Albanian Rat tail Miquelet pistols

Zifir · 20th April 2011, 09:22 AM

Hi,
Although I agree with Teodor's comments on the Ottoman army to some degree, it would be misleading to say that the Ottoman central authority never ordered weapons of any sort from local contractors and artisans. For the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century there are many documents in the Ottoman archives showing that central state ordering swords, musket and rifle barrels, stocks etc. from local contractors from different parts of the empire. The procedure of issuing weapons from the state arsenal for the Janissary army during the campaigns goes back to as early as the classical period as far as I know. For example, I remember reading in a source from the early seventeenth century that the author was complaning about the muskets issued from the state arsenal for janissaries because of their low quality. But of course as Teodor pointed out, we cannot expect a standardization to a degree of centralized states of Western Europe from the Ottomans until the first half of the nineteenth century. However, even for those centralized "modern" Western monarchies, when we say standardization and uniformity how much a standardization or uniformity we are talking about.

20th April 2011, 09:22 AM	#11
Zifir Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Istanbul Posts: 228	Hi, Although I agree with Teodor's comments on the Ottoman army to some degree, it would be misleading to say that the Ottoman central authority never ordered weapons of any sort from local contractors and artisans. For the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century there are many documents in the Ottoman archives showing that central state ordering swords, musket and rifle barrels, stocks etc. from local contractors from different parts of the empire. The procedure of issuing weapons from the state arsenal for the Janissary army during the campaigns goes back to as early as the classical period as far as I know. For example, I remember reading in a source from the early seventeenth century that the author was complaning about the muskets issued from the state arsenal for janissaries because of their low quality. But of course as Teodor pointed out, we cannot expect a standardization to a degree of centralized states of Western Europe from the Ottomans until the first half of the nineteenth century. However, even for those centralized "modern" Western monarchies, when we say standardization and uniformity how much a standardization or uniformity we are talking about.