"A Christian I am, and so I will remain."
Then the king's son very angrily said unto him, "By
Mahomet thou shalt
presently be made Turk!" Then called he for his men and commanded them
to make him Turk; and they did so, and circumcised him, and would have
had him speak the words that thereunto belonged; but he answered them
stoutly that he would not, and although they had put on him the habit
of a Turk, yet said he, "A Christian I was born, and so I will remain,
though you force me to do otherwise."
And then he called for the other, and commanded him to be made Turk
perforce also; but he was very strong, for it was so much as eight of
the king's son's men could do to hold him. So in the end they
circumcised him and made him Turk. Now, to pass over a little, and so
to show the manner of our deliverance out of that miserable captivity.
In May aforesaid, shortly after our apprehension, I wrote a letter into
England unto my father, dwelling in Evistoke in Devonshire, signifying
unto him the whole estate of our calamities, and I wrote also to
Constantinople to the English ambassador, both which letters were
faithfully delivered. But when my father had received my letter, and
understood the truth of our mishap, and the occasion thereof, and what
had happened to the offenders, he certified the Right Honourable the
Earl of Bedford thereof, who in short space acquainted her Highness
with the whole cause thereof; and her Majesty, like a most merciful
princess tendering her subjects, presently took order for our
deliverance.
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