14
TheIslamicateContext
historians view
military
slaves
as slaves,
though
with reser-
vations,
being
discomfitedby
the
waythey
so
blatantly
contradict
thelowlyimage
ofaslave.
Lybyer
writesofthe
10th/16th
cen-
tury
thatthetitlekul
(Turkish,
"slave")wasnot"mere
form:with
few
exceptions,
allmembersenteredthesystem
asactualslaves,
andtherewas
nowhere
along
thelineof
promotionany
formal
orreal
process
ofemancipation.
’’14
GibbandBowen
imply
that
military
slaveswereslaves,but
they
findit"unfortunate
thatwe
shouldbe
obliged
touse theword’slave’for
persons
ofthis
status.For
it
isappropriateonly
insome
ways[given
that]their
servitudecarriedwithit
scarcelyany
socialinferiority[or]
ob-
loquy.
’’15
Papoulia,
too,findsthemrealslaves,
16
butshe
qualifies
thisviewintwoinsightful
footnotes.Inthefirstshe
says,"they
remainedslavesonly
so
long
as
theydirectly
servedtheruler";
17
in
the
other,
she
points
outthat
many
oftheruler’spowers
over
militaryslaves
werethoseofanabsoluteruleroverhissubordi-
natesandhad
nothing
todowiththe
slavestatusof
military
slaves
(thispoint
isfurtherdiscussedbelow,p.19).
18
Incontrasttotheseviewsofmilitary
slavesasslaves,some
scholarsrefertothem
asmercenaries,
though
without
justifying
this
terminology.19
Only
onescholar,M.A.Shaban,
argues
that
military
slavesare
notslavesin
any
sense,especially
inthe
earlyperiod
ofIslam.
14.A.H.
Lybyer,
TheOttoman
Empire
in
theTime
of
Suleiman
(Cambridge,
Mass.,1913),
p.
48.
15.H. A.
R. Gibband H. Bowen,Islamic
Society
andtheWest (London,
1950-57),
vol.
1,pt.1,p.
43.Bosworth,"Armiesofthe
Prophet,"p.
208,makes
similarstatement.
- B.
Papoulia,Ursprung
undWesender"Knabenlese"imosmanischenReich,
p.
2.
17.
Ibid.,p. 21
n.54.
18.Ibid.,p.
8
24.
19.For
example:(a)
J.
Karabacek,"ErstesurkundlichesAuftretenvonTiir-
ken,"
Mittheilungen
ausder
Sammlung
der
PapyrusErzherzog
Rainer(Vienna,1887),
p.
93;
(b)
Lvi-Provenqal,
L’Espa.ne
musulmane lOmesicle,p.130;(c)
Here
andthereinC.E.Bosworth’swritings
onIslamicate
militaryorganizations;(d)
Kldy-Nagy,
"TheFirstCenturiesoftheOttoman
MilitaryOrganization,"p.
153
and
passim.
Thedifferencesbetween
military
slavesandmercenarieswillbedis-
cussed
briefly
inthelast
part
ofthis
chapter
andat
greater
length
in
chapter
3.
M.Weber,
Wirtschaft
und
Gesellschaft,pp.
1015-18,understandsthe
differences
clearly.