''Kapıkulu'' ( ota, قپوقولو اوجاغی, ''Kapıkulu Ocağı'', "Slaves of the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The name ...

") was the collective name for the

Household Division Household Division is a term used principally in the Commonwealth of Nations to describe a country's most elite or historically senior military units, or those military units that provide ceremonial or protective functions associated directly with ...

of the Ottoman Sultans. They included the Janissary infantry corps as well as the Six Divisions of Cavalry. Unlike provincial levies such as the

timariots Timariot (or ''tımar'' holder; ''tımarlı'' in Turkish) was the name given to a Sipahi cavalryman in the Ottoman army. In return for service, each timariot received a parcel of revenue called a timar, a fief, which were usually recently conqu ...

and irregular forces ('' levend''), the ''kapıkulu'' were professional, standing troops, mostly drawn through the

devshirme Devshirme ( ota, دوشیرمه, devşirme, collecting, usually translated as "child levy"; hy, Մանկահավաք, Mankahavak′. or "blood tax"; hbs-Latn-Cyrl, Danak u krvi, Данак у крви, mk, Данок во крв, Danok vo krv ...

system. They formed the backbone of the

military of the Ottoman Empire The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...

during its "classical period", from the 15th century until the

Auspicious Incident The Auspicious Incident (or EventGoodwin, pp. 296–299.) (Ottoman Turkish: ''Vaka-i Hayriye'', "Fortunate Event" in Constantinople; ''Vaka-i Şerriyye'', "Unfortunate Incident" in the Balkans) was the forced disbandment of the centuries-old J ...

that lead to the abolition of the kapıkulu during the 19th century Tanzimat.

References

Sources

* {{cite book, last1=Uyar, first1=Mesut, last2=Erickson, first2=Edward J., title=A Military History of the Ottomans: From Osman to Atatürk, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JgfNBKHG7S8C&pg=PA63, year=2009, publisher=ABC-CLIO, isbn=978-0-275-98876-0 Ottoman Army Military units and formations of the Ottoman Empire Slavery in the Ottoman Empire Ghilman Turkish words and phrases