Sekban

Last updated
Sekban
Allegiance Ottoman Empire
Type Mercenaries
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Yeğen Osman

The sekban were mercenaries of peasant background in the Ottoman Empire. [1] The term sekban initially referred to irregular military units, particularly those without guns, but ultimately it came to refer to any army outside the regular military. [2] The sekbans were not only loyal to the Ottoman state, but they could become loyal to anyone who paid them a sufficient salary. [3]

These troops were maintained by raising a tax called the sekban aqçesi. [4] They were recruited in such numbers that they became the most numerous component of the imperial armies. [4] The use of these troops ultimately led to grave consequences: the end of hostilities, as in the war against Persia in 1590 and the war against Austria in 1606, saw a large number of sekban without employment or means of livelihood. [4] As a result, many of these soldiers took to brigandage and revolt, and they plundered much of Anatolia between 1596 and 1610. [4]

Rivalries between the janissaries and the sekban ultimately resulted in a rebellion. After the janissaries had been defeated on the Rumelian front, they marched on Istanbul in 1687 to depose Mehmed IV. [1] The latter appointed Yeğen Osman Aga, a self-made sekban commander, to hold the janissaries in check. Yeğen Osman failed to accomplish this however, and Mehmed IV was deposed. [1]

His successor, Suleyman II, continued the policy of his predecessor, making Yeğen Osman governor-general of Rumelia. Yeğen Osman, by then a Pasha, then attempted to become grand vizier. When this happened, the incumbent grand vizier outlawed the sekban corps, threatening soldiers who proved unwilling to disperse with execution, and a civil war ensued. [1]

The sekban gained the upper hand, but a further volte-face of the Ottoman central administration saw Yeğen Osman captured and executed. This did not end the sekban rebellions, and while in 1698 the Sultan reached an agreement with the sekban, extending them guarantees in return for future good behaviour, the agreement was rapidly broken, and sekban rebellions continued throughout the 18th century. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mustafa I</span> 15th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (r. 1617–1618, 1622–1623)

Mustafa I, called Mustafa the Saint during his second reign, and called Mustafa the Mad by historians, was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 22 November 1617 to 26 February 1618, and from 20 May 1622 to 10 September 1623. He was the son of sultan Mehmed III and Halime Sultan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osman II</span> 16th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1618 to 1622

Osman II, also known as Osman the Young, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 26 February 1618 until his regicide on 20 May 1622.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janissary</span> Elite infantry units and standing army of the Ottoman Empire (active 1363–1826)

A Janissary was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army as well as the first to be equipped with firearms in Europe. The corps was established either under Sultans Orhan or Murad I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mehmed IV</span> 19th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687

Mehmed IV, also known as Mehmed the Hunter, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the age of six after his father was overthrown in a coup. Mehmed went on to become the second-longest-reigning sultan in Ottoman history after Suleiman the Magnificent. While the initial and final years of his reign were characterized by military defeat and political instability, during his middle years he oversaw the revival of the empire's fortunes associated with the Köprülü era. Mehmed IV was known by contemporaries as a particularly pious ruler, and was referred to as gazi, or "holy warrior" for his role in the many conquests carried out during his long reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Köprülü Mehmed Pasha</span> Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1656 to 1661

Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire and founding patriarch of the Köprülü political dynasty, a family of viziers, warriors, and statesmen who dominated the administration of the Ottoman Empire during the last half of the 17th century, an era known as the Köprülü era. He helped rebuild the power of the empire by rooting out corruption and reorganizing the Ottoman army. As he introduced these changes, Köprülü also expanded the borders of the empire, defeating the Cossacks, the Hungarians, and most impressively, the Venetians. Köprülü's effectiveness was matched by his reputation.

The Celali rebellions were a series of rebellions in Anatolia of irregular troops led by bandit chiefs and provincial officials known as celalî, celâli, or jelālī, against the authority of the Ottoman Empire in the late 16th and early to mid-17th centuries. The first revolt termed as such occurred in 1519, during Sultan Selim I's reign, near Tokat under the leadership of Celâl, an Alevi preacher. Celâl's name was later used by Ottoman histories as a general term for rebellious groups in Anatolia, most of whom bore no particular connection to the original Celâl. As it is used by historians, the "Celali rebellions" refer primarily to the activity of bandits and warlords in Anatolia from c. 1590 to 1610, with a second wave of Celali activity, this time led by rebellious provincial governors rather than bandit chiefs, lasting from 1622 to the suppression of the revolt of Abaza Hasan Pasha in 1659. These rebellions were the largest and longest lasting in the history of the Ottoman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auspicious Incident</span> 1826 disbandment of the Ottoman Janissary corps

The Auspicious Incident was the forced disbandment of the centuries-old Janissary corps by Sultan Mahmud II on 15 June 1826. Most of the 135,000 Janissaries revolted against Mahmud II, and after the rebellion was suppressed, most of them were executed, exiled or imprisoned. The disbanded Janissary corps was replaced with a more modern military force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alemdar Mustafa Pasha</span> Ottoman military commander (died 1808)

Alemdar Mustafa Pasha was an Ottoman military commander and a Grand Vizier born in Hotin in the then Ottoman territory of Ukraine in 1765. Of Albanian origin, he hailed from the village of Goskovë near Korçë).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Mohács (1687)</span> Part of the Great Turkish War

The Second Battle of Mohács, also known as the Battle of Harsány Mountain, was fought on 12 August 1687 between the forces of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV, commanded by the Grand-Vizier Sari Süleyman Paşa, and the forces of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, commanded by Charles of Lorraine. The result was a decisive victory for the Austrians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kösem Sultan</span> Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1651

Kösem Sultan, also known as Mahpeyker Sultan, was Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire as the chief consort and legal wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I, Valide Sultan as the mother of sultans Murad IV and Ibrahim, and Büyük Valide Sultan as the grandmother of Sultan Mehmed IV. She became one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history, as well as a central figure during the period known as the Sultanate of Women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Köprülü era</span> c. 1656–1703 Ottoman period dominated by grand viziers of the Köprülü family

The Köprülü era was a period in which the Ottoman Empire's politics were frequently dominated by a series of grand viziers from the Köprülü family. The Köprülü era is sometimes more narrowly defined as the period from 1656 to 1683, as it was during those years that members of the family held the office of grand vizier uninterruptedly, while for the remainder of the period they occupied it only sporadically.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Belgrade (1688)</span> 1688 capture of Belgrade during the Great Turkish War

The Siege of Belgrade was a successful attempt by Imperial Habsburg troops under the command of the Elector of Bavaria Maximilian II Emanuel to capture the city of Belgrade from the Ottoman Empire. Part of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699), the siege lasted a month and culminated in the capture of the city on 6 September 1688. By conquering Belgrade, the Imperialists gained an important strategic outpost, as the city had been the Ottoman's chief fortress in Europe for more than a century and a half. The Turks recaptured it two years later, only to lose it again to Eugene of Savoy in 1717.

Kemankeş Kara Mustafa Pasha was an Ottoman Albanian military officer and statesman who served as Kapudan Pasha and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.

The Abaza rebellion is the name given to uprisings that occurred in the 17th century in the Ottoman Empire during the reigns of Mustafa I (1622–23) and Murat IV (1623–40). The name of the rebellion refers to Abaza Mehmet, an Ottoman pasha of Abkhazian origin. Sometimes, this event is considered as a part of the Jelali revolts. But unlike the other Jelali revolts the principal reason of the Abaza rebellion was the resentment towards the janissary corps.

Halime Sultan was a consort of Sultan Mehmed III, and the mother of Sultan Mustafa I. The first woman to be Valide Sultan twice and the only to be Valide twice of a same son. She had at least four children with Mehmed: two sons Şehzade Mahmud and Mustafa I, and two daughters, Hatice Sultan and Şah Sultan. She was de facto co-ruler as Valide Sultan from 22 November 1617 to 26 February 1618 and from 19 May 1622 to 10 September 1623, because her son was mentally instable. Halime was also one of the prominent figures during the era known as the Sultanate of Women.

Yeğen Osman Pasha or Yeğen Osman Aga was 17th-century Ottoman military officer of Armenian origin. After being commander of sekban units in Anatolia, he was appointed first to position of sanjakbey and serçeşme of the Sanjak of Karahisar-i Sahib. In 1687 for a couple of months he was also the beylerbey of Rumelia Eyalet, which was the highest position he held.

Abaza Mehmed Pasha ; 1576 – August 23, 1634) was a statesman and military commander of the Ottoman Empire, the namesake of the Abaza rebellion. He was the beylerbey of the Bosnia Eyalet in 1628–1631. He was executed by sultan Murat IV in 1634.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transformation of the Ottoman Empire</span> c. 1550 – c. 1700 period of the Ottoman Empire

The Transformation of the Ottoman Empire, also known as the Era of Transformation, constitutes a period in the history of the Ottoman Empire from c. 1550 to c. 1700, spanning roughly from the end of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent to the Treaty of Karlowitz at the conclusion of the War of the Holy League. This period was characterized by numerous dramatic political, social, and economic changes, which resulted in the empire shifting from an expansionist, patrimonial state into a bureaucratic empire based on an ideology of upholding justice and acting as the protector of Sunni Islam. These changes were in large part prompted by a series of political and economic crises in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, resulting from inflation, warfare, and political factionalism. Yet despite these crises the empire remained strong both politically and economically, and continued to adapt to the challenges of a changing world. The 17th century was once characterized as a period of decline for the Ottomans, but since the 1980s historians of the Ottoman Empire have increasingly rejected that characterization, identifying it instead as a period of crisis, adaptation, and transformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1806 Edirne incident</span>

The 1806 Edirne incident was an armed confrontation between the New Order troops of Ottoman Sultan Selim III and a coalition of Balkan magnates, Ayans, and the region's Janissary garrisons that occurred in Edirne and elsewhere in Thrace throughout the summer of 1806. The cause of the incident was Selim III's attempt to expand the New Order's permanent presence into Rumelia through the establishment of New Order barracks in the region's cities. The ultimate outcome of the confrontation was the retreat of imperial forces back to Istanbul and to Anatolia, constituting a deathblow to Selim III's ambitions of expanding his reformed army, as well as a major blow to his legitimacy. The outcome of the Edirne incident would play no small part in his deposition the following May.

Ali Janbulad Pasha was a Kurdish tribal chief from Kilis and a rebel Ottoman governor of Aleppo who wielded practical supremacy over Syria in c. 1606–1607. His rebellion, launched to avenge the execution of his uncle Huseyn ibn Janbulad by the commander Jigalazade Sinan Pasha in 1605, gained currency among northern Syria's Kurdish, Turkmen and Arab tribes and expanded to include local Syrian governors and chiefs, most prominently Fakhr al-Din Ma'n of Mount Lebanon and his erstwhile enemy Yusuf Sayfa Pasha of Tripoli. Ali formed a secret military alliance with the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand I, with the explicit aim of jointly destroying the Ottoman Empire and establishing the Janbulad family as the sovereigns of Syria.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Halil İnalcık; Donald Quataert (1997-04-28). An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press. p. 419. ISBN   978-0-521-57455-6 . Retrieved 2013-06-07.
  2. Sam White (2011-08-15). The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press. p. 170. ISBN   978-1-139-49949-1 . Retrieved 2013-06-07.
  3. Karen Barkey (1996-12-01). Bandits and Bureaucrats: The Ottoman Route to State Centralization. Cornell University Press. p. 174. ISBN   978-0-8014-8419-3 . Retrieved 2013-06-07.
  4. 1 2 3 4 V. J. Parry (1976). A History of the Ottoman Empire to 1730. CUP Archive. p. 141. Retrieved 2013-06-07.