Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2009
The period from the late sixteenth century has been characterized in Ottoman historiography as one of fundamental change in the composition of the army. One of the features of this change was the gradual replacement of the tīmār-based cavalry force, to whom were awarded benefices in return for military service, by provincial levies able to use muskets (tüfenk), often hired only for the duration of a single campaign. Although the extent to which such changes were directly prompted by the supposedly superior technology which the Ottomans encountered when fighting the Habsburgs on their western borders remains open to further research, that there was a radical transformation which relied on the greatly increased use of firearms is beyond doubt.
Archival and manuscript sources
Istanbul
Başbakanlik ArŞivi (BBA):
KK = Kâmil Kepeci Tasnifi 254, 1879, 1885
MMD = Mâliyeden Müdeyver Defterler 788, 807, 827, 893, 2725.
MD = Mühimme Defterleri 83
D.BRZ 20649.
Topkapi Sarayi Kütüphanesi
Ahmet Ḥasanbegzade Tārīḥ-i āl-i ‘osmān, MS Bağdad Köşkü 207
London
Public Record Office (PRO)
SP State Papers 101/94.
Vienna
Haus-, Hof- u. Staatsarchiv (HHStA)
Türkische Urkunden 1600, VI.23-VII.2.
Österreichisches Nationalbibliothek
‘Abdülḳadir Efendi Veḳāyi’-i Tarīḥiyye. MS Mxt. 130