The Ottoman state developed three social institutions, the devşirme (enslaved children levied from the Christian population of the Balkans, then trained as servants of the sultan), millet, and the guild system. The devşirme system provided an army of bureaucrats and soldiers with no ethnic, family, or regional loyalties other than those owed to the state. The devşirme system degenerated and came to an end by the 17th century.