Janizar Agasi, a name or military title which is attached to the person who has the chief command of the janizaries. It corresponds, in some degree, with the rank of colonel general of infantry in old France, when that body was under the command of the duke of Epernon, and afterwards under the duke of Orleans in 1720. This Aga takes precedence of all the infantry officers belonging to the Ottoman empire. The name is derived from Aga, which, in the Turkish language, signifies a staff, or baton. On public occasions the Aga always bears a staff in his hand; so indeed do all the janizaries when they appear in any large town or place, as an emblem of service.
This general was originally promoted to the rank of Aga out of the corps of janizaries. But as this was the occasion of much jealousy, and gave rise to various cabals, which frequently rendered the Aga contemptible in the eyes of his followers, the grand Signor at present appoints him from the Ichnoglans belonging to the seraglio.
The daily pay of the Aga amounts to one hundred aspres, which are equal to 20 ecus, or French half-crowns, making 55 cents of our money; independent of which he receives from 7 to 10 thousand French ecus or English half-crowns, on account of the Timars who are attached to his appointment. He moreover gets constant presents from the Sultan, especially when the janizaries have conducted themselves to his satisfaction on any critical emergency. The douceurs which are lavished upon the Aga, whenever he has the good fortune to stand well with the grand Signor, are innumerable; for it is through him, that every application is made for places of emolument. It is customary, however, in Turkey to bestow rank and advantageous posts not according to merit, but in proportion to the number of purses, (in which manner all large sums are counted) that are produced by the several candidates. A purse in Turkey contains about 250 crowns, or 300 of our dollars.
The Aga seldom appears in the streets of Constantinople without being followed by a large body of janizaries, most especially when any convulsion or disastrous event has happened in the empire. In these moments of public disturbance and consternation, the janizaries take occasion to demand an increase of pay threatening, in case of refusal, to pillage the town; which threat they have often put in execution. Whenever these mutinous proceedings take place, the Aga marches at the head of 30 or 40 mungis or provost-marshals belonging to the janizaries, together with 5 or 600 of this militia, in order to seize the mutineers, and to have them safely conveyed to some prison. He has the power of life and death over every individual of the corps; but he never gives directions to have a janizary executed in open day, lest the sight of their suffering comrade should create a disturbance among the rest. Small crimes and misdemeanors among the janizaries are punished by the bastinado, which is exercised by striking repeated blows upon the sole of the foot; but when the guilt is capital, the Aga orders the culprit either to be strangled, or to be sewed up in a sack and thrown into a pond or river.
When the Janizar-Agasi dies, from disease or by violence, the whole of his property devolves to the treasury belonging to the corps of janizaries; nor can the grand Signor appropriate one aspre to his own use.
JAVELIN, a sort of spear 5¹⁄₂ feet long, the shaft of which was of wood with a steel point. Every soldier in the Roman armies had seven of these, which were very light and slender.
The Velites or light armed troops among the Romans were armed with javelins. They were two cubits long and one inch thick.
There were several sorts of javelins or darts used among the ancients; some of which were projected by the help of a short strap girt round their middle.
There was likewise another species of javelin, the bottom of which was ornamented with three feathers, in the same manner that arrows and darts are. These javelins have been used by the Poles and other nations, but principally by the Moors, who call them zogaies. In the early days of France, the javelin was likewise adopted in imitation of the Gauls; but it disappeared, with many other missile weapons, on the invention of fire-arms.
JAVELINE, Fr. See [Javelin].