What were the Janissaries?

Janissaries were the paid foot soldiers in the Ottoman army; they formed a separate corps that constituted the most important and most selected part of the sultan's guard.

The janissary corps was created at the end of the 14th century.

Their ranks were filled with boys captured during wars or collected on the basis of the "blood tax".

The janissary corps played an important role, as a well-organized army, for the expansion of the Empire in the conquest campaigns in different countries.

Janissaries were also sent to the service to guard the forts in the border areas; there were such ones in the Albanian lands as early as the century. XVI.

Important properties were given to them.

Janissaries also played an important role in political life. Their commander was one of the most important functionaries of the state.

At the beginning of the century XIX, with the implementation of centralizing reforms in the army as well, the janissary corps was violently disbanded (1826).