If the mass is dated to the 1490s, circumstantial evidence suggests that the aristocrat who made excessive promises may not have been an Italian at all, but a Turk. Prince Cem Sultan, half-brother of Bayezid II, was being kept captive (in opulent luxury) in Rome during the period Josquin was there, and relentlessly implored Pope Innocent VIII (and later Alexander VI) for help in overthrowing his half-brother; the Pope in turn threatened Sultan Bayezid that he would release Cem if Bayezid ever renewed war against Christian Europe. Cem apparently made endless impossible promises and was singularly irritating; this in addition to the vogue in Italy in the 1490s for Turkish fashion (as seen in the turban Josquin wears in his woodcut portrait) has suggested that Josquin may have been poking fun at Cem with the mass – who also steadfastly refused to convert to Christianity.