One among many renegades: the Serb janissary Konstantin Mihailović and the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans

Konstantin Mihailović, a Serb born in Novo Brdo, was taken by the Ottomans and became a janissary in Mehmet II's army. After he returned to the Christian side, he penned a report on Ottoman governance, religion, military structures and tactics. It explained by organisational advantages, fairnes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medieval history Vol. 46; no. 2; pp. 217 - 230
Main Author: Buc, Philippe
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Routledge 14.03.2020
Subjects:
apostasy
autobiography
Balkans
janissaries
Konstantin Mihailović
Ottomans
treason
ISSN:0304-4181, 1873-1279
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Konstantin Mihailović, a Serb born in Novo Brdo, was taken by the Ottomans and became a janissary in Mehmet II's army. After he returned to the Christian side, he penned a report on Ottoman governance, religion, military structures and tactics. It explained by organisational advantages, fairness to subjects of all faiths coupled with deceit vis-à-vis enemies, divisions within Christendom, and providential history's retributive measures, why the 'heathen' had the upper hand. But the author, Konstantin, remained discreet. Autobiographical details on his years as a janissary are scarce. He had risen high in the Ottoman system. While conveying his expertise about the enemy to Christian courts was his key to a further career, he also had to conceal that he had been an important member of the janissary corps, and probably had converted to Islam. The first imperative, sharing expertise, complicated the second, self-silencing, and made it impossible to dissimulate fully.
ISSN:0304-4181
1873-1279
DOI:10.1080/03044181.2020.1719188