"Ottoman Janissaries with huge plumes" Topic

There is an belief that the huge plumes sometimes shown worn by Ottoman Janissaries were the invention of a west European artist. Is it so?

The earliest image with huge plume I have seen is Three Ottoman trumpeters on horseback, by Jan Swart van Groningen, 1526 This is probably not a primary source. Swart is not recorded as traveling further than Venice. He may have put together bits and pieces of oriental information he had e.g. Swart's Mamlukes have a Byzantine shield design and their zamt hats were banned by the Ottomans after their conquest of Egypt in 1517.
Swart was copied by Hopfer

Janissary going to war by Nicolas de Nicolay

Janissary guard by Nicolas de Nicolay

Nicolas de Nicolay travelled to Istanbul in 1551. His costume plates were first published in Les navigations peregrinations et voyages, faicts en la Turquie (Lyon 1567). Nicolay's Ottoman Peyk has a large but not huge plume. Coloured versions appeared in the Italian edition of Le navigationi et viaggi nella Turchia by Nicolas de Nicolay, 1577. Nicolay was copied by Vigenere, Bonnart & Knotel

A Janissary walking, by Melchior Lorck, 1581

In 1555 Melchior Lorck was assigned to the embassy that the German king Ferdinand I (from 1556 Holy Roman Emperor) sent to the Sublime Porte, the court of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in Istanbul. The Turkish Publication, as the work is entitled, did not come out until 1626, long after Lorck's demise.
There is also a Janissary with smaller plume by Melchior Lorck, 1571. Other soldiers have large plumes, including on shields. Ferdinand of Tyrol held 'Hungarian style' tournaments, in which the participants wore Hungarian and Turkish costumes and used sabres to strike off feathers attached to their opponents' helmets and to the apex of their shields. Perhaps this is a copy of Turkish practice?

Melchior Lorck's depictions don't have anything in particular that looks copied from Nicolas de Nicolay's. Is there any reason his should not be considered independent evidence?

I have not seen any Ottoman miniatures that show huge plumes in campaign, battle or ceremonial scenes, though some Solaks around the Sultan have large plumes e.g. The Siege of Rhodes, from the Suleymanname, 1588. But apart from ceremonies the Ottomans had parades, where strange things could be seen. The Codex Vindobonensis 8626 of c. 1586 to 1591 includes Janissaries with huge plumes

There are also Janissaries with ship and windmill headdresses.

and more:

The Ottomans seemed to like parades, there are entire books devoted to them and they could include 'floats' displaying various trades etc.

It seems to me that these huge plumes did exist, but, they were for parades not every-day wear.

Anyone have a view on this?

Druzhina
Illustrations of Ottoman Costume & Soldiers

I thought the "plumes for parade only" was established orthodoxy? Busbecq's letters apparently mention "a moving forest" of plumes worn on parades – quoted at link

My understanding is that the plumes were decorations or awards given to veteran janissaries. Not all janissaries had them. Like all medals they were only worn on parades, which was probably the only time Westerners ever saw Janissaries.

… and the only time Westerners would want to see janissaries!

I read, a long time ago, that on campaign they placed their soup spoons in their plume holders.

I thought the "plumes for parade only" was established orthodoxy? Busbecq's letters apparently mention "a moving forest" of plumes worn on parades

Not all internet scholars follow the orthodoxy. I was going to write "an opinion" but "belief" probably fits the lack of research or evidence for this.

I have also read about a spoon being put in the plume holder but I don't know the origin of this report and have not seen it depicted.

Druzhina
16th Century Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

I've always understood it's not the size of your plume, it's what you do with it.

And which bird do those plumes come from ? A specially bred cross between an ostrich and a bird of paradise ?

And which bird do those plumes come from ? A specially bred cross between an ostrich and a bird of paradise ?

Who said they come from a bird?

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

The plumage don't enter into it…

I read, a long time ago, that on campaign they placed their soup spoons in their plume holders.

I believe that this is either a mistake in translation, misunderstanding, or hearsay.

The metal plume-holder on their headdress is actually called a "spoon" in Turkish. Like medals, especially ornate and gilded ones were awarded to individuals as awards for bravery & service. Not plumes.

As to the crazy long plumes, since I don't think there are any contemporary Ottoman paintings of Janissaries wearing them, I think they are a purely fictional embellishment created by their Western counterparts.

@cwlinsj,
An interesting take on the soup spoon.

I found this out recently while researching Janissary uniforms.

Here's a link to a Ottoman reenactor site discussing the parts of the Janissary hat -or Bork/bektasis. It contains simple & clear descriptions of each element of the hat, including the "spoon" or yunluk.

This illustrates the overall proportions. In the example, the stiffened (probably with pasteboard but perhaps with a thin leather.) and colored portion is a total of 7-8 inches, with a black velvet band toped by a 5 inch green wool broadcloth band. The fall in the back from the fold is 25 inches. (The total length may be proportional to the head size; or, the length of the fall may be a standard 25 inch. other hats as illustrated seem even longer, and a few seem to fall only just past the base of the neck) The max width is 11-12 inches.

Parts include: The spoon, or yunluk, which included a tube for inserting a feather;

the white felt body, or berk; the hanging part is the tiftik or yatyrma

the band, or uskyuf, and the decoration pattern, or deltadj

link

Another thought about plumage.

Janissaries were matchlock troops. They were around fire a lot.

I doubt that they wanted to deal with the potential of setting their own head on fire.

Google translate gives yünlü meaning woolen from yün (wool).
Kaşık and divane are given as Turkish words for spoon, not yunluk.

kismeta also has: "Bork" literally means white felt.

The Ak börk is white, there is also a red (kırmızı or kizil) börk.
The usual Turkish word for felt is keçe.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Ottoman Costume & Soldiers

Kahlsruher Tüerkenbeute describes the feather holder of a Janissary hood (keçe):

Den kostbaren Stirnschmuck und -schütz zugleich bildet die blattförmige, nach oben zu konisch verbreiterte und halbrund vorgewölbte Federhülse (tüjlük oder jünlük = Feder oder Flaum)

They don't come up with spoon, flaum means fluff or down.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

OK, so my Turkish isn't any good, but I stand behind my comments that the plume-holder is called a "spoon". So Wiki says the correct Turkish word is "kasiklik".

If you look at pictures of the plumeholder, it only has a tiny tube sized to hold a feather.

Probably not a problem with your Turkish, but, believing the 1st thing you see.

What Wikipedia says at the moment is

Janissaries
As a symbol of their devotion to the order, Janissaries wore special hats called "börk". These hats also had a holding place in front, called the "kaşıklık", for a spoon. This symbolized the "kaşık kardeşliği", or the "brotherhood of the spoon", which reflected a sense of comradeship among the Janissaries who ate, slept, fought and died together.[7]

7. Hubbard, Glenn and Tim Kane. (2013) (2013). Balance: The Economics of Great Powers From Ancient Rome to Modern America. Simon & Schuster. pp. 152–154. ISBN 978-1-4767-0025-0.

So if we go by Wikipedia, the holder is for a spoon.
Kaşık means spoon. Kaşıklik seems to mean spoon receptacle – not spoon.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Ottoman Costume & Soldiers