Other religions
The millet system
Churches were converted into mosques ©
Non-Muslim communities were organised according to the millet system, which gave minority religious/ethnic/geographical communities a limited amount of power to regulate their own affairs - under the overall supremacy of the Ottoman administration.
The first Orthodox Christian millet was established in 1454. This brought Orthodox Christians into a single community under the leadership of the Patriarch who had considerable authority given to him by the Sultan. Armenian Christian, Jewish and other millets followed in due course.
Some millets paid tax to the state as dhimmis, while others were exempted because they were seen to be performing services of value to the state.
The devshirme system
Non-Muslims in parts of the empire had to hand over some of their children as a tax under the devshirme ('gathering') system introduced in the 14th century. Conquered Christian communities, especially in the Balkans, had to surrender twenty percent of their male children to the state.
To the horror of their parents, and Western commentators, these children were converted to Islam and served as slaves.
Although the forced removal from their families and conversion was certainly traumatic and out of line with modern ideas of human rights, the devshirme system was a rather privileged form of slavery for some (although others were undoubtedly ill-used).
Some of the youngsters were trained for government service, where they were able to reach very high ranks, even that of Grand Vezir. Many of the others served in the elite military corps of the Ottoman Empire, called the Janissaries, which was almost exclusively made up of forced converts from Christianity.
The devshirme played a key role in Mehmet's conquest of Constantinople, and from then on regularly held very senior posts in the imperial administration.
Although members of the devshirme class were technically slaves, they were of great importance to the Sultan because they owed him their absolute loyalty and became vital to his power. This status enabled some of the 'slaves' to become both powerful and wealthy. Their status remained restricted, and their children were not permitted to inherit their wealth or follow in their footsteps.
The devshirme system continued until the end of the seventeenth century.
Life under Mehmet
After battles between Muslims and Christians, churches were converted into mosques and mosques into churches according to who was the winner.
Although Mehmet converted many churches into mosques, he did not suppress the Christian faith itself. There were practical reasons for this:
- Christians were the largest group of the population and coexistence was likely to be more efficient than conflict
- The institutions of the church provided a machine for implementing Mehmet's rule
But Mehmet was also influenced by the Islamic rule that Muslims should show respect to all religions.
Mehmet not only tolerated the Christians, he made special efforts to attract Jews to Istanbul. This was attractive to the Jews, who had previously been persecuted by the Orthodox Christian Church.
The non-Muslim communities (millets) were controlled by the Sultan acting through their religious leaders. These communities were given their own parts of towns in which to live and worship. They were given a great deal of freedom to lead their lives according to their particular faiths, and so were largely supportive of their Muslim overlords.
After Mehmet
Mehmet II died in 1481, and he nominated his eldest son Bayezid as the new Sultan. The Shi'aMuslims in the Ottoman Empire revolted in favour of Bayezid's brother Jem. The Janissaries suppressed the revolt and from then on became very important in Ottoman politics.
With Janissary support Bayezid's son Selim laid the foundations for a world Ottoman Empire based entirely on the despotism of the Sultan. The Shi'as were ruthlessly suppressed and they retreated to Persia, joining with the local groups of Shi'a and eventually forming their own state under the Safavid Shahs.
Fratricide
Sultan Selim introduced the policy of fratricide (the murder of brothers).
Under this system whenever a new Sultan ascended to the throne his brothers would be locked up. As soon as the Sultan had produced his first son the brothers (and their sons) would be killed. The new Sultan's sons would be then confined until their father's death and the whole system would start again.
This often meant that dozens of sons would be killed while only one would become Sultan.
In the later centuries of Ottoman rule, the brothers were imprisoned rather than executed.
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