Modern reference works trace the origins of the Janissary corps and the devşirme recruitment principle back to the reign of Sultan Murad I (r. 1360–1389), situating the institution within the early formation of the Ottoman kapıkulu (sultan’s household) military-administrative system.
A Greek sermon by Archbishop Isidore Glabas (Isidore of Thessalonica) dated to this day is frequently cited as one of the earliest textual references to the Ottoman seizure of Christian children later associated with devşirme-type practices, illustrating that the policy (or closely related coercive recruitment) was already notorious in late-14th-century Ottoman-Byzantine frontiers.
Written records explicitly mentioning devşirme are commonly dated to 1438, marking the earliest widely cited documentary attestation of the institution (even though scholars often argue the practice likely began earlier).
After the conquest of Constantinople, Mehmed II expanded and systematized the palace/household recruitment pipeline that drew heavily on devşirme youths for military and administrative service, strengthening central control by staffing key offices with officials whose careers depended on the sultan.
A kanunname (law code) issued in Mehmed II’s later reign (commonly dated to 1477–1481) is noted for formalizing offices, protocol, salaries, and punishments—part of the same centralizing framework in which devşirme-recruited palace and household personnel became especially prominent in governance.
During the 16th century’s height of Ottoman expansion—especially under Selim I (r. 1512–1520) and Süleyman I (r. 1520–1566)—devşirme levies intensified to supply the growing Janissary corps and the broader kapıkulu system, embedding coerced recruitment deeply into imperial demography and provincial society.
A revolt in 1565 in parts of Albania and Epirus is often cited in overviews of devşirme as a violent backlash against child-levy practices, highlighting the institution’s potential to generate acute local resistance and conflict between provincial communities and Ottoman officials.
By the late 16th century, pressures of warfare and military expansion contributed to the relaxation of earlier Janissary rules and recruitment boundaries, a shift that helped undermine the strict devşirme-based pipeline by enabling broader—and increasingly non-devşirme—entry into the corps over time.
In October 1603, an Ottoman officer (turnacıbaşı) arrived in Bursa with a decree authorizing the levy of Christian boys; the process involved registration with the qadi, selection by defined criteria, organization into groups for transfer, conversion, and dispatch to Istanbul for training as the sultan’s servants—showing devşirme operating through formal provincial-judicial channels in the early 17th century.
In 1632, Janissaries attempted an unsuccessful coup against Murad IV, after which the sultan imposed a loyalty oath—an episode often used to illustrate the growing political power and indiscipline of the corps as the classic devşirme-based model weakened.
Many accounts place the formal end of devşirme-based recruitment for the Janissary corps at 1648, reflecting a major institutional shift: the Janissaries increasingly drew on alternative, less rigid pathways (including freeborn Muslims), changing the social meaning of the corps and the state’s relationship to subject Christian communities.
Despite the broader decline and reported formal end of devşirme-based recruitment, an Ottoman order issued in 1666 set a devşirme recruitment target (reported as roughly 300–320) across parts of the central and western Balkans—evidence that child-levy mechanisms could persist or be intermittently reactivated in specific administrative contexts.
Slavery, the Devshirme, and Recruitment Institutions (15th–17th centuries)
