Islamic State Muslims Declare Sexual Jihad on Christian Family for not Paying Islamic Tax

Also as far west as Morocco. I can cite chapter and verse. They were not always called Jannissaries, but amounted to the exact same thing: a fanatical cadre of protectors of the local or regional sultan. The balance between local control and control from the Ottoman Empire waxed and waned, at times, Ottoman Janissaries were sent as far as BALTIMORE IRELAND on pirating and mass-kidnapping raids.

Last I checked, Ireland was not within the Ottoman Empire, but Janissaries went on the Muslim corsair raiding ships from Morocco and Algiers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Baltimore

The Sack of Baltimore took place on June 20, 1631, when the village of Baltimore, West Cork, Ireland, was attacked by Algerian pirates from the North African Barbary Coast. The attack was the biggest single attack by the Barbary pirates on Ireland or Britain.[1] The attack was led by a Dutch captain turned [Muslim convert or “renegade”] pirate, Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, also known as Murad Reis the Younger. Murad’s force was led to the village by a man called Hackett, the captain of a fishing boat he had captured earlier, in exchange for his freedom. Hackett was subsequently hanged from the clifftop outside the village for his conspiracy.

Murad’s crew, made up of [muslim convert “renegade”] Dutchmen, Algerians and Ottoman Turks [Janissaries], launched their covert attack on the remote village on June 20, 1631. They captured 108 English settlers, who worked a pilchard industry in the village, and some local Irish people. The attack was focused on the area of the village known to this day as the Cove. The villagers were put in irons and taken to a life of slavery in North Africa. Some prisoners were destined to live out their days as galley slaves, while others would spend long years in the seclusion of the Sultan’s harem or within the walls of the Sultan’s palace as laborers. At most three of them ever saw Ireland again.[2]

[my additions added for clarity]

From the very early days of the Muslim empires, slave soldiers were recruited. For most of the time, they were purchased from the steppe tribes, Circassians, Turks and such. They were generally pagan or Muslim already.

The reason such armies were recruited is that devout Muslims were often resistant to fighting other Muslims, which meant the ruler needed a reliable army to put down rebellions and such. The theory is that a privileged slave army would be loyal only to the ruler, and not have conflicting loyalties to localities, nobles, etc. They were often wealthy, respected and powerful men.

Using slave armies was later found to have its drawbacks, as they often rose to dominate or even replace their “rulers.” India even had a Muslim Slave dynasty.

They were often called Mamelukes. They were dominant in Egypt, for instance, well into the 19th century. They were the guys who eventually turned back the Mongol invasion of the Middle East and drove out the Crusaders.

The Ottomans, OTOH, had a unique system (devshirme) whereby they “taxed” their Balkan Christian subjects directly for a draft of likely boys, who were then raised as you say for roles in the administration or military.

AFAIK no other Muslim empire ever used its own Christian subjects in this way, as opposed to slaves purchased from outside their empire.

Devshirme was very effective for several centuries, with the Janissaries providing a corps of highly disciplined infantry that the undisciplined feudal Christian armies of the middle ages and early modern period could not handle. But when the Ottoman Empire started decaying, so did the institution of devshirme and the Janissary corps.

First the Janissaries were allowed to marry, and then they started bringing their sons into the regiments and membership became hereditary. Eventually Muslim men were allowed to join the Janissaries directly. The regiments became intensely political, overthrowing and even killing Sultans who displeased them. Finally, one of the 19th century Sultans handled the issue by massacring the Janissary Corps using new troops trained in the now-superior western methods.

The Janissaries on corsair ships were in all likelihood, depending on the period in question, either former Balkan Christians or the decayed Muslim janissaries of the later empire. AFAIK they were not “recruited” directly from the few remaining Christians of the Barbary Coast.

There were, however, a great many “renegadoes” among the corsairs, former Christian Europeans who had “turned Turk” for mercenary or genuinely religious reasons. Most of the leading corsair captains throughout the Barbary Coast period were of this group.

All good information. However, my point is that the institution was limited to the Ottomans and changed over time. It was not a universal or even common Muslim practice.

The devşirme were collected once every four or five years from rural provinces in Balkans, and with a few exceptions, only from non-Muslims. The devşirme levy was not applied to the major cities of the empire, and children of local craftsmen in rural towns were also exempt, as it was considered that conscripting them would harm the economy.[31]

According to Bernard Lewis, the core of the Janissaries were "of Slavic and Balkan origin, particularly Albanians, Serbs, and Macedonian Slavs."[32][page needed] In early days all Christians were enrolled indiscriminately; later those from Albania and Bosnia were preferred.[33][page needed] Well known examples of Ottomans who had been recruited as devşirme include Skanderbeg, Sinan Pasha and Sokollu Mehmed Pasha.[citation needed]

The devşirme declined in the 16th and 17th century due to a number of factors, including the inclusion of free Muslims in the system. After 1568 the 'boy harvest' was only occasionally made. In 1632 the Janissaries attempted an unsuccessful coup against Murad IV, who then imposed a loyalty oath on them. In 1648 the devşirme-based recruiting system of the Janissary corps formally came to an end;[39] attempts to reintroduce the old system failed due to the resistance of the new Turkish members of the Janissary corps in 1703, who wanted the coveted posts exclusively for their own families.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dev%C5%9Firme

What this means of course is that while members of the Janissary Corps were involved in the Sack of Baltimore in 1631, it's unlikely any of them were former Christians enslaved by the devsirme, since that practice was rare after 1568.

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