Tancred, Prince of Galilee

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Tancred
Roman Catholic

Tancred (c. 1075 – December 5 or December 12, 1112) was an

Prince of Galilee and regent of the Principality of Antioch.[1][2] Tancred came from the house of Hauteville and was the great-grandson of Norman lord Tancred of Hauteville
.

Biography

Early life

Tancred was a son of Emma of Hauteville and Odo the Good Marquis. His maternal grandparents were Robert Guiscard and Guiscard's first wife Alberada of Buonalbergo. Emma was also a sister of Bohemond I of Antioch.

First Crusade

In 1096, Tancred joined his maternal uncle Bohemond on the

Seljuk Turks
. Because of this, Tancred was very distrustful of the Byzantines.

Constantine I and Tancred at Tarsus

In 1097, the Crusaders divided their forces at Heraclea Cybistra and Tancred entered the Levant by passing south through the Cilician 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 of Tarsus and Adana, the great emporium at Mopsuestia, and the strategic castles at Sarvandikar and Anazarbus.[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 imprisoned Raymond of Saint-Gilles in 1101/02.[5]

He assisted in the

Crusader 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 the Temple of Solomon.[9] This should have assured their safety, but they were massacred, along with many others, during the sack of the city.[9] The author of the Gesta 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 citizens of Jerusalem to be left alive.[9] When the Kingdom of Jerusalem
was established, Tancred became Prince of Galilee.

Regent of Antioch

In 1100, Tancred became regent of Antioch when Bohemond was taken prisoner by the

Radwan of Aleppo at the Battle of Artah in 1105 allowed the Latin principality to recover some its territories east of the Orontes River.[10]

Coin issued by Tancred during his regency depicting him brandishing a sword while wearing a jewelled turban.

In 1108, Tancred refused to honour the

Turbessel, 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 of Jawali Saqawa, atabeg of Mosul. 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 in Château 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 brought

typhoid epidemic. He had married Cecile of France, but died childless. Tancred was buried in the porch of St. Peter, the cathedral of Antioch.[12]

The

Latin by Ralph 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.

In fiction

Nicolas Poussin's Tancred and Erminia (Hermitage Museum)

Tancred appears as a character in

The Tragedy of Man. In Tom Harper's Siege of Heaven he is depicted as a violent psychopath. His portrayal is similar although slightly more humorous in Alfred Duggan
's novel Count Bohemond.

Tancred also appears as one of the Crusade leaders in Sir Walter Scott's novel Count Robert of Paris who returned to Constantinople from Scutari to ensure a fair contest between Count Robert and his challenger. The novel Tancred, or the New Crusade by Benjamin Disraeli centres around the adventures of an imagined modern descendant and namesake of the Prince of Galilee. Rossini's opera Tancredi is based on Tasso, via Voltaire's play Tancrède of 1759.

Notes

  1. ^ Alternatively, it is claimed that the first crusader to enter Jerusalem was Ludolf of Tournai,[6][7][8] and he was followed by his brother Englebert.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ Ernest Barker (1911). "Tancred (crusader)". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 26. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 394-395.
  2. ^ Grabois, Aryeh (2006). In The Crusades - An Encyclopedia. pp. 1143-1145.
  3. Wikidata Q112759923
    .
  4. ISBN 0-88402-163-7
    .
  5. ^ Matthew of Edessa, Recueil des historiens des croisades, Documents arméniens, vol. 1, reprint: Farnborough, 1967, p. 57.
  6. ISBN 978-1-4051-2377-8
    .
  7. ^ J. S. C. Riley-Smith, Jonathan Phillips, Alan V. Murray, Guy Perry and Nicholas Morton (2016). A Database of Crusaders to the Holy Land, 1095–1149. "Lethold of Tournai".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Asbridge, Thomas (2004). "The First Crusade, A New History," Oxford University Press. p. 315.
  9. ^ a b c d Nicholson, Robert Lawrance (1940). Tancred: A Study of His Career and Work in Their Relation to the First Crusade and the Establishment of the Latin States in Syria and Palestine. The University of Chicago. pp. 7, 94–95.
  10. ^ Smail, p. 28
  11. ^ Lock 2006, p. 30.
  12. ^ Runciman 1987, pp. 126–126.

Sources

External links
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