The Sekban were
mercenaries
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
of peasant background in the
Ottoman Empire.
The term ''sekban'' initially referred to
irregular military units, particularly those without guns, but ultimately it came to refer to any army outside the regular military.
The sekbans were not only loyal to the Ottoman state, but they could become loyal to anyone who paid them a sufficient salary.
These troops were maintained by raising a tax called the ''sekban aqçesi''.
They were recruited in such numbers that they became the most numerous component of the imperial armies.
The use of these troops ultimately led to grave consequences: the end of hostilities, as in the
war against Persia in 1590 and the
war against Austria in 1606, saw a large number of sekban without employment or means of livelihood.
As a result, many of these soldiers took to
brigandage
Brigandage is the life and practice of highway robbery and plunder. It is practiced by a brigand, a person who usually lives in a gang and lives by pillage and robbery.Oxford English Dictionary second edition, 1989. "Brigand.2" first recorded usa ...
and revolt, and they plundered much of
Anatolia between 1596 and 1610.
Rivalries between the
janissaries
A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ( ...
and the sekban ultimately resulted in a rebellion. After the janissaries had been defeated on the Rumelian front, they marched on Istanbul in 1687 to depose
Mehmed IV.
The latter appointed
Yeğen Osman Aga, a self-made sekban commander, to hold the janissaries in check. Yeğen Osman failed to accomplish this however, and Mehmed IV was deposed.
His successor,
Suleyman II, continued the policy of his predecessor, making Yeğen Osman governor-general of
Rumelia
Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Names of the Greeks#Romans (Ῥωμαῖοι), Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians f ...
. Yeğen Osman, by then a
Pasha, then attempted to become
grand vizier
Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...
. When this happened, the incumbent grand vizier outlawed the sekban corps, threatening soldiers who proved unwilling to disperse with execution, and a civil war ensued.
The sekban gained the upper hand, but a further volte-face of the Ottoman central administration saw Yeğen Osman captured and executed. This did not end the sekban rebellions, and while in 1698 the Sultan reached an agreement with the sekban, extending them guarantees in return for future good behaviour, the agreement was rapidly broken, and sekban rebellions continued throughout the 18th century.
See also
*
Sekbanbaşı Mosque
References
{{Reflist
Military units and formations of the Ottoman Empire
Auxiliary units and formations
Mercenary units and formations of the Early Modern era