Language Educatıon in “Enderun”

Abstract

As well as raising the goverment and palace officials, Enderun, which constitutes one of the important institutions of palace organisations in Ottoman Empire, was the general name of the place where the pageboys, who were responsible for fulfilling the private services of the Sultan, were educated and trained. In addition to the devshirmeh method for the admission of the pageboys in Enderun, the ones who drew attention with their talents in any branches of art were also admitted to Enderun by the direct authority of the Sultan and favour of the palace and government officials. The pageboys in Enderun were taught some lessons such as Turkish-Islamic Culture, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, History, Literature, Logic by various instructors. Horse-riding, swordplay, wrestling, shooting arrows, wooden ball and javelin throw were also taught there. The pageboys, who were admitted to Enderun, were not only educated physically and mentally, but also a moral education was given for the youth to be patient, strong, obedient, modest and well-behaved. Those officials that were raised within the framework of an extremely strict discipline could advance by being promoted or could be replaced with succesful and talented youth by being expelled from the palace in return for an income or service. This article gives information about Enderun, one of the important institutions that trained officials for the palace and government in the Ottoman Empire, and information about the education received in Enderun. The Ottoman Empire's perspective on language education and how it approached language education in the period leading up to the establishment of interpreter rooms in the Ottoman Empire, were tried to be revealed. The methods used in teaching languages to pageboy in Enderun, the languages taught, the place and importance of language education in Enderun are mentioned. Considering the educational practices in Enderun, inferences about language education were made, and these inferences were supported by foreign language education techniques that emerged in the modern world. The aim of this study is to attempt to clarify the issue of language education in Enderun in accordance with the information obtained through the resources. On the basis of the existing resources, it has been attempted to make an inference about the language education in Enderun and by considering the targeted inferences a comparison has been made between the foreign language education techniques and the language education implementations in Enderun.