Number 1

The Jainissary Corps were a selective elite force of infantrymen, and the group was created by the Ottoman Sultan Murad I. The kul of the sultan, the illegal slaves, served as bowmen, crossbowmen, and musketeers. The Janissaries were different from the main army of cavalrymen. The recruits were selected from groups of boys that were taken into Ottoman service of Christian peasant families, most concentrated in the Balkan region. The candidates were brought to Istanbul, Turkey, and converted from Christianity to Islam. They were then trained to serve in the military, and the organization became a very important Ottoman military force very quickly.