[292] Mohammed II gave them ten purses of gold (1451), _ibid._ i. 504; Bayezid II gave them 2000 aspers each (1481), _ibid._ ii. 252; Selim I gave them 3000 aspers each (1512), _ibid._ 382; from Suleiman they asked 5000 aspers each, which he compounded by giving them one-third in cash and increased pay (1520), _ibid._ iii. 6. [293] Before Vienna (1529), _ibid._ 88; on march toward Persia (1534), _ibid._ 148; at Tabriz (1535), _ibid._ 158. [294] This usage dates from Suleiman; D’Ohsson, vii. 354. [295] Busbecq, _Life and Letters_, i. 86: the Janissaries “are scattered through every part of the empire, either to garrison the forts against the enemy, or to protect the Christians and Jews from the violence of the mob. There is no district with any considerable amount of population, no borough or city, which has not a detachment of Janissaries to protect the Christians, Jews, and other helpless people from outrage and wrong.” Janissaries might be detailed to attend on foreign ambassadors, or to escort foreign travelers within the empire (Knolles, ed. 1687, p. 985). [296] Nicolay, 89, was perhaps the first to point out the likeness of the Janissaries to the Roman Pretorian Guard, and to see in them a great danger to the Ottoman Empire. [297] Hammer, _Geschichte_, ii. 420, 520. [298] _Ibid._ iii. 88. [299] Trevisano, 129, says that they had sufficient authority on the death of a sultan to give the empire to which of his sons they pleased. Cf. J. Soranzo, 248; Morosini, 255; Garzoni, 432; Knolles (ed. 1687), 985 (“neither can any of the Turks Sultans account themselves fully invested in the Imperial Dignity, or assured of their Estate, until they be by them approved and proclaimed”). [300] D’Ohsson, i. 278-284; Heidborn, 120. [301] D’Ohsson, i. 284. This rule is sometimes stated erroneously as an old Turkish custom, a provision of Mohammedan law, or an old Ottoman law or custom. [302] Hammer, _Staatsverfassung_, 98: “_Kanun_ of the Security of the Throne: The majority of Legists (_Ulema_) have declared it allowable, that whoever among my illustrious children and grandchildren may come to the throne, should, for securing the peace of the world, order his brothers to be executed. Let them hereafter act accordingly.” [303] Hammer, _Geschichte_, ii. 352 ff. [304] Menavino, 219; Trevisano, 129; Hammer, _Geschichte_, ii. 365. [305] Hammer, _Geschichte_, iii. 314. [306] Busbecq, _Life and Letters_, i. 185-189. [307] Postel, iii. 87, says, about 1537: Suleiman “has among others a son named Mustapha, marvelously well educated and prudent and of the age to reign; for he is 23 or 24 years old; and God grant that so great an atrocity may not come so near us (_Dieu ne permette qu’une Barbarie si grande vienne si pres de nous_).”