Ottoman Janissaries with huge plumes

[druzhina345]

There is a belief that the huge plumes sometimes shown worn by Ottoman Janissaries were the invention of a west European artist. Is it so?


The earliest image with huge plume I have seen is Three Ottoman trumpeters on horseback, by Jan Swart van Groningen, 1526 This is probably not a primary source. Swart is not recorded as traveling further than Venice. He may have put together bits and pieces of oriental information he had e.g. Swart's Mamlukes have a Byzantine shield design and their zamt hats were banned by the Ottomans after their conquest of Egypt in 1517.
Swart was copied by Hopfer



Janissary going to war by Nicolas de Nicolay


Janissary guard by Nicolas de Nicolay

Nicolas de Nicolay travelled to Istanbul in 1551. His costume plates were first published in "Les navigations peregrinations et voyages, faicts en la Turquie" (Lyon 1567). Nicolay's Ottoman Peyk has a large but not huge plume. Coloured versions appeared in the Italian edition of "Le navigationi et viaggi nella Turchia" by Nicolas de Nicolay, 1577. Nicolay was copied by Vigenere, Bonnart & Knotel



A Janissary walking, by Melchior Lorck, 1581

In 1555 Melchior Lorck was assigned to the embassy that the German king Ferdinand I (from 1556 Holy Roman Emperor) sent to the Sublime Porte, the court of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in Istanbul. The Turkish Publication, as the work is entitled, did not come out until 1626, long after Lorck’s demise.
There is also a Janissary with smaller plume by Melchior Lorck, 1571. Other soldiers have large plumes, including on shields. Ferdinand of Tyrol held "Hungarian style" tournaments, in which the participants wore Hungarian and Turkish costumes and used sabres to strike off feathers attached to their opponents' helmets and to the apex of their shields. Perhaps this is a copy of Turkish practice?

Melchior Lorck's depictions don't have anything in particular that looks copied from Nicolas de Nicolay's. Is there any reason his should not be considered independent evidence?

I have not seen any Ottoman miniatures that show huge plumes in campaign, battle or ceremonial scenes, though some Solaks around the Sultan have large plumes e.g. The Siege of Rhodes, from the Suleymanname, 1588. But apart from ceremonies the Ottomans had parades, where strange things could be seen. The Codex Vindobonensis 8626 of c. 1586 to 1591 includes Janissaries with huge plumes



There are also Janissaries with ship and windmill headresses.

and more:




The Ottomans seemed to like parades, there are entire books devoted to them and they could include "floats" displaying various trades etc.

It seems to me that these huge plumes did exist, but, they were for parades not every-day wear.

Anyone have a view on this?

Druzhina345
Illustrations of Ottoman Janissaries

[hellheaven1987]

I have been wondering whether that is an East European fashion; afterall it looks similar as Wing Hussar's wing decoration which I remember was a cultural influence from Balkan.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

I've also been wondering the same thing. It doesn't seem to be based in Middle Eastern or even Turkic culture, at least in my opinion.

[sumskilz]

I have been wondering whether that is an East European fashion; afterall it looks similar as Wing Hussar's wing decoration which I remember was a cultural influence from Balkan.

The winged hussar helmets show a lot of Turco-Mongol/Islamic influence.

I've also been wondering the same thing. It doesn't seem to be based in Middle Eastern or even Turkic culture, at least in my opinion.

The plums are Turco-Persian:

Safavid:



Mughal:

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

See I'm actually wondering whether the Safavids and Mughals were not influenced by the Ottomans in this regard. They certainly were influenced by them militarily so perhaps they went all the way and copied their costumes as well. While plumes in military gear isn't new at all I don't think it has ever been as extreme as depicted in those Safavid/Ottoman era miniatures. Early depictions of Timurids and Arab armies seem to be more utilitarian in their approach. Arabs seem to not have much ornamentation in that way. Turks and Mongols apparently prefer horsehair tassels. Where as depictions of Serbian, Croatian and Hungarian cavalry does seem to display similar use of plumage as the Ottomans.

[sumskilz]

See I'm actually wondering whether the Safavids and Mughals were not influenced by the Ottomans in this regard.

Maybe, but I'm pretty sure they were using ostrich feathers, which means the practice probably developed somewhere along the Indian Ocean trade routes, so probably not Eastern European in origin.

Ostrich range:



EDIT: Unless maybe they were heron feathers, although they don't look like it to me, and the biggest ones definitely can't be.

[LinusLinothorax]

Ostrich feathers have already been attached to helmets in Africa since ancient times:

"The history of the birds follows next, the very largest of which, and indeed almost approaching to the nature of quad- rupeds, is the ostrich of Africa or Æthiopia. (...) Their eggs are prized on account of their large size, and are employed as vessels for certain purposes, while the feathers of the wing and tail are used as ornaments for the crest and helmet of the warrior."
-Pliny X:1

Mural from Meroe depicting a variety of subordinated people:

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

I think it actually is ostrich feathers for the larger ones. They might also use pheasant feathers. There are also references to heron feathers being used by the Ottomans and Safavids. For example Nader Shah used a black heron feather on his crown. In the Ottoman military a rank could be displayed by the number of heron feathers or by how large the feather was, an ostrich feather in that case.