Christian Responses to the Devshirme System

As Christians converted to Islam under devshirme, thereby becoming Muslim reaya, they received greater social mobility and political influence. Specifically, for Christian youth from rural, impoverished villages, becoming a member of the ‘military class’ provided opportunities for a better life. [8] 

One such elite Janissary obtained through devshirme, Varvar Ali Pasha, describes his successful life as the governor of numerous Ottoman provinces, including his homeland Bosnia, despite the traumatic loss of his ties to his Christian past. [9]  Thus, for many, the advantages of a new life serving the Sultan outweighed the costs of acquiring such privileges. 

“Should the grace of God be granted to His servant, a shepherd may be (transported) to a sultan’s domain.” -Varvar Ali Pasha[10]

As Muslims, Janissaries were exempt from paying the jizya tax, a tax for dhimmis required under Islamic law. [11]  This was one of the many ways in which Christian youth were able to bypass the everyday troubles dhimmis under Ottoman rule dealt with. What makes the Janissary Corps distinct from various other forms of military enslavement globally is that trained members were provided a regular salary and upon reaching retirement or becoming ill, Janissary soldiers were granted a pension. [12] 

Some Circassean families even voluntarily sold their children into slavery to ensure a better life for them, while other parents sold their children to avoid financial burdens associated with supporting a child. [13]  One historian has termed this a “social conversion” to Islam, as many converts sought to capitalize upon these newfound opportunities. [14]  It is these extensive social and economic possibilities that encouraged conversion to Islam and created the perception that all Christian communities were impartial to the devshirme system. 

 [8] Veinstein, 124.

 [9] Hain, 169.

 [10] Hain, 169.

 [11] Evgeni Radushev, “"Peasant" Janissaries?” Journal of Social History 42, no. 2 (2008): 448.

 [12] Veinstein, 131.

 [13] Hain, 169.

 [14] Radushev, “"Peasant" Janissaries?” 448.

A majority of the Christian communities from which Janissaries were taken denounced the new life of their children. Greek Patriarch Isidore Glabas publicly addressed the Janissary levy in one of his sermons. The Patriarch associated their kin with the barbaric acts of Janissaries because the Janissaries were known for their sexual impurity, homosexual relations with young boys, and violent acts. [19]  Thus, their families felt disconnected from their children and their newfound values. 

The Patriarch overserved that stripping families of their eldest sons no longer provided them with a son to fulfill burial rituals for their fathers. [20]  However, the greatest of the concerns of the Patriarch was the forced conversion of the Christian youth. The Patriarch considered the conversion to Islam as damning one for eternity, highlighting the estranged relationship of the community with its Janissary offspring.

“He [sic] is shamefully separated from God and has become miserably entangled with the devil, and in the end will be sent to darkness and hell with the demons.”-Patriarch Isidore Glabas [21] 

In addition to condemning their children’s new life, Christian families responded by adopting crypto-Christianity, whereby they converted to the accepted religion of Islam while still practicing their Christian traditions in secrecy. Islamic law dictated that Muslims could not be enslaved, so by converting to Islam families attempted to ensure that their children would not be selected to serve the Sultan. [22] 

Some Christians resorted to seeking refuge outside of the Ottoman Empire in order to resist the devshirme tax. Though there were many difficulties associated with this course of action, those in coastal villages or along the border were able to do so successfully. Flight motivated by this system of child-recruitment decreased populations within the empire, such as those in Peloponnese and Albania. [23]  The process of building new lives in the perceived sanctuaries of the nearby Venetian communities posed unforeseen challenges. These refugees encountered poverty and were detested by the local populations. [24]  This highlights the immense sacrifice Christian families were making in order to preserve the integrity of their traditions and families.

 [19] Hain, 172.

 [20] Hain, 171.

 [21] Hain, 172.

 [22] Veinstein, 122.

 [23] Vacalopoulos, The Greek Nation, 42.

 [24] Vacalopoulos, 45

Hain, Kathryn. “Devshirme is a Contested Practice.” Historia: The Alpha Rho Papers 2, no. 1 (2012): 165-76. http://epubs.utah.edu/index.php/historia/issue/view/50.

Radushev, Evgeni. “"Peasant" Janissaries?” Journal of Social History 42, no. 2 (2008): 447-67. www.jstor.org/stable/27696448.

Vacalopoulos, Apostolos. The Greek Nation: 1453-1669: the Cultural and Economic Background of Modern Greek Society. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1976.

Veinstein, Gilles. “On the Ottoman Janissaries (fourteenth-nineteenth Centuries).” In Fighting for a Living: A Comparative Study of Military Labour 1500-2000, edited by Zürcher Erik-Jan, 115-34. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2013.  www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wp6pg.7.

Wikimedia Commons. Accessed December 10, 2019. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.