devshirme

Devshirme (also spelled devşirme, meaning “collection” or “gathering” in Turkish) was a tribute system established by the Ottoman Empire in the 14th–17th centuries to recruit Christian boys from the empire’s European provinces for service in the state’s military and administrative institutions. The practice targeted mainly the Balkan territories, where the majority of the population adhered to Eastern Orthodoxy, though occasional recruits came from Catholic and other Christian communities.

Each year, Ottoman officials selected boys aged roughly eight to eighteen, taking them from their families with the expectation that they would be raised as Muslims. The youths underwent rigorous training: those with particular aptitude for horsemanship or physical prowess were sent to the Janissary corps, the elite infantry that formed the backbone of the Ottoman army; others received education in palace schools and could ascend to high civil offices, becoming viziers, governors, or scholars. The system aimed to create a loyal cadre detached from local tribal or ethnic ties, thus strengthening central authority.

The devshirme was not a tax but a forced levy, and families were compensated modestly for the loss of their sons. While the practice offered certain social mobility for the recruits, it also generated resentment among the Christian populace and was occasionally resisted or evaded through bribery or flight. The policy began to decline in the late 16th century as the Janissaries started to accept volunteers and as the empire’s fiscal and military structures evolved. The institution was officially abolished in the early 18th century, marking the end of a distinctive element of Ottoman recruitment and governance.