The
First
Military
SlaveSystem 151
Turks had a habit of
galloping
on their horses
through
Baghdad,disturbing
the
peace,
thus
inciting
theinhabitantsto
pull
downsomeofthesoldiersandkillthemin
revenge.
51
To
put
anendtothis
problem,
andalsotomovehimself
away
from
thehostile
populace
of
Baghdad
whichresented hisrule,al-
Muetas.im
foundedanew
capital
atSamarrain
291/836.
5
Inthis
newtownhehadafreehandto
arrange
his
troops
ashewished;
theTurksended
up
isolatedfromtherestofthe
population,
di-
videdfromit
by
walls,farfromthe
marketplace
andcrowds.To
complete
theirisolation,
al-Mueta.sim
builtthem
mosques,
baths,
and
asmallmarket;
he
even
acquired
slavewomenforthem,
provided
the women with
pay,
and forbade them divorce.
These
quarters
wereofflimitstotherestofthe
population.
D.
Ayalon,
whohas
analyzed
thisinformation,
s4
shows
parallels
between
al-Mutas.im’s
segregation
of
militaryslaves
andasimi-
larone
in
Mamluk
Egypt,
implying
thatitis
acommonfeature
of
military
slave
systems
and
providing
anotherindicationthat
militaryslavery
existed
by
thetimeof
al-Muetas.im’s
reign.
WhereasunfreesoldiersinearlyIslamhad
foughtspontane-
ously,
as
availability
andneed
coincided,regular
patterns
ofac-
quisition,training,
and
employment
that
began
around205/820
ledto
large
numbersofwell-trained
professionalcorps
ofmili-
tary
slaves.
Informationon
theFirstMilitarySlaveSystem
WhichCaliphDevelopedMilitarySlavery?
Modern
scholarship
has
inextricably
tied
al-Mutas.im’s
nameto
theintroductionofTurksintothe
army
andthe
development
of
51.
Nearly
allthesourceswhichmention
al-Muetas.im’s
slavesalsodiscuss
theseincidents;the
many
accountscouldprobablybecomparatively
studiedwith
profit.
Ayalonunderstandstheantagonisminpartasthatofafreepopulaceto-
wardaslave
soldiery("Reforms,"p.4).
52.Ismaildiscussesthisin"The
Founding
ofaNew
Capital:
Smarr’."Also,
J.
M.
Rogers,
"Smarrfi:A
Study
inMedieval
Town-planning,"
inTheIslamic
City;
A
Colloquium,
ed.A.H.HouraniandS.M.Stern(Oxford,1970),pp.
128-33.
53.KB,
pp.
258-59.
54."Muslim
City,"pp.
315-19.