Dervendjis: Difference between revisions

Derbendcis
Derbendcis
Allegiance	Ottoman Empire
Type	auxiliary force
Role	constabulary
Part of	tabl of 30 men
Equipment	light weapon and fire guns

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit Next edit →

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Revision as of 11:20, 26 July 2024

Derbendcis or Derbentler were the most important and largest Ottoman military auxiliary constabulary units usually responsible for guarding important roads, bridges, fords or mountain passes.^[1]^[2] Usually, the population of an entire village near some important pass would be assigned with derbendci status in exchange for tax exemptions.

Etymology

The name is derived from a Persian word Dar-band meaning "pass", "gateway" or "closer of the door".^[3]^[4]

History

The Ottomans had common practice to exempt some of their tax-paying subjects (rayah) from paying certain taxes in exchange for some services. In case of derbendcis this also included military services such as guarding mountain passes.^[5] Usually the entire villages were assigned with this duty and exempted from paying war time taxes (Template:Lang-tr), customary taxes (Template:Lang-tr), service as oarsmen in the Ottoman navy and devşirme of their boys into janissaries.^[6]^[7] In the region of northern Macedonia at least 175 villages had derbendci status and enjoyed these kind of tax exemptions. Sometimes the Ottoman state "created" villages around derbend territories while in some cases the existing villages applied to their kadı to receive derbendci status in exchange for providing security, constructing or maintaining roads and bridges.^[8] Newly settled population of such villages was not exempt from paying avariz taxes.^[9]

Their duty was to patrol the territory they were assigned to (derbend), similar to immobile gendarmerie.^[10] Since the end of the 18th century derbendcis were organized within Derbendat Ministry (Template:Lang-tr) that appointed derbend aghas (Template:Lang-tr) whose post lasted one year.^[11]

Derbendci status was compulsory and hereditary. If some individual or group would escape from their duty, the Ottomans would forcefully return them. They were organized into simple structures of 30 men (tabl) whose members performed rotational duties. Initially they carried only light weapons and later also fire guns. Significant part of this units were Christians who were, because of their derbendci duty, allowed to ride horses and carry weapon,^[12] but only of conventional type.^[13] Because derbendcis were poorly motivated, they could not match trained and better armed soldiers, so the Ottomans had to hire mercenaries (Christians or Muslims) to ensure loyalty of derbendcis, especially since the beginning of the decline of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 17th century.^[14]

References

^ Ursinus 2012, p. 41.
^ Uyar & Erickson 2009, p. 62.
^ Tütüncü, Mehmet (2001). Türk-Yahudi Buluşmaları. SOTA. p. 38. ISBN 978-90-804409-4-4.
^ Jackson, A.B. Wiliams (1911). From Constantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam. p. 61.
^ İnalcık, Halil (2006). "Autonomous Enclaves in Islamic States: Temlîks, Soyurghals, Yurdluk-Ocakliks, Mâlikâne-Mukâta⁠ʾas and Awqāf". In Pfeiffer, Judith; Quinn, Sholeh Alysia (eds.). History and Historiography of Post-Mongol Central Asia and the Middle East: Studies in Honor of John E. Woods. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. p. 116. ISBN 978-3-447-05278-8.
^ Ursinus 2012, p. 40+.
^ Faroqhi, Suraiya (1986). Peasants, dervishes and traders in the Ottoman Empire. Variorum Reprints. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-86078-179-0. According to this document, the derbendci were equally exempt from all avarız-ı divaniye and tekâlif-i örfiye, a privilege customarily enjoyed by pass guards throughout the Empire); the exemption also covered service as oarsmen...
^ Hall, Kenneth R. (2008). Secondary cities and urban networking in the Indian Ocean Realm, c. 1400-1800. Lexington Books. p. 275. ISBN 978-0-7391-2835-0.
^ MacKay, Camilla Martha (1999). The Road Networks and Postal Service of the Eastern Roman and Byzantine Empires (First-Fifteenth Centuries AD): Social Effects on the Provincial Population (PhD). University of Michigan. p. 164.
^ Forsén, Jeannette; Forsén, Björn (2003). The Asea Valley Survey: An Arcadian Mountain Valley from the Palaeolithic Period Until Modern Times. Svenska Institutet i Athen. p. 372. ISBN 978-91-7916-047-0.
^ Vakfı, Türk Kültürüne Hizmet (1997). Türk dünyası kültür atlası (in Turkish). Türk Kültürüne Hizmet Vakfı, Turkish Cultural Service Foundation. p. 46. ISBN 9789757522195.
^ Kursar, Vjeran (2010). "Some Remarks on the Organization of Ottoman Society in the Early Modern Period: The Question of "Legal Dualism" and Societal Structures". In Čaušević, Ekrem; Moačanin, Nenad; Kursar, Vjeran (eds.). Perspectives on Ottoman Studies: Papers from the 18th Symposium of the International Committee of Pre-Ottoman and Ottoman Studies (CIEPO) at the University of Zagreb 2008. Münster: LIT Verlag. p. 847. ISBN 978-3-643-10851-7.
^ Parry, Vernon J.; Yapp, Malcolm (1975). War, technology and society in the Middle East. Oxford University Press. p. 195. ISBN 9780197135815.
^ Uyar & Erickson 2009, pp. 62–63.

Sources

Uyar, Mesut; Erickson, Edward J. (2009). A Military History of the Ottomans: From Osman to Atatürk. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-275-98876-0.
Ursinus, Michael (2012). Grievance Administration (Sikayet) in an Ottoman Province: The Kaymakam of Rumelia's 'Record Book of Complaints' of 1781-1783. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-24328-0.

@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 '''Derbendcis''' or '''Derbentler''' were the most important and largest [[Ottoman military]] auxiliary [[constabulary]] units usually responsible for guarding important roads, bridges, fords or mountain passes.{{sfn|Ursinus|2012|p=41<!-- |ps=: "derbendci: The guardian of a pass, bridge or ford. " -->}}{{sfn|Uyar|Erickson|2009|p=62}} Usually, the population of an entire village near some important pass would be assigned with derbendci status in exchange for tax exemptions.
-== Etimology ==
+== Etymology ==
 The name is derived from a [[Persian language|Persian]] word ''Dar-band'' meaning "pass", "gateway" or "closer of the door".<ref name="Tütüncü2001">{{cite book|last=Tütüncü|first=Mehmet|title=Türk-Yahudi Buluşmaları|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rd1tAAAAMAAJ|year=2001|publisher=SOTA|isbn=978-90-804409-4-4|page=38}}</ref><ref name="Jackson1911">{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=A.B. Wiliams|title=From Constantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam|url=https://archive.org/details/fromconstantino00jackgoog|year=1911|page=[https://archive.org/details/fromconstantino00jackgoog/page/n139 61]}}</ref>
 ==History==
-The Ottomans had common practice to exempt some of their tax-paying subjects ([[rayah]]) from paying certain taxes in exchange for some services. In case of derbendcis this also included military services such as guarding mountain passes.<ref name="PfeifferQuinn2006">{{cite book|last1=Pfeiffer|first1=Judith|last2=Quinn|first2=Sholeh Alysia|title=History and Historiography of Post-Mongol Central Asia and the Middle East: Studies in Honor of John E. Woods|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4D9pO_4j9-4C&pg=PA116|year=2006|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-05278-8|page=116<!-- |quote=.. common practice applied to the tax-paying subjects (re'dyd, ra 'ay a) in return for their work in the mines, or for such services as guarding mountain passes (derbend, derbendci/derbentqi) or supplying the palace or army with certain goods. -->}}</ref> Usually the entire villages were assigned with this duty and exempted from paying war time taxes ({{lang-tr|avariz-i divaniyye}}), customary taxes ({{lang-tr|tekdlif-i 'orfiye}}), service as oarsmen in the Ottoman navy and [[devşirme]] of their boys into [[janissaries]].{{sfn|Ursinus|2012| p=40+<!-- |ps=: " Entire villages were often charged with the derbendci duty and consequently exempted from certain taxes." -->}}<ref name="Faroqhi1986">{{cite book|last=Faroqhi|first=Suraiya|authorlink=Suraiya Faroqhi|title=Peasants, dervishes and traders in the Ottoman Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gWzpAAAAIAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Variorum Reprints|isbn=978-0-86078-179-0|page=72|quote=According to this document, the derbendci were equally exempt from all avanz-i divaniye and tekdlif-i orfiye, a privilege customarily enjoyed by pass guards throughout the Empire17); the exemption also covered service as oarsmen in the ...}}</ref> In the region of northern [[Macedonia region|Macedonia]] at least 175 villages had derbendci status and enjoyed these kind of tax exemptions. Sometimes the Ottoman state "created" villages around ''derbend'' territories while in some cases the existing villages applied to their [[kadı]] to receive derbendci status in exchange for providing security, constructing or maintaining roads and bridges.<ref name="Hall2008">{{cite book|last=Hall|first=Kenneth R.|title=Secondary cities and urban networking in the Indian Ocean Realm, c. 1400-1800|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qF_aAAAAMAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-2835-0|page=275}}</ref> Newly settled population of such villages was not exempt from paying avariz taxes.<ref name="MacKay1999">{{cite book|last=MacKay|first=Camilla Martha|title=The road networks and postal service of the eastern Roman and Byzantine Empires (first-fifteenth centuries AD): social effects on the provincial population|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3ofAQAAMAAJ|year=1999|publisher=University of Michigan|page=164}}</ref>
+The Ottomans had common practice to exempt some of their tax-paying subjects ([[rayah]]) from paying certain taxes in exchange for some services. In case of derbendcis this also included military services such as guarding mountain passes.<ref name="PfeifferQuinn2006">{{cite encyclopedia |last=İnalcık |first=Halil |title=Autonomous Enclaves in Islamic States: ''Temlîks'', ''Soyurghals'', ''Yurdluk-Ocakliks'', ''Mâlikâne-Mukâta⁠ʾa''s and ''Awqāf'' |encyclopedia=History and Historiography of Post-Mongol Central Asia and the Middle East: Studies in Honor of John E. Woods |editor1-last=Pfeiffer |editor1-first=Judith |editor2-last=Quinn |editor2-first=Sholeh Alysia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4D9pO_4j9-4C&pg=PA116|year=2006|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz|location=Wiesbaden|isbn=978-3-447-05278-8|page=116<!-- |quote=.. common practice applied to the tax-paying subjects (re‘âyâ, ra‘āyā) in return for their work in the mines, or for such services as guarding mountain passes (derbend, derbendci/derbentçi) or supplying the palace or army with certain goods. -->}}</ref> Usually the entire villages were assigned with this duty and exempted from paying war time taxes ({{lang-tr|avarız-ı divaniyye}}), customary taxes ({{lang-tr|tekâlif-i örfiye}}), service as oarsmen in the Ottoman navy and [[devşirme]] of their boys into [[janissaries]].{{sfn|Ursinus|2012| p=40+<!-- |ps=: " Entire villages were often charged with the derbendci duty and consequently exempted from certain taxes." -->}}<ref name="Faroqhi1986">{{cite book|last=Faroqhi|first=Suraiya|author-link=Suraiya Faroqhi|title=Peasants, dervishes and traders in the Ottoman Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gWzpAAAAIAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Variorum Reprints|isbn=978-0-86078-179-0|page=72|quote=According to this document, the derbendci were equally exempt from all avarız-ı divaniye and tekâlif-i örfiye, a privilege customarily enjoyed by pass guards throughout the Empire); the exemption also covered service as oarsmen...}}</ref> In the region of northern [[Macedonia region|Macedonia]] at least 175 villages had derbendci status and enjoyed these kind of tax exemptions. Sometimes the Ottoman state "created" villages around ''derbend'' territories while in some cases the existing villages applied to their [[kadı]] to receive derbendci status in exchange for providing security, constructing or maintaining roads and bridges.<ref name="Hall2008">{{cite book|last=Hall|first=Kenneth R.|title=Secondary cities and urban networking in the Indian Ocean Realm, c. 1400-1800|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qF_aAAAAMAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-2835-0|page=275}}</ref> Newly settled population of such villages was not exempt from paying avariz taxes.<ref name="MacKay1999">{{cite thesis|type=PhD|last=MacKay|first=Camilla Martha|title=The Road Networks and Postal Service of the Eastern Roman and Byzantine Empires (First-Fifteenth Centuries AD): Social Effects on the Provincial Population|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3ofAQAAMAAJ|year=1999|institution=University of Michigan|page=164}}</ref>
-Their duty was to patrol the territory they were assigned to (''derbend''), similar to immobile [[gendarmerie]].<ref name="ForsénForsén2003">{{cite book|last1=Forsén|first1=Jeannette|last2=Forsén|first2=Björn|title=The Asea Valley Survey: An Arcadian Mountain Valley from the Palaeolithic Period Until Modern Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mkiAQAAIAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Svenska Institutet i Athen|isbn=978-91-7916-047-0|page=372<!-- |quote=There was also a group of immobile gendarmes, the derbendcis, or keepers of the passes. These were peasants living next to important mountain passes, who had been given the task of keeping the passes secure and of charging tolls from ... -->}}</ref> Since the end of the 18th century derbedcis were organized within Derbendat Ministry ({{lang-tr|Derbendat Başbuğluğu}}) that appointed derbend aghas ({{lang-tr|derbendat başbuğ}}) whose post lasted one year.<ref name="Vakfı">{{cite book|last=Vakfı|first=Türk Kültürüne Hizmet|title=Türk dünyası kültür atlası|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CHc_AQAAIAAJ|publisher=Türk Kültürüne Hizmet Vakfı, Turkish Cultural Service Foundation|page=46<!-- |quote=Derbendcis were held accountable only within the boundaries of their respeetive derbend. Trespass- ing of other derbend premises vvas prohibited. Their duties included the patrolling of their derbend like a gendarmerie force to ensure the ... --> |language=Turkish}}</ref>
+Their duty was to patrol the territory they were assigned to (''derbend''), similar to immobile [[gendarmerie]].<ref name="ForsénForsén2003">{{cite book|last1=Forsén|first1=Jeannette|last2=Forsén|first2=Björn|title=The Asea Valley Survey: An Arcadian Mountain Valley from the Palaeolithic Period Until Modern Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mkiAQAAIAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Svenska Institutet i Athen|isbn=978-91-7916-047-0|page=372<!-- |quote=There was also a group of immobile gendarmes, the derbendcis, or keepers of the passes. These were peasants living next to important mountain passes, who had been given the task of keeping the passes secure and of charging tolls ... -->}}</ref> Since the end of the 18th century derbendcis were organized within Derbendat Ministry ({{lang-tr|Derbendat Başbuğluğu}}) that appointed derbend aghas ({{lang-tr|derbendat başbuğ}}) whose post lasted one year.<ref name="Vakfı">{{cite book|last=Vakfı|first=Türk Kültürüne Hizmet|title=Türk dünyası kültür atlası|year=1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CHc_AQAAIAAJ|publisher=Türk Kültürüne Hizmet Vakfı, Turkish Cultural Service Foundation|page=46<!-- |quote=Derbendcis were held accountable only within the boundaries of their respeetive derbend. Trespass- ing of other derbend premises vvas prohibited. Their duties included the patrolling of their derbend like a gendarmerie force ... --> |isbn=9789757522195|language=Turkish}}</ref>
-Derbendci status was compulsory and hereditary. If some individual or group would escape from their duty, the Ottomans would forcefully return them. They were organized into simple structures of 30 men (''tabl'') whose members performed rotational duties. Initially they carried only light weapons and later also fire guns. Significant part of this units were Christians who were, because of their derbendci duty, allowed to ride horses and carry weapon,<ref name="Symposium2010">{{cite book|last=Symposium|first=Comité international d'études pré-ottomanes et ottomanes.|title=Perspectives on Ottoman studies: papers from the 18th Symposium of the International Committee of Pre-Ottoman and Ottoman Studies (CIEPO) at the University of Zagreb 2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rXozTgKsAdMC&pg=PA847|year=2010|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-643-10851-7|page=847<!-- |quote=... Christian elites and groups that performed military and semi- military services for the state, such as the Christian sipahîs, knezes, premikiirs, voyvodas, voynuks, martoloses, and a good share of the derbendcis, Vlachs, and similar groups, ... -->}}</ref> but only of conventional type.<ref name="ParryYapp1975">{{cite book|last1=Parry|first1=Vernon J.|last2=Yapp|first2=Malcolm|title=War, technology and society in the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ip1tAAAAMAAJ|year=1975|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=195<!-- |quote=Even the derbendci reaya, appointed by a special charter to guard bridges and routes at dangerous points, were not allowed in principle to use arms other than the conventional ones. -->}}</ref> Because derbendcis were poorly motivated, they could not match trained and better armed soldiers, so the Ottomans had to hire mercenaries (Christians or [[Muslims]]) to ensure loyalty of derbendcis, especially since the beginning of the [[decline of the Ottoman Empire]] at the end of the 17th century.{{sfn|Uyar|Erickson|2009|pp = 62–63}}
+Derbendci status was compulsory and hereditary. If some individual or group would escape from their duty, the Ottomans would forcefully return them. They were organized into simple structures of 30 men (''tabl'') whose members performed rotational duties. Initially they carried only light weapons and later also fire guns. Significant part of this units were Christians who were, because of their derbendci duty, allowed to ride horses and carry weapon,<ref name="Symposium2010">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Kursar|first=Vjeran|title=Some Remarks on the Organization of Ottoman Society in the Early Modern Period: The Question of "Legal Dualism" and Societal Structures|encyclopedia=Perspectives on Ottoman Studies: Papers from the 18th Symposium of the International Committee of Pre-Ottoman and Ottoman Studies (CIEPO) at the University of Zagreb 2008|editor1-last=Čaušević|editor1-first=Ekrem|editor2-last=Moačanin|editor2-first=Nenad|editor3-last=Kursar|editor3-first=Vjeran|location=Münster|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rXozTgKsAdMC&pg=PA847|year=2010|publisher=LIT Verlag|isbn=978-3-643-10851-7|page=847<!-- |quote=... Christian elites and groups that performed military and semi- military services for the state, such as the Christian sipahîs, knezes, premikiirs, voyvodas, voynuks, martoloses, and a good share of the derbendcis, Vlachs, and similar groups ...-->}}</ref> but only of conventional type.<ref name="ParryYapp1975">{{cite book|last1=Parry|first1=Vernon J.|last2=Yapp|first2=Malcolm|title=War, technology and society in the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ip1tAAAAMAAJ|year=1975|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=195<!-- |quote=Even the derbendci reaya, appointed by a special charter to guard bridges and routes at dangerous points, were not allowed in principle to use arms other than the conventional ones. -->|isbn=9780197135815}}</ref> Because derbendcis were poorly motivated, they could not match trained and better armed soldiers, so the Ottomans had to hire mercenaries (Christians or [[Muslims]]) to ensure loyalty of derbendcis, especially since the beginning of the [[decline of the Ottoman Empire]] at the end of the 17th century.{{sfn|Uyar|Erickson|2009|pp = 62–63}}
 == References==
@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 == Sources ==
-* {{cite book|last1=Uyar|first1=Mesut|last2=Erickson|first2=Edward J.|authorlink2=Edward J. Erickson|title=A Military History of the Ottomans: From Osman to Atatürk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JgfNBKHG7S8C&pg=PA62|year=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-275-98876-0|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book|last1=Uyar|first1=Mesut|last2=Erickson|first2=Edward J.|authorlink2=Edward J. Erickson|title=A Military History of the Ottomans: From Osman to Atatürk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JgfNBKHG7S8C&pg=PA62|year=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-275-98876-0}}
-* {{cite book|last=Ursinus|first=Michael|title=Grievance Administration (Sikayet) in an Ottoman Province: The Kaymakam of Rumelia's 'Record Book of Complaints' of 1781-1783|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BI5PyOWbkyAC&pg=PA41|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-24328-0|ref=harv}}
+* {{cite book|last=Ursinus|first=Michael|title=Grievance Administration (Sikayet) in an Ottoman Province: The Kaymakam of Rumelia's 'Record Book of Complaints' of 1781-1783|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BI5PyOWbkyAC&pg=PA41|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-24328-0}}
 == Further reading ==
-* Cengiz Orhonlu, Osmanlı imparatorluğunda Derbend Teşkilatı, 2nd Printing, (istanbul: Eren Yayınları, 1990)
+* Cengiz Orhonlu, ''Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda Derbend Teşkilatı'' (İstanbul: Eren Yayınları, 1990)
 [[Category:Military units and formations of the Ottoman Empire]]