Note 338 — Chapter IV · THE RULING INSTITUTION: AS AN ARMY

Junis Bey (below, p. 271) says, shortly after describing the feudal Spahis of Europe, that “all the Spahis are slaves and sons of slaves of the Seigneur (Tutti li spachi sono schiaui & figli de schiaui del Sig[nor]);” but this statement is incomplete. Ramberti (below, p. 256) adds, “and sons of Spahis.” The latter group undoubtedly contained the great majority of the feudal Spahis. Geuffroy 246, enlarges on the statement by saying that the 30,000 feudal Spahis of Europe were all Ajem-oghlans and slaves of the great Turk. No other writer terms them kullar. Garzoni, 412, calls them Turkish soldiers. The whole theory of the Ottoman feudal system made them such; the smaller fiefs were hereditary from of old, and gaps were filled from volunteers with the army, who must have been Moslems, since Christians were not allowed to bear arms: Hammer, Staatsverfassung, 349 ff. (“Kanun-nameh of the granting of Timars and Ziamets”).