Turna'nın Kalbi

Historical analysis of the janissary corps. The book covers the period between the foundation of the Hearth of Janissaries following the conquest of Hadrianopolis by the Ottomans and the start of the so-called "corruption" of the institution in late 16th century. It also gives a detailed description of the Hearth's military organization, its promotion system, ranks and locates it within the context of the Ottoman army as a whole. The focus of the book is the impact of the Bektashi Order on the janissary institution and in forming a warrior brotherhood for the individual janissaries. There is a chapter on 'Janissary and Death' in which the author describes how the janissaries conceived death through the Bektashi doctrine. There is a section relating the janissaries to the Japanese samurai and European knights, their early modern contemporaries.