The worst persecutions of Christians took place under the reign of
Selim I, known as Selim the Grim, who attempted to stamp out Christianity from the Ottoman Empire. Selim ordered the confiscation of all Christian churches, and while this order was later rescinded, Christians were heavily persecuted during his era.
[5]
[edit] Taxation and the "tribute of children"
"Young Greeks at the Mosque" (
Jean Léon Gérôme, oil on canvas, 1865); this oil painting portrays
Greek Muslims at prayer in a
mosque).
Greeks also paid a land tax and a tax on trade, but these were collected irregularly by the inefficient Ottoman administration. Provided they paid their taxes and gave no trouble, they were left to themselves. Greeks, like other Christians, were also made to pay the
jizya, or Islamic poll-tax which all non-Muslims in the empire were forced to pay in order to practice their religion. Non-Muslims did not serve in the Sultan's army, but young boys were forcibly converted to Islam and made to serve in the Ottoman military.
These practices are called the "tribute of children" (
devshirmeh) (in Greek
παιδομάζωμα paidomazoma, meaning "child gathering"), whereby every Christian community was required to give one son in five to be raised as a Muslim and enrolled in the corps of
Janissaries, elite units of the Ottoman army. This imposition, at first, aroused surprisingly little opposition[
citation needed] since Greeks who were living on the plains could not offer effective resistance.[
citation needed] Still, there was much passive resistance, for example Greek folklore tells of mothers crippling their sons to avoid their abduction. Nevertheless, entrance into the corps (accompanied by conversion to Islam) offered Greek boys the opportunity to advance as high as governor or even
Grand Vizier.
Opposition of the Greek populace to taxing or
paidomazoma resulted in grave consequences. For example, in
1705 an Ottoman official was sent from
Naoussa in
Macedonia to search and conscript new Janissaries and was killed by Greek rebels who resisted the burden of the
devshirmeh. The rebels were subsequently beheaded and their severed heads were displayed in the city of
Thessaloniki.
[6] The "tribute of children" was met with various reactions ranging from contempt to support. In some cases, it was greatly feared as Greek families would often have to relinquish their own sons who would convert and return later as their oppressors. In other cases, the families bribed the officers to ensure that their children got a better life as a government officer.
[7] The Greek historian Papparigopoulos stated that approximately one million Greeks were conscripted into Janissaries during the Ottoman era.[
citations needed]
