A Roman or other Christian family in lands conquered by the Ottomans would fear the devsirme, their sons being stolen. This is also sometimes called a “Blood Tax.” The earliest account of this comes from the Eastern Romans, after the fall of Thessaloniki“
“What suffering might one not experience, seeing his own child, whom he raised, over whom he shed tears praying for his happiness, being torn away from him violently by the hands of foreigners and forced to adopt a barbaric language, dress, and religion? A child who once attended churches is taught to murder his own kind!”
Those were the touching words of the Archbishop of Thessaloniki, Isidoros Glabas, in the 14th century. He was commenting about the cruelty of the Ottoman practice of abducting Christian children from their families to turn them into elite Janissary soldiers to serve the Sultan. It was a harsh practice, though it did produce good warriors.
Sometimes today I see a disgusting trend to say things like “families wanted this” – think about human nature. I do not care where you are from, or what your religion is – that is not how the vast majority of people would think. And this account shows that is indeed NOT how everyone felt. What mother would not cry when their child was ripped from their arms?
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