AGEMOGLANS

AGEMOGLANS, or Azamoglans, Children of Tribute raised every three Years by the grand Seignior, among the Christians whom he tolerates in his Dominions.The Commissioners appointed for this Levy, take them by force, even out of the Houses of Christians; always claiming one in three, and pitching upon such as seem the handsomest, and promise to be the most handy. These are immediately conveyed to Gallipoli or Constantinople; where they are first circumcised, then instructed in the Mahometan Faith, taught the Turkish Language, and the Exercises of War, till such time as they become of Age to bear Arms.



Such as are not judged proper for the Army, they employ in the lowest and most servile Offices of the Seraglio; as in the Kitchen, Stables, etc. The Word, in its Original, signifies a Barbarian’s Child;that is, a Child not a Turk. It is compounded of two Arabic Words, Agen and Child; which among the Turks signifies as much as Barbarous among the Greeks; the former People dividing the World into Arabs or Turks, and Agen; as the latter into Grecians and Barbarians.

AGEMOGLANS