Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/312

282 crown he considered himself the legitimate heir, as being porphyrogenitus, or born in the purple. He was consequently prepared to dispute the succession with his elder brother. The career of this unfortunate prince is so interwoven with the later years of D’Aubusson’s rule that it will be necessary to enter into some detail concerning him, the more so since his fate has cast a most undeserved slur upon the fair fame of that Grand- Master.

The rivalry which had sprung up between the brothers caused a division amongst the magnates of the empire at Constantinople, where the relative claims of the two princes were warmly contested. Neither of the candidates was in the city at the time, but Bajazet’s faction succeeded in overruling the pretensions of the partisans of Djem, and crowned one of the sons of the former, a child named Coracut, as locurn tenens for his absent father. Bajazet, who, immediately upon hearing of the death of Mahomet had hurried to the scene of action, speedily arrived at Constantinople, where he assumed in person the imperial dignity, and his claim was peaceably admitted by the inhabitants.

The news of this event reached Djem whilst he was journeying from the seat of his government in Asia Minor towards Constantinople. Hastily collecting such troops as favoured his cause, he pushed forward to the town of Broussa, trusting by the force of arms to overthrow the government of his brother. Unfortunately for him the principal supporter of Bajazet’s claims was the renowned chieftain Achmet pasha, a man whose successful career and brilliant achievements had made him the idol of the army. He had during the lifetime of Mahomet captured the city of Otranto, where he placed a garrison capable, as he considered, of holding the place against all opponents. The Neapolitans, terrified at this advanced post of Islamism so near to Rome, were engaged in its siege at the time of the emperor’s death. Achmet was pushing forward to relieve the town with an army of 2ö,000 men, when the defenders, dismayed at the death of their sultan and ignorant of the approach of the pasha, surrendered to the duke of Calabria. Achmet was consequently compelled to retrace his steps and return to Constantinople. When he arrived the cabals of the rival