Ottoman Janissaries with huge plumes

[Druzhina]

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?

Druzhina
Illustrations of Ottoman Janissaries

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

Janissaries had plumes and feathers on their Börk headgears but they were usually much smaller than those depicted by Europeans (those huge ones were probably used only during parades on some occasions).

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

The janissary Börk contained a plum or feather holder.



However, the janissaries were usually depicted without plums or feathers, or they were depicted rarely.