After being defeated by Bayezid, Cem went in exile in Egypt and Europe, under the protection of the Mamluks, the Knights Hospitaller of St. John on the island of Rhodes, and ultimately the Pope.

Contrary to Islamic law, which prohibits any unnecessary delay in burial, Mehmed II's body was transported to Constantinople, where it lay three days.

In the meantime, Ishak Pasha took the cautionary measure of proclaiming Bayezid's 11-year-old son, Sehzade (prince) Korkut, as regent until the arrival of his father.

Bayezid offered him a stipend to live quietly in Jerusalem but refused to divide the empire, prompting Cem to flee to Rhodes on 29 July 1482.

Upon arriving at Rhodes, Cem asked the protection of the French captain of Bodrum Castle, Pierre d'Aubusson, grand master of the Knights of St. John, the Latin Catholic order on the island.

Those who hoped to use his name and person to foment turmoil in the Ottoman realm included the Mamlūk sultan Qāʾit Bāy, Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, and Pope Innocent VIII.

Others, such as the Knights of Saint John, the Venetians, the king of Naples, and Popes Innocent VIII and Alexander VI, viewed his presence in Europe as a deterrent to Ottoman aggression against Christendom and an opportunity for profit.

For his part, Bayezid II dispatched ambassadors and spies to the West to assure that his rival was detained indefinitely, and he even attempted to eliminate him through assassination.

After the death of King Louis XI of France (30 August 1483), who had refused to accept a Muslim in his lands, the Knights of Saint John transferred him to Limousin (D'Aubusson's birthplace).

Innocent VIII rebuffed overtures from the Mamlūks and prepared to launch a crusade against the Ottomans, but it was postponed when Matthias Corvinus of Hungary died on 6 April 1490.

These developments worried Bayezid, who contacted D'Aubusson and also sent Mustafa Bey (later a grand vizier) to Rome, to conclude a secret agreement, in December 1490.

The sultan promised not to attack Rhodes, Rome, or Venice, as well as to pay Cem's allowance of 40,000 ducats to the Pope (10,000 of which were earmarked for the Knights of Saint John), in return for the prince's incarceration.

Apparently, Cem found life in Rome more pleasant than in France, and he had lost hope of seizing the Ottoman throne, but he wanted to die in a Muslim land.

Cem's presence in Rome was useful nevertheless, because whenever Bayezid intended to launch a military campaign against Christian nations of the Balkans, the Pope would threaten to release his brother.

[citation needed] Cem died in Capua, while on a military expedition to conquer Naples under the command of King Charles VIII of France.

The book strives for historical accuracy and has been translated into Turkish, German, Romanian, Polish, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, French, Estonian, Greek and Croatian.