Janissaries << JAN uh `sehr` eez >> were a group of highly trained professional soldiers of the Ottoman Empire. The word Janissary comes from a Turkish term meaning new troops. Sultan Murad I, the third Ottoman ruler, probably organized the Janissaries in the 1300’s. The group at first consisted of slaves and prisoners of war, and later of children trained as soldiers. Janissaries were considered slaves of the sultan. They were known for their discipline and their early use of handheld firearms. Janissaries made up the select core of the Ottoman army from the 1300’s to the 1500’s. But by the 1600’s, they had become a threat to the sultan’s authority. In 1826, Sultan Mahmud II outlawed the Janissaries as a first step in reforming the empire.
