| Tancred | |
|---|---|
 Coin struck during Tancred's regency of Antioch depicting St.Peter | |
| Prince of Galilee | |
| First rule | 1099–1101 |
| Successor | Hugh of Fauquembergues |
| Second rule | 1109–1112 |
| Predecessor | Gervase of Bazoches |
| Successor | Joscelin I of Courtenay |
| Born | c. 1075 Italy |
| Died | 5 December 1112 Principality of Antioch (nowAntakya,Hatay,Turkey) |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | Cecile of France |
| House | House of Hauteville |
| Father | Odo the Good Marquis |
| Mother | Emma of Hauteville |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Tancred (c. 1075 – December 5 or December 12, 1112) was anItalo-Norman leader of theFirst Crusade who later becamePrince of Galilee and regent of thePrincipality of Antioch.[1][2] Tancred came from thehouse of Hauteville and was the great-grandson of Norman lordTancred of Hauteville.
Tancred was a son ofOdo the Good Marquis andEmma of Hauteville. His maternal grandparents wereRobert Guiscard and Guiscard's first wifeAlberada of Buonalbergo. Emma was also a sister ofBohemond I of Antioch.
In 1096, Tancred joined his maternal uncle Bohemond on theFirst Crusade, and the two made their way toConstantinople. There, he was pressured to swear an oath toByzantine EmperorAlexius I Comnenus, promising to give back any conquered land to theByzantine Empire. Although the other leaders did not intend to keep their oaths, Tancred refused to swear the oath altogether. He participated in thesiege of Nicaea in 1097, but the city was taken by Alexius' army after secret negotiations with theSeljuk Turks. Because of this, Tancred was very distrustful of the Byzantines.
In 1097, the Crusaders divided their forces atHeraclea Cybistra and Tancred entered the Levant by passing south through theCilician Gates.[3] He displayed the skills of a brilliant strategist by seizing five of the most important sites in Cilicia Pedias, which included the ancient cities ofTarsus andAdana, the great emporium atMopsuestia, and the strategic castles atSarvandikar andAnazarbus.[4] The last three settlements were annexed to the Principality of Antioch. During their fourteen-year occupation of Anazarbus the Crusaders built the magnificent donjon atop the center of the fortified outcrop. At Sarvandikar, which controlled the strategic Amanus Pass, Tancred imprisonedRaymond of Saint-Gilles in 1101/02.[5]
He assisted in thesiege of Antioch in 1098. One year later, during the assault onJerusalem, Tancred, along withGaston IV of Béarn, claimed to have been the firstCrusader to enter the city on July 15.(Alternative claim[Note 1]) When the city fell, Tancred along with other crusading armies participated in the sacking of the city. His biographer Ralph of Caen is cited to have said that "Tancred was one of the most active participants in the decimation of the conquered Saracens."[9] During the final stages of the battle Tancred gave his banner to a group of the citizens who had fled to the roof of theTemple of Solomon[broken anchor].[9] This should have assured their safety, but in the confusion of the moment, they were massacred by other Crusaders who were sacking the city.[9] The author of theGesta Francorum (Deeds of the Franks) records that, when Tancred realized this, he was "greatly angered". However, his fury was calmed by the argument that the possibility of a counter-attack meant it was too dangerous for the defenders of Jerusalem to be left alive.[9] When theKingdom of Jerusalem was established, Tancred became Prince of Galilee.
In 1100, Tancred became regent of Antioch when Bohemond was taken prisoner by theDanishmends at theBattle of Melitene. He expanded the territory of the Latin principality by capturing land from the Byzantines, although, over the next decade, Alexius attempted, unsuccessfully, to bring him under Byzantine control. In 1104, he also took control of theCounty of Edessa whenBaldwin II was taken captive after theBattle of Harran. After Baldwin's release in late 1108, he had to fight Tancred (probably early 1109) to regain control of the county; Tancred was eventually defeated and returned to Antioch. After Harran, Bohemond returned to Europe to recruit more Crusaders, again leaving his nephew as regent inAntioch. Tancred's victory overRadwan of Aleppo at theBattle of Artah in 1105 allowed the Latin principality to recover some its territories east of theOrontes River.[10]
In 1108, Tancred refused to honour theTreaty of Devol, in which Bohemond swore an oath of fealty to Alexius, and for decades afterwards Antioch remained independent of the Byzantine Empire. In late September 1108, nearTurbessel, Tancred, with 1,500 Frankish knights and infantry, and 600 Turkish horsemen sent by Fakhr al-Mulk Ridwan confronted Baldwin II and the 2,000 men ofJawali Saqawa, atabeg ofMosul. Tancred and Ridwan routed Jawali's men, who took refuge in Turbessel. Later on, Tancred who had initially refused to abandon Turbessel to Baldwin II, decided at the assembly inChâteau Pèlerin in April 1109, to give up Turbessel in return for his restoration to his old domains in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[11]
In 1110, he broughtKrak des Chevaliers under his control, which would later become an important castle in theCounty of Tripoli. Tancred remained the regent of Antioch forBohemond II until his death in 1112 during atyphoid epidemic. He had marriedCecile of France, but died childless. Tancred was buried in the porch ofSt. Peter, the cathedral of Antioch.[12]
TheGesta Tancredi is a biography of Tancred written inLatin byRalph of Caen, a Norman who joined the First Crusade and served under Tancred and Bohemond. An English translation was co-published in 2005 by Bernard S. Bachrach and David S. Bachrach.
Ralph of Caen details Tancred's personality in his chronicle and biography of him in theGesta Tancredi. Ralph notes how Tancred was well aware of the innate sinfulness of the knightly profession and the violence it entailed, and how this led him to give up his life in Norman-dominated southern Italy to take part in Pope Urban II's call for an armed pilgrimage.[13] Tancred is described by Ralph as a very pious, violent hawk of a man. He was a shrewd, opportunistic warrior bred for conquest with a combative nature, but it also showcases a very pragmatic side of him concerning the even distribution among his men of the plunder gained following the despoliation of the mosques of Jerusalem after the city's conquest by the Crusaders in 1099.[14]
Tancred appears as a character inTorquato Tasso's 16th-century poemJerusalem Delivered, in which he is portrayed as an epic hero and given a fictional love interest, the pagan warrior-maiden Clorinda. This poem was the inspiration of the film,The Mighty Crusaders, about the Siege of Jerusalem in June–July 1099. He is also loved by the PrincessErminia of Antioch. Portions of Tasso's verses were set byClaudio Monteverdi in his 1624 dramatic workIl Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. He also appears in one of the scenes inImre Madách'sThe Tragedy of Man. InTom Harper'sSiege of Heaven he is depicted as a violent psychopath. His portrayal is similar although slightly more humorous inAlfred Duggan's novelCount Bohemond.
Tancred also appears in SirWalter Scott's novelCount Robert of Paris, as one of the Crusade leaders who returned toConstantinople fromScutari to ensure a fair contest between Count Robert and his challenger. The novelTancred, or the New Crusade byBenjamin Disraeli centres around the adventures of an imagined modern descendant and namesake of the Prince of Galilee. Rossini's operaTancredi is based on Tasso, viaVoltaire's playTancrède of 1759.
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Texts on Wikisource:| New title | Prince of Galilee 1099–1101 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prince of Galilee 1099–1101 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord of Haifa 1104–1112 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prince of Antioch 1104–1112 | Succeeded by |
Princes of thePrincipality of Antioch | ||
|---|---|---|
| Reigning princes (1098–1268) |  | |
| Titular princes (1268–1457) | ||
