Franciscan friars repeatedly engineered their own martyrdom despite banishment

Evidence

Astonished that he continued preaching in his presence, the king judged that he was crazy and banished the friars … But the friars, not so easily dissuaded from the prize of martyrdom, escaped at Ceuta and made their way back to Marrakesh, where they began preaching in a public square (in foro). — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1105

Categorization

• XREF: This voluntary martyrdom-seeking connects to the reader’s ‘On Sacrifice: The Real Kind, with Corpses’ article — the friars treat death as a prize to be won, parallel to how self-immolation can be a chosen death. — connects to: Medieval friars debated whether provoking one’s own martyrdom was suicide
• STORYSTEM: A narrative engine where the protagonist’s goal is death-at-the-hand-of-the-antagonist, and the antagonist keeps refusing to provide it — the king trying to banish rather than execute a man desperately seeking martyrdom is a comic-tragic inversion of the usual chase.