1. Describe in detail who the Jannisaries were.

2. Where id they come from? How were they captured?

3. What faith did they belong to? why weren't they Muslim?

4. Who did they serve?

5. Describe their training. Describe their daily life.

6. Describe how they were so faithful to their master, the Sultan.

The Jannisaries were elite troops in the Ottoman Empire, who worked directly as household troops and bodyguards of the Sultan and his family. They were slaves, formerly Christians, who had been captured when they were boys and converted to Islam. These kidnappings were part of the so-called Devşirme system (blood tax or tribute in blood), as military officials travelled to find these children and select them to serve the empire.

The boys were subsequently trained in a very specific way. They were first sent to Turskish families in order to learn Turkish, the Ottoman culture and customs and the principles of Islam. After this stage, the boys were gathered and brought to a school in the capital, were they would be clasified attending to their different skills, in order to receive firther specialized training as engineers, riflemen, archers, artillery, artisans, etc. They were trained under strict discipline, in conditions similar to those in a monastic life. They were expected to remain celibate, it was forbidden to have a beard, etc.

They were property of the Sultan, and were his protectors. In order to ensure their loyalty, they had been trained to consider the Jannisaries military corps as their family, and the Sultan as their father.