Some Franciscan friars courted martyrdom by deliberately blaspheming Muhammad

Evidence

Set itself openly and unprovokedly to insult the religion of the Muslims and blaspheme their Prophet, with the deliberate intention of incurring the penalty of death’ (Preaching of Islam, p. 141). — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2140

Categorization

• QUESTION: Who is the quoted subject — which friars ‘set itself openly…’? The fragment needs surrounding narrative to identify them, worth tracking down.