Title: Janissaries-msg
Subject: An elite Turkish fighting group in service to the Ottoman Turks.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: medieval, Jannissary, Turk, Ottoman, soldier, mercenary

Janissaries-msg - 1/11/02

Notes on the Janissaries, an elite corps in the service of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) composed of war captives and Christian youths pressed into service. They were converted to Islam and trained under the strictest discipline.

NOTE: See also the files: mercenaries-msg, Turkey-msg, fd-Turkey-msg.

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This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

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    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 10:34:47 +0200
From: Volker Bach <bachv at paganet.de>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Jannissary Cooks

"Craig Jones." schrieb:
> ""The "folded sleeve" Janissary hat has a special brass holder in the
> ""front for an elaborate plume or for a wooden spoon. Among the most
> ""respected members of a particular group of Janissaries were the two
> ""men who carried the HUGE bronze/copper cooking pot. They had a
> ""specific outfit so they were readily identified.
>
> Wasn't there a rank of Janissary officer called a Corbasi (Soup
> maker)?  Can anyone confirm this?

The table of organisation of the Janissary Corps I
work off (Hans Miksch, I don't really know how
good he is) gives the following officer ranks:

Aga - tactical commander of the Orta (roughly
batallion equivalent)

Djorbajibashi (head soup cook) - administrative
officer in charge of the Orta

Kethuda and Obadashi - tactical officers
subordinate to the Aga

Adjibashi (head cook), Sakkabashi (head water
bearer) and Wekelikhardj (food fund manager) -
administrative officers subordinate to the
Djorbajibashi

I distinctly recall seeing large spoons being
worn/carried by janissary officers as a badge of
rank, and the subordinate tactical units were
designated as 'messes' sharing a cookpot in the
field, whence its symbolic significance.

I wonder if anyone would agree to creating a
Janissary household?

(Sensing military career opprtunities)
Giano

Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 16:01:36 +0200
From: Volker Bach <bachv at paganet.de>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Jannissary Cooks

Susan Laing schrieb:
> Giano scribed....
> >Aga - tactical commander of the Orta (roughlybatallion equivalent)
> >Djorbajibashi (head soup cook) - administrative officer in charge of the
> >Orta
> >Kethuda and Obadashi - tactical officers subordinate to the Aga
> >Adjibashi (head cook), Sakkabashi (head water bearer) Wekelikhardj (food
> >fund manager)
>
> Oooohhhh - period cooking garb!!! <drool!>
>
> Giles/Drakie/Mel - wanna find some pictures/ clothes discriptions and see if
> they're specy enough for the Lochac Event Catering Corp??? ;-)

There is an Osprey Elite Series book (by David
Nicolle IIRC) called The Janissaries that's full
of pictures and has a set of modern reconstruction
color plates in the middle. I don't know how good
the text is (if I'm right about David Nicolle that
should be no worry, but some of the Osprey stuff
is definitely below par), but the pictures should
be worth getting it. The price should come out
around $20 if you can't get your library to get it
for you.

Giano

From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 12:51:36 -0700
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Jannissary Cooks

Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net> wrote:
>Not sure, but I do know that Ted Moennich (SCA name is Karl von Nordmark),
>who heads up a music group called Turku.  They played at Pennsic last
>year.  He had a troup of Jannissaries that he paraded around on occasion.
>I'm not sure how to get in touch with him...I think he still lives in North
>Carolina, but they may have a web page.
>
>Kiri

Uh, i've seen photos of them in their garb. Really, really not
correct for Jannissaries from pre-1601 (or for any period). The group
at Pennsic were all wearing red - which 16th c. Jannissaries did not
- and they were wearing modern vests, salwar of the wrong shape,
exposed white shirts (the gomlek is "underwear" and only the
neckline, cuffs, and hem might show), and few entaris (!!!). And they
were not wearing the right kinds of headgear.

A group of Jannissaries is a fun idea and there's plenty of
information on how to do it before 1601. Use real source material,
such as surviving garments, Ottoman Turkish paintings, and European
"eyewitness" drawings and paintings, which often give better details
and proportions.

As far as i can tell, Jannissaries didn't have a single uniform color
(pun intended), but wore 2 layers of fully lined entaris
(button-front tunics) in a variety of bright colors over a white
gomlek (undertunic) and brightly colored salwar (pants) which do NOT
have wide legs with gathered ankles, but have loose thighs but narrow
ankles. The headdresses and certain costume details seem to point to
rank - and the Ottomans were pretty "anal" about status. Historically
accurate garments are easy to make. But the headgear is a bit
trickier, but not impossible.

The Osprey book is a good starting point - actually, there are 2
Osprey books on Jannissaries before 1601, one in the "Men at Arms"
series and one in the "Warrior" series - but the modern artist who
made the color plates (?Christa Hook?) did a terrible job, especially
with the earlier depictions. Examine the actual art in the book
(including photos of actual cooking pots!) and find a book with color
plates of actual Ottoman art. The Osprey books have bibliographies,
which should help.

Right now, i'm reading a facsimile of the 1585 English translation of
Nicholas de Nicholay's "The Nauigations into Turkie" which has plates
possibly drawn by an artist who accompanied him, including a couple
Jannissaries.

Anahita

Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 15:16:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Jannissary Cooks
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Here are several books on Janissaries.

Huette

+++++++++

Nicolle, David.
  The Janissaries / text by David Nicolle, colour
plates by Christa Hook. -- London : Osprey, 1995.
64 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 25 cm. -- (Elite
series ; 58)
  ISBN 1855324970

Nicolle, David.
  The Janissaries / text by David Nicolle, colour
plates by Christa Hook. -- London : Reed International Books, 1997.
64 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 25 cm. -- (Elite series ; 58)
  ISBN 185532413X

Goodwin, Godfrey.
  The Janissaries / Godfrey Goodwin. -- London : Saqi, 1997.
  288 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
  ISBN 0863560490 (hb). -- ISBN 0863560555 (pbk)

Palmer, J. A. B.
  The origin of the Janissaries / by J.A.B. Palmer. --
Manchester : The Librarian, The John Rylands Library
..., 1953.

Evliy=E8a, efendi, ca.1611-ca.1682.
  In the days of the Janissaries; old Turkish life as
depicted in the "Travel-book" of Evliy=E2a Chelebi, by
Alexander Pallis. Introd. by Philip Graves. London,New
York, Hutchinson, 1951.
  236p. 36 plates (incl. ports.) map (on lining papers) 23cm.

Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 13:16:05 +0200
From: Volker Bach <bachv at paganet.de>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Jannissary Cooks

Huette von Ahrens schrieb:
> Nicolle, David.
>   The Janissaries / text by David Nicolle, colour
> plates by Christa Hook. -- London : Osprey, 1995.
> 64 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 25 cm. -- (Elite
> series ; 58)
>   ISBN 1855324970
>
> Nicolle, David.
>   The Janissaries / text by David Nicolle, colour
> plates by Christa Hook. -- London : Reed International
> Books, 1997.
> 64 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 25 cm. -- (Elite
> series ; 58)
>   ISBN 185532413X

Thanks, that's very useful (my wallet *doesn't*
say thanks, but it's going lean these days
anyway...). BTW, in case anyone doesn't know these
two are substantially the same book with different
covers. Osprey publishes 'trade editions' of its
more popular titles through Reed International.

Giano

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	Jannissaries-msg	 of