Yayalar
As Yayalar (singular Yaya , Ottoman and Turkish pedestrian ), the infantrymen of the Ottoman army of the early modern period were referred to, who were used, among other things, in the siege of Malta (1565) .
meaning
The Yayalar were a light ground unit that traveled on foot and armed with a bow. If necessary, the troops were recruited from the rural population. In the 14th century, under Sultan Orhan I , peasants were offered the opportunity to enter the military as yayas or mueselims (cavalrymen), for which they were allocated land and taxes were waived . They fought in formations of 2 to 4 men called o dj ak , which were enlarged to 4-16 men at the end of the 16th century. After that, the Yayalar were gradually demilitarized and used in civil construction projects.
Ernle Bradford , who describes the siege of Malta in 1565, describes it as a fanatical sect (Iayalaren) who, under the influence of hash and driven by dervishes, fought the enemy with contempt for death. However, this description is nowhere scientifically proven.
literature
- Süraiya Faroqhi: Yaya in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Vol. 11, Brill, Leiden, p. 301.
Individual evidence
- ↑ 4,000 Yayalars came to Malta; Ernle Bradford: The Shield of Europe. The fight of the Knights of Malta against the Turks in 1565. Berlin: Universitas 1976, especially p. 64 and p. 152 f. - First English edition entitled The Great Siege, Malta 1565 , 1961.
- ^ The Ottoman Empire ( Memento from June 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), overview of the Alpen Adria University of Klagenfurt
- ^ The Ottoman Empire under Orhan I. ( Memento from July 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) at Ottomane Club, accessed on July 28, 2011
- ↑ Karlsruher Türkenbeute ( Memento from September 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on July 28, 2011