Boluk-bashi


Boluk-bashi was an Ottoman officer rank equivalent to captain. It was replaced in the 19th century by the rank of yüzbaşı.

Etymology

The word is made up of two elements, bölük and baş. It entered into Balkan languages such as and.

Usage

Ottoman Empire

The bölükbaşı was an Ottoman officer rank equivalent to captain. It was used in the Janissary corps during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. In the 17th century the holder was in command of a bölük, a sub-division of a regiment. During the Ottoman Old Regime the rank translated into "captain of a squadron", commanding a bölük of the sipahi and silahdar cavalry.
It was higher than oda-bashi. The Ottoman reforms of Tanzimat saw the bölük being a company of hundred men under the commanding rank of yüzbaşı.

Serbs

The rank of buljubaša or buljukbaša was used by the Serbian hajduks for the commanders of a brigand četa. Among notable hajduks holding the rank that were murdered by the Dahije in the Slaughter of the Knezes were Janko Gagić, Gavrilo Buđevac and Mata from Lipovac. It then entered the ranks of the Revolutionary Serbian Army in the First Serbian Uprising as the equivalent of kapetan. Among notable holders were Arsenije Loma, Todor Bojinović, Zeka Buljubaša, Hajduk-Veljko and Petar Dobrnjac.

Royal Corps of Colonial Troops

In the Royal Corps of Colonial Troops of the Italian Royal Army, it was known as bulucbasci and was the equivalent to the rank of sergeant.

Notable people