Ottoman Janissary aghas and political culture
Cover of Aghas of the Janissaries, a document-based study of Ottoman political culture, the Ottoman army, and the Janissary Corps.

Aghas of the Janissaries

Yeniçeri Ağaları

(The Aghas of the Imperial Janissary Corps from Its Foundation to Its Abolition) (Ağayân-ı Yeniçeriyân Dergâh-ı ‘Âli Kuruluşundan Lağvedilişine)

2025 — 742 pages

Aghas of the Janissaries is a comprehensive document-based study of the aghas who administered the Janissary Corps from its foundation to its abolition. Drawing extensively on primary Ottoman sources, chronicles, manuscripts, tombstones, archival materials, and neglected historical records, the book examines the political, social, and institutional transformation of the Ottoman Empire through the history of the Janissary aghas.

Beyond military history, the study explores Ottoman political culture, palace conflicts, urban unrest, corruption networks, factional struggles among state elites, Bektashi connections, collective memory, and the gradual weakening of the Janissary institution prior to its abolition. The work also investigates public punishments, major fires in Istanbul, power struggles within the imperial administration, and the hidden mechanisms that shaped the final centuries of the Ottoman Empire.

By approaching the Janissary Corps not merely as a military institution but as a complex political, social, and symbolic structure, the book offers an alternative perspective on Ottoman modernization, centralization, and the abolition of the Janissaries.

Keywords: Janissaries, Janissary aghas, Ottoman political culture, Ottoman military elites, Ottoman modernization, Ottoman power struggles, Bektashism, Ottoman manuscripts, Ottoman social history, Ottoman urban history, Ottoman state crisis, Ottoman corruption, Ottoman collective memory, Ottoman military culture

Selected topics

  • The political role of the Janissary aghas
  • Ottoman palace conflicts and factional struggles
  • The transformation of the Janissary Corps
  • Bektashi networks and the Janissaries
  • Ottoman urban unrest and crowd movements
  • Corruption mechanisms within the Ottoman administration
  • Public punishments and ceremonial politics
  • Major fires and political crises in Istanbul
  • Ottoman military and political elites
  • The gradual weakening of the Janissary institution
  • The abolition of the Janissary Corps
  • Ottoman modernization and centralization
  • Ottoman collective memory and political culture