İshak Bey — Kul

In Modern English

He was from Köprü. He was the son of a convert, whose father had been one of the non-Muslim subjects. Taken in the devşirme at a young age, he was trained in the Barracks of the Acemi Boys. In 941 [1534-35] he passed to a company and became a Janissary, in 963 [1555-56] a çorbacı, and in 975 [1567-68] Mîr-i Piyâde, that is, Yayabeyi. Then he died. These notes were found above his entry, written "İshâk Köprü", in the Janissary register.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• zimmî: non-Muslim subject living within the borders of an Islamic state
• muhtedî: a person who converted to Islam later
• devşirmek: to collect boys for the kapıkulu corps
• Gılmân-ı Acemiyân Kışlası: the barracks where the Acemi Boys lived
• bölüğe çıkmak: to leave the Acemi service and be enrolled in a Janissary company
• çorbacı: company commander in the Janissary or Acemi corps
• Mîr-i Piyâde: head of the infantry
• Yayabeyi: the officer at the head of the yaya (infantry) units
• künye: record line, the part where the details identifying a person are written
• meşrûhât: explanatory notes
• tesâdüf etmek: to come across

The Path of the Devşirme: From Acemi Boy to Janissary

The devşirme is the system by which the Ottoman state collected children and youths from its non-Muslim subjects and trained them to prepare them for state service. It was generally carried out every three to four years, and boys between eight and twenty years of age were chosen. Those chosen were first placed with Turkish families, where for three to eight years they learned Turkish and Muslim customs; then they were taken into the Acemi Corps in Istanbul and became Janissaries through the enrollment called "kapıya çıkma". The quarters of the Acemi boys in Istanbul lay between Şehzadebaşı and Vezneciler. Acemi boys were collected mostly from the Balkans; from the early sixteenth century, however, Acemi began to be taken from Anatolia as well. That İshak Bey was "Köprülü", that is, probably came from the town of Köprü attached to Amasya (today's Vezirköprü), fits this practice.

Çorbacı and Yayabaşı

Çorbacı was the name given to the company commander in the Janissary and Acemi corps; while the senior officers of the corps were called ocak ağas, the title çorbacı was generally given to the lower mid-level and company commanders. One reached the rank of çorbacı by rising step by step from the rank of private. The same sources write that the mid-level and company commanders of both corps were called yayabaşı, and the senior ones başyayabaşı. If the çorbacıs of the Acemi corps were promoted, they became timar-holding sipahis or yayabaşıs of the Janissary corps. İshak Bey's being seen as çorbacı in 963 and Yayabeyi in 975 fits this order of advancement. No source was found stating exactly which office Hüsameddin's words "Mîr-i Piyâde" and "Yayabeyi" correspond to; this matching is an inference.

The Janissary Register

According to the last sentence of the text, the service records were seen above the entry written "İshâk Köprü" in the Janissary register. Which register this was and where it is today is not said. İshak Bey's date of death is not given either; the latest date is 975.

The Daily Life of an Acemi Boy

Acemi boys received one akçe a day in their first years; this amount rose to seven and a half akçes in the first half of the eighteenth century. Their pay, called ulûfe, was distributed every three months on the Acemi Corps parade ground, and they cooked their meals themselves in their rooms. The boys of the Istanbul Acemi Corps were called torba oğlanı or şâdî; they were employed in the construction of buildings such as palaces, mosques, madrasas and bridges. When their turn came to pass to the gate, their names were reported to the Janissary agha by the çorbacıs, and the agha sealed the list and submitted it to the grand vizier for approval. İshak Bey's "passing to a company" in 941 is the result of this procedure.

Bibliography

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 285–285. amasya.bel.tr