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Introduction
The emergence of the Ottoman state as an empire with territory on three continents is
one of the most important events in the history of the world. For nearly six centuries
the Ottomans ruled a powerful state that held territory in the Balkans, the Middle East,
and North Africa. The Ottoman state expanded from a small principality in western
Anatolia in the last decade of the 13th century to one of the most powerful empires the
world had ever seen. The Ottoman Empire was not only vast, but it also contained a
mosaic of religious, ethnic, and linguistic communities, including Greeks, Serbs, Croa-
tians, Bosnians, Hungarians, Albanians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Arabs, Turks, Arme-
nians, Kurds, Jews, and many others. Each group possessed its own unique identity,
history, culture, language, and traditions. The heterogeneity of the empire’s population
required governmental institutions that would preserve the unity and territorial integ-
rity of the state.
The Ottoman state divided its subjects according to their relationship with the gov-
ernment. Those who worked for the government were called askeri (the military or the
ruling class), and those who did not were the reāyā or the members of the subject class
(Sugar: 33; Aksan: x–xi). The askeri comprised several strata. The first stratum was made
up of the families who had fought alongside the first Ottoman sultans and had played an
important role in transforming the state from a principality into a full-fledged empire.
The second included the dynasties and ruling elites who had been conquered and then
incorporated into the Ottoman system. The third encompassed those Christian subjects
of the sultan who were recruited through devșirme (devshirme), the system by which
young Christian boys were educated and trained to assume positions of power in the
imperial palace, the army, and the administration. The fourth stratum was the ulema
or the learned men of religion, a body of Muslim scholars who were recognized as the
experts in Islamic law (Arabic: sharia; Turkish: şeriat). The ulema were responsible for
administering the Islamic legal and educational institutions of the empire (Aksan: x–xi).
Regardless of ethnic and religious origins, each member of the Ottoman ruling class had
to demonstrate his loyalty to the sultan and his familiarity with the customs, manner-
isms, and language that distinguished a member of the Ottoman ruling class from the
members of the subject class. The reāyā also consisted of several strata, including peasant
farmers, manufacturers, and merchants. The members of the subject class produced the
goods and paid the taxes that sustained the state and the ruling dynasty (Aksan: x–xi).
