Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/652

616 Tremincourt, Crainville. and Hocquineourt attained for themselves the most brilliant reputations.

The fate of Tremineourt was a sad ending to a career which had opened so gloriously, but it added a yet brighter lustre to the fame of his memory. His vessel, during one of those violent storms which arise so suddenly in the Mediterranean. had been shipwrecked on the African coast, and he himself captured by the Moors. The celebrity of his exploits having become well known to the sultan he was forwarded to Adrianople to be disposed of in accordance with the imperial pleasure. Mohammed IV., who was at the time on the Ottoman throne, was so captivated by the high reputation and noble bearing of the youthful Tremincourt, that he made him the most flattering and tempting offers to induce him to abandon his religion and enter the Ottoman service. The hand of a princess of the imperial line was offered to him, together with an exalted rank in the service, but in vain. No inducements were sufficient to tempt the noble youth to forsake the faith of his forefathers. From persuasion Mohammed turned to cruelty, and endeavoured, by a series of hardships, indignities, and even tortures, to divert Tremincourt from the firmness of his resistance. Harsh measures did not, however, prove in any degree more successful than promises, and at length Mohammed, irritated to the last degree at his obstinate refusal, directed that he should be beheaded and his body cast into the sea, as unworthy of any more suitable burial. It may seem strange that the Ottoman rulers should so often have persevered in their endeavours to induce members of the Order who had fallen into their hands to abandon their faith and to brand themselves with the reproach of becoming renegades and traitors. Several previous instances of the kind have been recorded, in all of which the Moslem emperor was foiled by the firmness of his prisoners. Doubtless, however, many instances have been left untold where a contrary result took place. It must have been a somewhat trying ordeal to undergo, choosing between a high position, wealth, and distinction on the one hand, and the miserable lot of a galley- slave, if not a cruel death, on the other; and in cases where the natural love of life, or the craving for position was strong, no doubt the temptation was too great for resistance. It was not