In each area held by the Ottomans the non-Muslims were offered the opportunity to convert. Those who did were granted all the privileges of Turkish citizenship, including the right to exempt their sons from military duty by the payment of a one-time head tax. Those who retained their original faith might gain Turkish citizenship, but their sons between the ages of six and twelve were liable to be drafted into the Janissaries. Twice yearly the Ottoman authorities selected Christian boys from among the available recruits. Once chosen, the boys were immediately taken away from their families and brought up as Muslims.
Hand-picked for intelligence and physical beauty, they were trained strictly and disciplined harshly.
They were heedless of hardships of any kind. Their duty was to serve the sultan alone and to depend on him personally, to dedicate their lives to his military service. Like monks, they were forbidden to marry or to own property. For all this, they were paid on a scale higher than any other military unit in any army.
The great religious sheikh, Haji Bektash, gave the Janissaries his blessing and presented them with their standard. It was the crescent moon and the double-bladed sword of Osman emblazoned on scarlet silk. Predicting the Janissaries’ future, the elderly sheikh said, “Your visage shall be bright and shining, its arm strong, its sword keen, its arrow sharp-pointed. You will be victorious in every battle and will never return except in triumph.” He then presented the new force with their white-felt caps, each of which was adorned with a wooden spoon instead of a pom-pom.
The spoon, along with a big stew pot, symbolized the higher standard of living of the Janissaries compared with other military units. The titles of their officers were taken from the kitchen. First Maker of Soup, First Cook, First Carrier of Water. The great black pot was not to be used only for cooking. In later centuries the pot was turned over and drummed upon when the elite corps was displeased with the sultan. It was also used to measure the Janissaries’ share of booty.
In western Europe there arose great indignation that the Turks would impose on their Christian subjects what in effect amounted to a blood tax. It was immoral to tear young boys from their families, forcing them to follow an alien religion and to serve a barbaric master.
Murad laughed at the outcry. His Christian counterparts were often far crueler to their Muslim or, for that matter, their Christian captives. His new contingent amounted to fewer than five hundred fighting men and perhaps that same number of young trainees. He had larger units of hired Christian mercenaries now fighting against their fellow Christians in the Balkans! At no time were his armies without large numbers of Christians fighting for him against other Christians. The Corp of Janissaries would grow, but eventually the Christian peasants would embrace Islam rather than lose their sturdy sons who were needed to help work the land.
Murad and his people were now faced with an enormous challenge. The Ottomans were a nomadic people who had come out of the dawn of time to wander the steppes of non-Muslim central Asia. As they had moved westward they had assimilated other cultures, had even been enslaved and converted to Islam under the Abbasid caliphate. In Baghdad they had been trained as soldiers and administrators, raised far above the common domestic slave. Hence they felt neither shame nor fear of slavery as did the Christians. The power of the Ottomans grew until they overthrew their masters and replaced them with a slave dynasty of their own. Still, they were nomads. And again they moved west, conquering everything in their path.
Now, however, they had begun to think of settling down. Now they must become rulers of men rather than shepherds of sheep. Other nomadic groups had tried and failed: the Avars, the Huns, the Mongols.
The mistake these others had made had been in believing that by leaving the conquered on their own land to remain economically productive they would cooperate with their conquerers. The conquered did not cooperate. They instead became unproductive parasites. This resulted in the rapid decline and fall of most nomad empires.
The Ottomans were not going to be flim-flammed by a wily peasantry. Already they had evolved the practice of training human watchdogs to keep their human cattle obedient and their enemies at bay. The enslaved Janissaries were the beginning. Now there rose a vast civil service made up of superior slaves loyal to the sultan alone. The Christian subjects of the sultan found their lives being administered by men who were almost all Christians. Those who did not produce, from the level of the peasantry on upward, were quickly replaced. And Murad was free to pursue his military conquests and enjoy his growing family.
Though he kept a harem and was not averse to using other women, his tendency was to remain relatively monogamous. He was true to Adora. She did not begrudge him his other women, provided his interest in the harem remained mild.
Five months after Bajazet’s birth, Murad’s seed again took root in the fertile soil of Adora’s womb. And when their son was but two months past his first birthday he was joined in his nursery by twin brothers, Osman and Orkhan. The sultan was jubilant. He had three healthy sons! Surely Allah had showered him with blessings.
Thrice-secure, Adora sought out Ali Yahya and asked to be free from pregnancy for a time. The master of the sultan’s household agreed with the princess that to retain Murad’s interest now she must again become more the lover and less the mother. As her sons were all outrageously strong and healthy, he saw no reason for her to bear children until she wanted to.
To amuse her lord, Adora learned the sensual oriental dances currently being done by a troupe of Egyptian dancers who were performing in the city. Each day she practiced with her teacher, Leila, a full-breasted, full-hipped woman with almond-shaped gold eyes. After a few weeks, Leila said, “You could earn your living at this, Highness, and have not one, but half a dozen sultans at your feet.”
Theadora laughed. “I desire no one but my lord Murad, Leila. For him alone will I dance.”
“He should be honored, Highness, for never have I seen anyone perform with such grace, such passion. How well you feel the music! Dance for him tomorrow as you have danced today and it is he who will be your slave! You will rouse his desire as no woman ever has! I can teach you no more.”
Theadora was pleased. On the morrow Murad would return from two months at the front, and Adora had planned his homecoming in meticulous detail. When he arrived at the nearly completed Island Serai she greeted him lovingly, her three sons about her like chicks about a hen, the twins just barely able to stand. This reminded him, should he chance to have forgotten, of her position in his life.
The children were taken by their nurses and Adora escorted her lord to his own quarters and helped remove his travel-stained garments. “Your bath awaits you, my lord,” she said. “I have prepared an evening which I hope will please you. I have a small surprise.”
Before he could answer, she was gone. And he found himself in his bath, attended by six of the most exquisite, nubile young girls he had ever seen, all completely naked. They went calmly about the job of washing and shaving him. He was gently patted dry with fluffy towels and then massaged with sweet oils. His natural lust began to exhibit itself in a delicious tingling. But, before he could take advantage of the delights around him, the skillful fingers of the pretty masseuse put him to sleep.
An hour later he awakened, delightfully refreshed, to find a fully garbed older woman offering him a tiny cup of hot sweet coffee. He gulped it down. Standing up, he was quickly surrounded by slaves who anointed his body with musk and then dressed him in a deep-blue velvet robe embroidered at the hem, wrists, and collar in silver thread, turquoises and pearls. The robe was closed with silver frogs over turquoise buttons. It was lined inside in alternating bands of silk and soft fur. The effect on his naked skin was sensuous and delightful. His slippers were of lambskin, dyed blue to match his robe and lined with lambswool. A gold chain with a jeweled medallion was put over his neck. Several rings-a large baroque pearl, a sapphire, and a turquoise-were slipped on his fingers.