Prince Cem (Jem Sultan)

Prince Cem, the younger surviving son of Mehmed II, rose against his brother Bayezid II after their father's death and ended his days a hostage in crusader hands ³.

At Bursa when news of his father's death reached him, the city's people acknowledged him sultan. He offered his brother peace, then a partition — Europe to Bayezid, Asia to himself. Bayezid refused to divide what their forefathers had laboured to unite and marched on Bursa; Cem fled to the Mamluk sultan Qaytbay in Egypt, who honoured him and equipped him for the hajj ¹.

On returning from the hajj, Cem received Bayezid's letter: "Since you have performed your religious duty of the hajj, why chase worldly things, when kingship was my lot by God's command?" Cem answered: "Is it just that you lie on a bed of ease surrounded by servants, while I lay my head on thorns?" He roused his Anatolian followers and was defeated by Bayezid twice ³.

Cem took refuge at Rhodes with the Knights of St John; his compact with their Grand Master was broken under Bayezid's pressure, and he became their prisoner — a precious hostage that bought privileges now from Bayezid, now from Cem's backers in Cairo — until they sold him to Pope Innocent VIII for a great price. On Innocent's death Cem passed to Alexander VI until he was killed; the chronicles, as al-Salabi relays them, accused Bayezid II ².