A tragic death for so many

February 20th, 1194 was the date of death of Tancred, King of Sicily. His death was tragic for his family and for the Sicilians, for his teenage son had died unexpectedly that past December, and his own death left his four year old son as his heir. The timing could not have been worse, for all knew Heinrich von Hohenstaufen was gathering an army for an invasion of Sicily, financed in part by the exorbitant, outrageous ransom he’d extorted from the English king. The Sicilians would have rallied around Tancred, as they had when Heinrich launched his first unsuccessful invasion in 1191. But few believed that Tancred’s widow and small son would be able to stave off the German juggernaut and they hastened to submit to Heinrich, whose invasion turned into a triumphant procession. It was soon over, and Heinrich was crowned as King of Sicily on Christmas day, which he celebrated by having the bodies of Tancred and his eldest son dragged from their tombs. Tancred’s widow had surrendered upon being assured that her family would not be harmed and her little boy would even be allowed to inherit the county of Lecce, for Tancred had been Count of Lecce before usurping the throne.

Richard could have told her that Heinrich’s word was worthless, and indeed that proved to be the case. Four days after his coronation, Heinrich claimed to have discovered a plot against him. Tancred’s queen, Sybilla, and her children were sent under guard to Germany, as were Admiral Margaritis and the Archbishop of Salerno, among others. The men were entombed at Trifels Castle, where Richard had been held, but they were not as lucky as he and were held there until their deaths; Heinrich had also ordered Margaritis blinded. Sybilla and her four daughters were confined to a German convent, although they were able to escape to France after Heinrich’s unexpected death. Tancred’s small son’s fate was the most tragic of all; he was taken to a German monastery where he was blinded and castrated and died soon afterward. And Tancred, as he lay dying in February of 1194, would have known that his family and his kingdom were doomed, for he knew Heinrich. I can imagine few deaths more bitter than his.

PS I found Tancred to be a surprise, for when I began to research Lionheart, I had a negative opinion of him for usurping the throne and holding Joanna captive, also seizing her dower lands. But the more I learned about him, the more I realized that he was a decent man in a very precarious position, doing the best he could to stave off the dangers posed by the Emperor Heinrich. He held Joanna in one of her own palaces, and when her angry brother demanded her immediate release and return of her dower, he wisely complied. During the months that Richard spent in Sicily, he seems to have reached the same conclusion I did, that Tancred was a man of honor for the two kings became surprisingly friendly in light of their adversarial beginning. Joanna seems to have forgiven Tancred, too, for when she and Berengaria reached Sicily on their way home from the Holy Land, they were warmly welcomed by Tancred and his queen and lingered for a while to enjoy his hospitality. Joanna was an Angevin, after all, and they were always pragmatists.