"Peasant" Janissaries?

Abstract

The article discusses unutilized Ottoman source material, related both to the Janissary Corps and to the spread of Islam in the Ottoman Balkans. The author attempts to examine the "Janissaries-Islamisation" correlation in a broader sense-the concept of "social conversion" which was introduced by R.W. Bul-liet some time ago. The social existence of the converts changed immediately with their conversion-from Christian they became Muslim reaya (flock) of the Sultans. This transformation had an immediate positive effect on their economic status-the new Muslims stopped paying Cizye tax. They gained other prerogatives in their relationship with the administration, avoiding the numerous everyday inconveniences that were the lot of Christian subjects. Apart from that, the Muslim person had one more important advantage-the opportunity for further social prosperity by entering the so-called "military class" (askerî). By this the converts acquired additional fiscal comfort and economic advantages. All these were not imaginary; they were real opportunities. The author calls the phenomenon of conversion of this kind by referring to such converts as "peasant" Janissaries.