Tancred , Prince of Galilee Tancred ( 1075 – December 5 or December 12 , 1112 ) was a Norman leader of the First Crusade who later became Prince of Galilee and regent of the Principality of Antioch . Tancred had a great - grandfather with the same name , Tancred of Hauteville ; since both Tancreds were from the house of Hauteville , they may be confused . 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 of Taranto . First Crusade . In 1096 , Tancred joined his maternal uncle Bohemund 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 Comnenus , promising to give back any conquered land to the Byzantine Empire . Although the other leaders did not intend to keep their oaths , Tancred refused to swear the oath altogether . He participated in 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 , during the assault on Jerusalem , Tancred , along with Gaston IV of Béarn , claimed to have been the first Crusade r to enter the city on July 15 . However , the first crusader to enter Jerusalem was Ludolf of Tournai , and he was followed by his brother Englebert . When the city fell , Tancred gave his banner to a group of the citizens who had fled to the roof of the Temple of Solomon . This should have assured their safety , but they were massacred , along with many others , during the sack of the city . The author of the " Gesta Francorum " ( Deeds of the Franks ) records that , when Tancred realised this , he was " greatly angered " . When the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established , Tancred became Prince of Galilee . Regent of Antioch . In 1100 , Tancred became regent of Antioch when Bohemund was taken prisoner by the Danishmends at the Battle 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 the County of Edessa when Baldwin II 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 . After Harran , Bohemond returned to Europe to recruit more Crusaders , again leaving his nephew as regent in Antioch . Tancred ' s victory over Radwan of Aleppo at the Battle of Artah in 1105 allowed the Latin principality to recover some its territories east of the Orontes River . In 1108 , Tancred 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 during a typhoid epidemic . He had married Cecile of France , but died childless . The " Gesta Tancredi " is a biography of Tancred written in Latin by Ralph of Caen , a Norman who joined the First Crusade and served under Tancred and Bohemund . An English translation was co - published in 2005 by Bernard S . Bachrach and David S . Bachrach . Tancred in fiction . Tancred appears as a character in Torquato Tasso ' s 16th - century poem " Jerusalem Delivered " , in which he is portrayed as an epic hero and given a fictional love interest , the pagan warrior - maiden Clorinda . He is also loved by the Princess Erminia of Antioch . Portions of Tasso ' s verses were set by Claudio Monteverdi in his 1624 dramatic work " Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda " . He also appears in one of the scenes in Imre Madách ' s " The Tragedy of Man " . He also appears as a character in Tom Harper ' s " Siege of Heaven " and is depicted as a violent psychopath . His portrayal is similar although slightly more humorous in Alfred Duggan ' s novel " Count Bohemond " . Contrary to popular opinion , Rossini ' s opera " Tancredi " is not about Tancred Prince of Galilee ; the opera story takes place in 1005 whereas Tancred was born in 1072 .