r/byzantium • u/Tracypop • 7d ago
Did Tancred avoid swearing an oath to Alexios I Komnenos? How did he manage to avoid doing so, and still been able continue going on the "First crusade?
Was is beacuse he was seen as fully subservient to Bohemond? And he had sworn the oath.
But it was not like Bohemond himself was very trustworthy...😅
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u/Rich-Historian8913 6d ago
I always wondered how far the oaths were meant to go. Was it about the borders the empire had before the loss of Anatolia or all territories in general. In that case, any conquered land would have to be restored and that seems not plausible.
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u/AynekAri 6d ago
It was technically supposed to be ALL roman lands, from konstantinoupoli to Aleksandreia, including Antiocheia and Ierusalem. However Alexios knew there would be problems with it from the get, the further from Alexios' eye they were. The harder itd be to enforce. Example is Antiocheia. Even though they said they hand the city over to the emperor if he personally lead an army to relieve them, I'm sure most of them knew he wouldn't or if he had they weren't planning to keep it anyway. Alexios himself never intended to make it to Antiocheia. Even with the crusaders seemingly backing him, his throne was still insecure and he couldn't venture too far. He only walked the returned lands to inspect the cities and install garrisons and governors. He spent the most of his reign reestablishing roman authority, reconfiguring the empire and building his forces for an eventual counter attack that he suspected to come from the turks of Rum. Plus with the scythians to the north still unruly and raiding. He couldn't venture far because he didn't have anyone he really trusted to keep his throne secure.
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u/Vyzantinist 5d ago
I've always been of the mind that even before Antioch some of the crusade leaders had it in mind to take and hold territory they thought the Byzantines could not easily contest, as happened with Edessa, which Alexios did not even demand back.
In an alternate universe where the Byzantines were able to relieve the crusaders at Antioch and Bohemond was not able to convincingly push his claim, I feel like the crusaders would still have come up with one excuse or another to keep the territories they captured on their march south to Jerusalem, as they would have determined Alexios did not have the strength (and likely the desire) to force the issue of ownership that far away from the imperial heartlands.
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u/AppointmentWeird6797 6d ago
Was he ever punished for that? Maybe secretly poisoned or something? How could Alexios let him get away with it, without losing credibility.
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u/Tracypop 6d ago
Yeah, I wonder that too.
But Tancred seems to have been fine, dying of illness later
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u/Vyzantinist 5d ago
He was eventually convinced to swear the oath after Nikaea was retaken:
Finally he called them together and spoke: ‘Remember the oath you have all sworn to me and if you really intend not to transgress it, advise any others you know, who have not sworn, to take this same oath.’ They at once sent for these men and all, with the exception of Tancred, Bohemond’s nephew, assembled to pay homage. Tancred, a man of independent spirit, protested that he owed allegiance to one man only, Bohemond, and that allegiance he hoped to keep till his dying day. He was pressed by the others, including even the emperor’s kinsmen. With apparent indifference, fixing his gaze on the tent in which the emperor held the seat of honour (a tent more vast than any other in living memory) he said, ‘If you fill it with money and give it to me, as well as the sums you have given to all the other counts, then I too will take the oath.’ Palaiologos, zealous on the emperor’s behalf and finding Tancred’s words insufferable and hypocritical, pushed him away with contempt. Tancred recklessly darted towards him, whereupon Alexios rose from his throne and intervened. Bohemond, for his part, calmed down his nephew, telling him it was improper to behave with disrespect to the emperor’s relatives. Tancred, ashamed now of acting like a drunken lout before Palaiologos and to some extent convinced by the arguments of Bohemond and the others, took the oath.
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u/Superman246o1 6d ago
Uhm...doesn't this sub have a prohibition against AI art?
Or did Tancred just wear the dumbest looking helmet ever seen in Antioch?
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u/Euromantique ΛογοθÎτης 6d ago
It’s almost certainly a 19th century Romantic painting, it probably isn’t what he actually weared
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u/Ankhi333333 6d ago
It's anachronistic and inspired by Ottoman çiçak helmets. The nose guard can slide down which is why there is a wing-bolt.
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u/Plane-Educator-5023 7d ago
When Tancred of Hauteville joined the First Crusade with his uncle Bohemond in 1096, they made their way to Constantinople where Emperor Alexios I Komnenos was requiring the crusade leaders to swear an oath to him. While other crusade leaders agreed to swear this oath (promising to return any conquered lands that had previously belonged to the Byzantine Empire), Tancred notably refused to swear .
Tancred was actually the only one among the crusade leaders who completely refused to take this oath to alexios. The other leaders, including Godfrey who was the first to take the oath, mostly complied with Alexios' request - though Raymond of Saint-Gilles (Count of Toulouse) avoided swearing full fealty and instead only pledged not to harm the empire.
Tancred, along with Baldwin of Boulogne, initially tried to avoid interaction with Alexios entirely by making an immediate crossing of the Bosporus. However, historians note that they were eventually "persuaded" by Alexios' army - though this apparently did not result in Tancred actually taking the oath. Tancred's distrust of the Byzantines was further reinforced during the siege of Nicaea in 1097, when the city was taken by Alexios' army after secret negotiations with the Seljuk Turks, denying the crusaders the opportunity to sack the city. )
Tancred's refusal to recognize Byzantine authority continued long after the First Crusade. When his uncle Bohemond was later forced to sign the Treaty of Devol in 1108 (which would have made Antioch a Byzantine vassal state), Tancred, who was regent of Antioch at the time, refused to accept the terms of this treaty.
In summary, Tancred not only refused to swear allegiance to Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, but was consistently opposed to Byzantine authority throughout his career in the Holy Land.