrans.Norman
ItzkowitzandMax Mote(UniversityofChicagoPress,1970),p.
.
3
BarnetteMiller,The PalaceSchoolofMuhammadtheConqueror(Cambridge,HarvardUniversityPress,
I941),
p.9. Renegades mayhavebeenfew;thereare,ontheotherhand,countlessexamplesofrebelsin Ottomanhistorywho wereproductsofthepalaceschool.
4
H. A. R.GibbandHaroldBowen,IslamicSocietyandtheWest(Oxford,
I950),vol.I/I,p.43.5
Albert HoweLybyer,The Governmentofthe OttomanEmpireinthe TimeofSuleimantheMagnificent(Cambridge,HarvardUniversityPress, 19I3),pp.68-9.
6
Lybyer,p.48.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...