Project description
A closer look at the Sultan’s elite infantry
First formed by the Ottoman Sultan Murad I around 1380, the Janissaries were an elite standing force of infantrymen. They served over the centuries as bowmen, crossbowmen and musketeers. Legally, they were slaves of the Sultan. The EU-funded JANET project will study the economic and socio-political role of the Janissaries in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The findings will shed light on the role of Muslims in the Ottoman and wider Mediterranean commercial economy and on the processes that led to the creation of the diasporas. The Janissary corps became one of the main channels for the participation of various Muslim social strata of the Ottoman periphery in the Empire’s developing credit market and commercial life, as well as a gateway for their involvement in local and imperial politics.
Field of science
- /humanities/philosophy, ethics and religion/religion/islam
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
ERC-2019-STG
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
ERC-STG - Starting GrantHost institution
70013 Irakleio
Greece
Beneficiaries (3)
70013 Irakleio
34000 Kadikoy Istanbul
35620 Izmir