Voynuks | |
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Active | 14th to 16th century |
Allegiance | Ottoman Empire |
Type | Christian auxiliary force |
Role | Infantry |
Military of the Ottoman Empire |
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Voynuks (sometimes called voynugans or voynegans) were members of the privileged[1] Ottoman military social class established in the 1370s or the 1380s. Voynuks were tax-exempt non-Muslim, usually Slavic,[2] and also non-Slavic Vlach[3] Ottoman subjects from the Balkans, particularly from the regions of southern Serbia, Macedonia, Thessaly, Bulgaria and Albania and much less in Bosnia and around the Danube–Sava region.[4][5] Voynuks belonged to the Sanjak of Voynuk which was not a territorial unit like other sanjaks but a separate organisational unit of the Ottoman Empire.
Voynuk: non-Muslim (usually Slavic) auxiliary in Ottoman service.