Candar Corps

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The candar corps was the name given to palace guards in Turkish and Islamic states in the Middle Ages. Also in Persian and in some Arab states, certain soldier classes were also called candar. They were especially assigned to guard palaces and the heads of state. In the Great Seljuk Empire, the candar corps consisted of specially trained Turkish and foreign slaves. The head of the candar corps was called Emir-i Candar and he was included in the governing body. After the break up of the empire, some members of this corps went to the Turkoman beyliks in Anatolia, Shiraz, Khorasan, and through the Mamluks to Yemen and Maghreb states to take up being palace guards. In Anatolian Seljuks (Sultanate of Rüm), candars guarded the palace and the head of state and his headquarters, together with the Hassa soldiers. They were cavalrymen, and they would use swords, bows and carry shields. One of these candars who actually was in the Seljuk court, Demir Yaman Candar, founded his own Anatolian beylik Candaroglu, near Kastamonu, Turkey.

Pagina's: 88, Paperback, VDM Verlag