[251] Cf. marginal note in Barberini MS. of Pachymeres, cited by Muralt, ii. 663, No. 9. [252] Seadeddin, i. 84-5; Hadji Khalfa, _Rumeli_, p. 22. [253] All the Ottoman historians. [254] MS. Bibl. Nat., Paris, fonds turc, No. 79, p. 25; Leunclavius, _Annales_, p. 30; Seadeddin, i. 85. [255] Muklis Abderrahman Efendy, quoted by Schéfer, in his edition of Bertrandon de la Broquière, p. 170, _n._ 3. [256] Seadeddin, i. 89; Hadji Khalfa, _Rumeli_, p. 52. [257] Villani tells of its terrible ravages in 1360 ‘ricominciata in diversi paesi del mondo’, Muratori, xiv. 653, 688-90, 727. [258] Ibid., pp. 649-50. He declares that Murad had been ‘molte volte tentato di vincere Constantinopoli’. [259] Cf. Finlay, iv. 45, 169. [260] Seadeddin, i. 42. Hammer, i. 384-5, n. viii, says that Ottoman historians are unanimous in this assertion as against Byzantine sources. Col. Djevad bey, the modern Ottoman authority on military history, is disappointing and unconvincing in his discussion of this question. On p. 25 he gives 726 (1326) for the date, and on p. 78 730 (1329). He cites no sources, for there are none, and has to admit, p. 54, that Murad I made the laws for the janissaries. Among early European historians there is much divergency. Spandugino, p. 185, attributes their origin to Osman, and the name from the village of Sar: they are ‘the young men of Sar’. Ricaut, ed. 1682, p. 357, also attributes to Osman. Reineccius, influencing the Latin editor of Chalcocondylas (see ed. Migne, p. 26, _n._ 11), makes Osman the founder, and derives the name from ‘Januae’: they are the _custodes corporis_. Leuncl., _Pandectes_, p. 129, discusses these theories without coming to any conclusion. Giovio, Geuffraeus, and Nicolay, p. 83, attribute origin to Murad II. Certainly it was not earlier than his day that the janissaries attracted attention in Europe. D’Ohsson, vii. 311, asserts that there was no definite organization until Mohammed II. Mignot, i. 119-20, is in favour of the theory that Murad I created this corps. [261] Seignobos, in _Hist. générale_, ii. 334. [262] Col. Djevad bey, p. 251, says that Anatolian Christians were exempt to give time to recuperate ‘after the exhausting struggles of generations’. But exhausting struggles had been no less frequent and no less severe in the Balkan peninsula. Gibbon’s suggestion, that the levies were made in Europe because Moslem and Christian Anatolians were not apt for war, shows how completely the great English historian missed the _raison d’être_ of the janissaries. [263] Hammer, i. 126. [264] Col. Djevad bey, p. 90. [265] Ibid. [266] Ibid., pp. 55-6; Ducas, p. 16; Leunel., _Annales_, p. 34; Ricaut, pp. 358-9. [267] Lavallée, i. 190-1. [268] Phr., I. 26, p. 86; Chalc., I, p. 25. Cf. Michaud, _Hist. des Croisades_, v. 275. [269] Seadeddin, i. 91. [270] This colony was at Bigha. See Appendix B, p. 301. [271] Phr., I. 26, p. 80. [272] Katona, x. 393.