On the Flyssa, the Iflissen, and Janissary Recruitment in Ottoman Algiers

[Emanuel]

Well, here is an update on my ongoing obsession with the flyssa. Get a coffee or tea, this is a long read.

The Flyssa

The flyssa draws its name (in French, Flissa/Flyssa/) from the Iflissen Lebhar (Iflissen Im Bahr)(FR: Iflissen sur Mer), one of the major tribal confederations of the Kabyle peoples of North-Western Algeria.

The Iflissen confederacy includes four tribal groups or "aârch", the At Zara, At Ahmed, At Zouaou, and the Tifra. The At Zouaou is the easternmost group and the largest, and it is this tribe that specialized as armorers and manufacturers of the flyssa. By the time of the French conquest of Algeria in 1830, they had developed a veritable arms industry, operating a hundred forges throughout their "tatla trudar" the three most important villages: Ighil Bousouil, Isukane, Taourirt At Zouaou. This activity ceased entirely by the 1850s, with French interdiction of their fabrication, and the introduction of standard fire-arms.

Now, the earliest dated example is that offered in 1827 to Ferdinand VII, King of Spain, by his consul to Algeria. This particular example is purportedly to be seen in the Catalogo de la Real Armeria de Valencia de Don Juan. I have not seen it, but if it is of the classic long, high-quality form, then it suggests its manufacture had existed for some time. The established manufacturing tradition of the At Zouaou would further support this argument. One doesn't establish 100 forges, the skill to use them, and the economic logistics to supply them in a short amount of time.

Therefore, the question is this: how long ago did the At Zouaou start producing the flyssa, and when did they achieve the classical design? Did the form exist in their cultural consciousness from antiquity, based on the "Iberian falcatta", or is it a much more recent variation on the Ottoman yataghan.


The Yataghan

I have searched through the published archaeological material at my disposal, looking for a proto-flyssa with no success.
The second explanation, that the flyssa is derived from the yataghan, is simplest. The two swords share many similarities, both in form, construction, and decoration.

- pic-

The differences, however, are problematic. In its oldest known form, the flyssa is much longer than the yataghan, has a straight back as opposed to convex, is twice as thick at the base, has what may be called an "integral bolster" forming half of its handle, and shows a complex decorative scheme. As a student of art history, among other things, I find these differences very hard to explain through a short design process. Change is most often incremental, and design problems are not solved at once.

The Circassian Sabre

This design phase can be shortened with the introduction of other exempla. The Circassian sabre, for example, shares many characteristics with the flyssa. It has a long blade with a very long, narrow point, and a very thick base.

-pic-



My purpose here is therefore to investigate the possibility of an Ottoman yataghan and a Circassian sabre serving as the basis for the flyssa design.

Ottoman Algeria

First of all the Ottoman question. In 1516, Hayreddin Barbarossa and Oruç Reis take Algiers from the Spanish with Ottoman forces. Within two years, most of the territories held by Spain are conquered and Algeria falls under Ottoman rule. The Kabyle territory remains untouched, however, having never been occupied by Ottoman forces, and remaining independent until French conquest in 1830. Ottoman influence on Kabyle arts and crafts would consequently not have been very great.

Assuming there was influence, where did it come from? What kind of yataghan were present in Algiers, and were there any Circassians among Ottoman forces in Algiers? Hard questions to answer.

Janissary Recruitment

Luckily, the Ottomans were good bureaucrats and kept meticulous records. The most efficient and well kept records in most cultures are finances and taxes. These two points combine to produce records of how many soldiers were recruited for the Algerian army, how much they were paid, what their name, rank and function was, and most importantly, where they came from.

A tease I say! A tease of immense proportions as I do not speak, nor read, a single word of Turkish, and I can barely read Arabic numerals.

Happily for me, the French were also very good at cataloguing, documenting and analyzing their "assets" and the people and cultures within their domain. This is good, since I do speak and read French.

Colombe (1943) and Shuval (1997) were inspired enough to investigate recruitment in Algiers at the turn of the 19th century. The records they found give much-needed glimpse at how Ottoman soldiers and Janissaries were recruited, and where they came from.

The Ottoman Algerian army was never recruited from locals. The Ottoman elite kept a strict policy whereby only Turks were allowed to serve in the "Odjak" the Janissary militia. This meant two things, Algiers had to periodically recruit turkish soldiers, and the Algerian elite was dependent on the Porte in Constantinople to allow it to recruit on Ottoman domains.

Of particular interest is one "Register #47" which catalogs recruits from 1801 to 1817. It identifies the following cities as origin of recruits:
- Roumelia, Morea, Tekirdag, Silivri, Malkara, Andrinople, Demotika, Gumurdjina, Saliki, Varna, Roustchouk, Tatar-Pazardjik, Vidin, Kostendil, Sofia, Tenedos, Mistilene, Eubea, Cos, Crete, Cyprus, Rhodes

No number are given for these sites, but numbers of recruits are given for recruits from Anatolia, which is said to have provided the largest number of troupes.

Van - 3
Manisa (Soma) – 12
Manisa - 23
Moughla (Megri) - 27
Smyrna (Menemen) – 30
Konya - 16
Isparta - 14
Brousse - 24
Pargamon - 17
Alachehir - 16
Smyrna – 55

This is confirmed by contemporary sources Abbe Poiret (1785-6) and Venture de Paradis (1796) who identify Smyrna on the Aegean cost of Anatolia as the principle supplier of recruits.

Register 47 is limited, obviously. It only covers a few hundred janissaries, while the entire militia numbered close to 8000 at the end of the 18th century. It is not statistically representative, but does offer some food for thought.

Given the data available I've produced the map below. We can see the bulk of recruits coming from the Ionian coast. We could therefore suppose that the type of yataghan found in Algiers at the turn of the 19th century was of this eastern Anatolian style.

The Anatolian connection had been brought up by forum member Ham some years ago

Here is another form yataghan that is stylistically very similar to the flyssa, but it is identified as eastern European.





Compare to this flyssa:


These examples seem to match the recruitment patterns shown higher up. Now do we have dates for these?




Thanks for reading this far.

Updates with pictures to illustrate points are coming.

Emanuel


Sources:

Colombe, Marcel. "Contributions a l'Etude du Recrutement de l'Odjaq d'Alger dans les Desrnieres Annees de l'Histoire de la Regence," in Revue Africaine, 87, 1943, pp.166-183.
Deny, J. "Les Registres de Solde des Janissaires, conserves a la – Bibliotheque nationale d'Alger," Revue Africaine 1920, pp.19-46, 212-260.
Lacoste-Dujardin, Camille. Dictionnaire de la Culture Berbere en Kabylie. Editions La Decouverte, Paris 2005.
Shuval, Tal. La Ville d'Alger vers la fin du XVIIIe Siecle. CNRS Histoire. 1997.

[Emanuel]

Shuval (1997) provides additional information, based on the Bayt-al-Mal, the administration of finances. Here is only a short review, to be completed soon.


Shuval confirms the large component of Anatolian recruits, but also identifies a reduction in Anatolian soldiers between 1786 and 1792, corresponding with an increase in Albanians and Cretans. There is a bit of contradiction and confusion here since Venture de Paradis also comments on the large number of recruits from the Levant at this period. Shaw (1732) had already indicated that every five or six years the Algerians would send vessels to the Levant to find recruits for their armies.

Circassians were moved by the Ottomans to the Levant, but very late, towards the end of the 19th century.
If there were Circassians in Algiers, where did they come from? Circassians had been drawn into the Mameluke corps and they did rule Egypt relatively close to Algeria, but only until the early 16th century, outside of the period of interest.

The Albanian connection supports the Eastern European attribution of the "Anatolian" yataghan linked at the end of the previous post.



There's more

J. Deny (1920) has analyzed and published the complete registers of Janissary pay, from 1100 to 1246 Hijri (1688-1830). I have not yet been able to consult this treatise, but I expect to do so in good time.


Stay tuned

[Tatyana Dianova]

Very interesting article Emanuel, thank you!

[Zifir]

Hi Emanuel,
This is a very interesting subject. Did Colombe also supply the whole register with his article, or did he just give the numbers? I would be very interested to find out how much was their daily pay.

Best,

[Emanuel]

Hi Zifir,

Colombe did not include the records, but Shuval summarized them. I understand Deny (1920) did reproduce the actual records in his publication. I'll check.


Shuval shows the pay given for all ranks in saima at the beginning of the 18th century and in riyal at the end of the century.

1 saima = 50 aspres or akçe in Turkish
1 riyal = 232 aspres/akçe

yoldach (simple soldier) - 425 saima - 86 riyal
vekil khardj (corporal/sergent-major/cook) - 919 saima - 210 riyal
odabachi (lieutenant) - 646 saima - 325 riyal
bolukbachi (captain) - 2298 saima - 305 riyal
yayabachi (aga bachi/ commander) - 3377 saima - 325 riyal
agha - 5766 saima - 850 riyal

Not clear how often the pay was given out. Venture de Paradis explained this but I don't have the book at the moment. There is one mention that this was for two months. The actual purchasing power is not explained either. How much was 1 saima or riyal worth to a soldier at the time? How much was 1 akçe worth in Istanbul at the time?
Were these values subject to inflation? Can we compare 1 saima to 1 riyal?


Emanuel

[Zifir]

Thanks a lot Emanuel.
These were probably yearly pays. Although akçe was still the basic unit for calculations at that time, 1 akçe had no purchasing power at all. To give an idea, 240 gr. loaf of bread was 6 akçes in 1811 in Istanbul while 1 kg meat was 240 akçes in 1812 etc.

For the original flyssa topic, attached is a sketch of an Ottoman marine which was done probably at the end of the 18th century. I don't know the source of this sketch but the interesting part is the weapon he was carrying. Would it be too wrong to categorize it as a flyssa? Algerian influence on dress (weapons?) was especially powerful on marines and some janissaries at that time.

[Martin Lubojacky]

Hello Emanuel,
Not being "expert" in thi field I would just like to point out, that some time ago I brought very nice qama dagger from Tripolis in Libya. I allso saw some people with specific Caucasian physiognomy. When speaking with friends about this I was told that garrison force of coastal cities (especially Misurata) was consisting of Ottoman soldiers

[Martin Lubojacky]

sorry - I will continue:
...from Ottoman soldiers recruitet in Caucasus.
Regards,
Martin

[Emanuel]

Thought I'd update this thread with maps of the Iflissen commune and the locations of Ighil Bousouil, Isukane, and Taourirt At Zouaou, the three main villages of the At Zouaou Iflissen group.

Emanuel

[Emanuel]

And some pictures of the area (not mine unfortunately).

E

[TVV]

Fantastic thread, Emanuel, thank you for the effort you are putting in improving the collective knowledge about the flyssa.

After all the evidence so far, I think we can agree that the flyssa is a relatively late form, and that it is inspired from the yataghans the Ottoman janissaries brought with them to Algiers in the 18th century. However, there are also some notable differences from the yataghan, which are hard to explain.

The first one is, obviously, the decoration scheme, which is entirely based on Kabyle motives. One has to consider that weapon decoration during this period (and even nowadays) served not only an aesthetic purpose, but also an important symbolic one, as a talisman. While this is true of yataghans in the Balkans as well, to a Kabyle warrior the symbols on Balkan yataghans would bear little meaning, which seems to explain why the decoration scheme on flyssas was enitrely in a local style, completely different from that on yataghans.

Other differences, such as the straight back and the integral bolster can also be easily explained, as there are Western Balkans yataghans that exhibit the former feature, whereas Anatolian yatghans (and Balkan eared daggers) were often forged with the latter.

Much harder to explain is the long narrow point, which is something entirely missing on yataghans. Comparisons to Circassian sabres, whose points seem to originate from the long thin points of Tatar sabres, to me does not provide a good explanation. First, there is no evidence that there were Circassians of any significant number among the janissaries recruited in the armies sent to Algiers. The majority clearly came from Anatolia and the Balkans. Second, after the Russian expansion in the mid 19th century, the following Circassian diaspora spread the Circassians all over the Ottoman Empire, and yet in none of the areas with high concentration of them, such as the Eastern Balkans or Syria, do we see a form with a similar needle point tip.

Instead of searching the origins of the characteristic flyssa tip in outside influence, perhaps we should look for it in other local forms, from which the tradition may have been carried. To me, in certain aspects the flyssa is quite similar to the mysterious s'boula, sometimes misidentified as "Zanzibar sword". The pictorial evidence (of one single picture thus far) clearly shows that the s'boula is a Maghrebi weapon. The questions then is, how old is the s'boula as a form? Given how the hilt of the s'boula seems very similar to that of the European baselard from the 16th and 17th centuries, it is likely that the s'boula may be a bit older than the flyssa.

Jim McDougall has studied the s'boula extebnsively, and so he is the person to continue this discussion with regards to its origins and possible connection to the flyssa. I just wanted to provide a different avenue for exploration on the very interesting topic of how the flyssa received its shape.

Apologies for the long post,
Teodor

[Emanuel]

Hello Teodor,

Strange that I had missed your reply long ago. Very good food for thought, I had not considered the s'boula connection. My only argument against it is the geographic separation between Moroccan and Kabylian groups.

Still, this is the closest thing to a local development. Mind you the s'boula invariably had European blades no? None of them as thick as the flyssa blades. This is one point that has always stuck in my mind. The flyssa is ~1cm thick at the base. I've not yet seen such thickness in any yataghan, even assuming the integral bolster precedent.

Great thinking though!

Best regards,
Emanuel

[TVV]

Emanuel,

Thank you for the response. You are correct about yataghan blades being of different construction compared to the flyssa ones. The typical yataghan blade is of T cross section, where the T-back can be quite wide and certainly close to 1 cm in some cases, but I am not aware of any that even approximate 2 cm. Then the blade itself is often of a sandwich construction, with a hardened edge inserted between cheeks of softer iron. Some blades have rows of Turkish ribbon in the middle, and some even have fullering.

I have no older long flyssas in my collection and therefore cannot comment on the construction, but it looks different from that of a yataghan. I am yet to see a flyssa with fullering or with a pattern welded blade. It appears that the Kabyle craftsmen produced blades of simpler construction and their solution to preventing the long blades from snapping at the ricasso was to simply make the base of the blade quite thick for added strength. I am not a bladesmith, mind you, and what I am writing might make zero sense.

As for the s'boula, the one in the picture in my previous post is definitely fitted wit a crude, locally made blade (or reforged from a European bayonet or some other piece of steel that was available). I am sure that the early examples had European or reworked European blades, but I suspect that many blades started to be produced locally, in imitation of the earlier imports, similarly to how the production of takouba blades developped just a bit to the South.

The picture of the Maghrebi warrior with a musket and a s'boula has a musket characteristic of the Sous valley in Morocco (per Elgood) and I agree that this is a good distance from Kabylie. However, if the design originally came to the area in the 17th century, it may have spread throughout the Maghreb initially, before falling out of fashion and remaining popular only in a few pockets.

Regards,
Teodor