Another general account of the Turkish polity comes from the pen of Bertrandon de la Broquière, first gentleman-carver (_écuyer tranchant_), councillor, and chamberlain of Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy. In the course of a trip through the Levant he met Murad II in Rumelia in 1433. His observations show that many features of the Turkish system were then already in operation,—as the four pashas, the slave system, the pages, the imperial harem, the Janissaries (_Jehanicéres_), the feudal army, the Divan, etc. La Broquière’s memoirs are edited by Charles Schéfer, under the title _Le Voyage d’Outremer_, as volume xii of _Recueil de Voyages et de Documents pour servir à l’Histoire de la Géographie depuis le XIIIe jusqu’à la fin du XVIe Siècle_ (Paris, 1892). The same volume contains an opinion in regard to the military power of the Turks by Jehan Torzelo, dating from the year 1439. Still another report was written by a Transylvanian whose name remains unknown, but who was a slave in Ottoman private families from 1436 to 1453. Evidently he had before his capture been a theological student who held some of the ideas that preceded the Reformation movement. His book had a great vogue after the year 1509, under various titles, such as: Ricoldus, _De Vita et Moribus Turcarum_, Paris, 1509 (the attachment to the name of Ricoldus is purely accidental); _Libellus de Ritu et Moribus Turcarum_, Wittenberg, 1530 (with a preface by Martin Luther); S. Frank, _Cronica-Abconterfayung_, etc., Augsburg, 1531; _Tractatus de Moribus_, etc. The Wittenberg edition has been used in this treatise, and is referred to as _Tractatus_. Although most of the book is theological and argumentative, it affords a great deal of information. Among other things, it contains what is probably the earliest mention of the tribute children as the regular means of recruiting the Janissaries (_Ginnitscheri_). The next good contemporary account of the Ottoman system is given in the history of Chal(co)condyles (written in Greek), of which there are many editions and translations. The one used here is the French translation, _Histoire de la Décadence de l’Empire Grec et Établissement de celui des Turcs_, Rouen, 1670. This writer, whose story comes down to 1465, speaks out of his own observation in describing the Ottoman camp and government. The oldest authentic _Kanuns_ are in the _Kanun-nameh_ of Mohammed II, which is translated by Hammer in his _Staatsverfassung_ (Vienna, 1815), 87-101.