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Prince of Antioch, born about 1072; died atAntioch, 12 Dec., 1112. He was the son of Marquess Odo and Emma, probably the daughter ofRobert Guiscard. He took the Cross in 1096 with the Norman lords of SouthernItaly and joined the service of his uncle Bohemund. Having disembarked at Arlona (Epirus), they marched towards Constantinople, and Tancred soon attracted attention by his activity,bravery, and somewhat undisciplinedzeal; according to his biographer, Raoul de Caen, he was noted also for his humanity and kindness towards the defenceless. He brilliantly repulsed the Byzantine army which attacked him as he was crossing the Vardar (28 Feb., 1097) from which time Tancred became and remained the bitter enemy of the Greeks. Unlike Bohemund, he was the only one of all the leaders who refused to take theoath of fidelity demanded by Alexis Comnenus. He played an important part in the siege of Nicæa, and later, during the difficult march throughAsia Minor, he led the way southwards and captured Tarsus which Baldwin tried in vain to wrest from him (Sept., 1097). While Baldwin advanced towards the Euphrates, Tancred seized the towns of Cilicia. He took an active part also in the siege of Antioch. In the march onJerusalem he commanded the vanguard, and on 15 July, 1099, he entered the city, after making a breach in the gate of St. Stephen. He vainly endeavoured to save the lives of 300Mussulmans who had taken refuge in the Mosque of Omar (Templum Domini). On the other hand he looted the treasures amassed in that building and distributed them among hisknights. He received fromGodfrey de Bouillon, who had been selected over him as king, the fiefs ofTiberias and Caïfa. When Bohemund was captured by theTurks in July, 1100, Tancred assumed the government of the Principality of Antioch, and extended its boundaries at the expense of theTurks and the Greeks. During thewar between Bohemund and Alexis Comnenus (1104-08), Tancred defended both the Principality of Antioch and the Courtship ofEdessa; he also strengthened theChristian power in those districts, and refused to recognize the Treaty of Durazzo by which Bohemund had ceded the suzerainty of Antioch to the emperor. A skilled politician, heknew how to placate the Greeks and issued Greek money on which he is represented adorned with gold and jewels, wearing a turban surmounted by a cross.
RAOUL DE CAEN,Gesta Tancredi (the author went to Palestine in 1107 and was attached to the army of Tancred) inHist. Occid. des Croisades, III, 537-601; SCHLUMBERGER,Numismatique de l'Orient latin (Paris, 1878), 45; DE SAULCY,Tancrède inBiblioth. Ecole des Chartes (1843); O. DE SYDOW,Tankred (Leipzig, 1880); REY,Hist. des princes d'Antioche inRevue Orient Latin (1896), 334; KUGLER,Boemund u. Tankred (Tübingen, 1862); CHALANDON,Essai sur le régne d'Alexis Comnène (Paris, 1900); STEVENSON,The Crusaders in the East (Cambridge, 1907).
APA citation.Bréhier, L.(1912).Tancred. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14442b.htm
MLA citation.Bréhier, Louis."Tancred."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 14.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1912.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14442b.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter.Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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