233

THE TAESCHNER COLLECTION (Or. 12.411, cont.)

of good accommodation in the fortress of Baba Dagi (57b-58a); the debt of a Janissary officer owed to a 2immi of Trabzon (60a-61a); the (lack of) discipline of corps members (6Ib-62b, 63a-b, 71b-73a); inheritance cases involving Janissaries (63b-64b, 64b-65a, 65a-66a, 66a); action against bandits (68a-b); the punishment of infidels who have killed Janissaries (69a-70a); an invitation by a grand vizier to a gavuj to come, visit him and receive praise after the latter had bravely defended the fortress of Tokat (73a-74a); the reinforcement of a besieged garrison (83b-86a [at Baghdad]); the permission for a butcher and mumci of the corps to continue the slaughtering of sheep and cows at Yedikule, Istanbul (101a- b, 101b-102b); an invitation from a grand vizier to mollas to attend the divan on the occasion of a religious feast and kiss the sultan’s sleeve (108a, 108a-b); the reinforcement of friendly relations (109b-110b [from an agha of the corps to the Tatar khan], 112a-l 13a [from an agha to a beglerbegi])-, the unlawful occupation by Hasan ReTs of a quay in the Izmit area which belongs to a segbanba§i (112a); the despatch of troops to North Africa (116b-118b), 118b-120a); passports (123b- 124a [for a gorbaci travelling to Belgrade], 124b-125a [for a gavus carrying important messages], 138a-b [for a gavus travelling to Bozcaada); and permits of various type (99a, 99a-b, 126a, 126a-b [allowing Arslan, a Jewish teacher, mu'allim, at court to wear yellow inner boots and overshoes, mestpabug], 126b); the imprisonment of a Janissary soldier by infidels in Crete (129b); desertion (133a-b); exile (134a-b [and imprisonment in the castle of Lemfye [Limni ?] of a certain ‘Abdulkerim]). Polite epistles without much concrete content are: a letter from an inferior to a superior (llb-13a); an encouraging letter from a kethuda beg to a gorbaci (of the Kandïye [Iraklion] garrison, 87b-88a); letters of friendship between friends (93a-b, 142a-b), from an inferior to a superior (141a-b), and to venerable shaykhs (142b-143b). There are are also some fragments of letters: preambles (dibace) (47b-49b, 95b-96b, 107a-b); honorific titles (elkab) (79a-80a, 103b-104a); an address to be written on the envelope [kapak] of a letter to a beg of Wallachia (104a); a letter from a katib efendi at Cyprus who begs not to be forgotten (104b- 105a); a well-wishing letter from a grand vizier to an agha (106a-b); and a letter from the kdzi'asker of Rumelia, Yahya Efendi, accompanying an emr-i serif (107b-108a). The following part of the text, from f. 143b onwards, is largely dedicated to the statutes (kanün) concerning protocol and rights of the Janissary Corps. It begins with an introduction on the military campaigns waged by Sultan Siileyman the Magnificent against the King of Be? (Vienna), and particularly his seventh against seven kings. In the aftermath, the bravery shown by the Janissaries was