In September 2021, the head of the Osmanlı Mehter Takımı, the SCA’s Janissary band, asked me to “share a list of appropriate names for our Janissaries to possibly choose from in developing personas”. He was probably referring to my page of names of Muslim men from Sivas province, but that…
In 1686, the Holy League retook Buda (Budapest) from the Ottomans. One document written in the aftermath lists some of the Ottoman prisoners of war, including several dozen janissaries. Although this is well after the SCA period, many of these names can be traced back to period, so I’ve listed…
A friend in a SCAdian Janissary band invited me to look over his group’s uniforms and help him make them more historically accurate. (He’s excited about my research now. Wait until I tell him everyone has to wear wool coats and two pairs of wool pants. In Pennsylvania. In August.)…
LET. XXVII. TO THE ABBOT ——. Adrianople, April 1. O. S. 1717. You see I am very exact in keeping the promise you engaged me to make. I know not, however, whether your curiosity will be satisfied with the accounts I shall give you, though I can assure you, the…