Tancred of Galilee

Tancred ( 1072 - 1112 ) was a leader of the First Crusade , and later became regent of the Principality of Antioch and Prince of Galilee . Tancred was a grandson of Robert Guiscard and nephew of Bohemund of Taranto . In 1096 he joined his uncle on the First Crusade, and the two made their way to Constantinople . There, he was pressured to swear an oath to Byzantine emperor Alexius I , promising to give back any conquered land to the Empire. Although the other leaders did not intend to keep their oaths, Tancred refused to swear the oath altogether. He led the siege of Nicaea in 1097 , but the city was taken by Alexius' army after secret negotiations with the Seljuk Turks . Because of this Tancred was very distrustful of the Byzantines. Later in 1097 he captured Tarsus and other cities in Cilicia and assisted in the siege of Antioch in 1098 . In 1099 he led the assault on Jerusalem and, along with Gaston IV of Béarn , was the first Crusader to enter the city on July 15 . He and Gaston took hundreds of Muslim prisoners, leading them to safety on the roof of the Temple , but despite his protection they were slaughtered along with the rest of the Muslim population. When the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established, Tancred became Prince of Galilee. In 1100 Tancred became regent of Antioch when Bohemund was taken prisoner by the Seljuks. He expanded the territory of the 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 the County of Edessa when Baldwin I was taken captive after the Battle of Harran . After Baldwin's release in 1107 he had to fight Tancred to regain control of the county; Tancred was eventually defeated and returned to Antioch. In 1108 he refused to honour the Treaty of Devol , in which Bohemund swore an oath of fealty to Alexius and for decades afterwards Antioch remained independent of the Byzantine Empire. In 1110 he brought Krak des Chevaliers under his control, which would later become an important castle in the County of Tripoli . Tancred remained regent in Antioch in the name of Bohemund II until his death in 1112.¹