Tancred
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Tancred. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a hero of the first crusade; son of the Marquis Odo the Good and of Emma, Robert Guiscard's sister; born in Sicily in 1078; in 1098 assumed the cross, and with his cousin Bohemond set out on the crusade. Through the Byzantine empire they marched to Constantinople, whence Tancred crossed the Bosporus disguised as a common soldier, that so he might escape from swearing allegiance to the emperor. Alexios followed the Crusaders, and Tancred reluctantly, yielding to Bohemond's counsel, took the required oath. At Dorylaion (July 4, 4, 1097) his bravery saved the camp of priests and women; his banner was the first to float from the towers of Tarsus, though Baldwin's jealousy dislodged it thence. In the siege of Antioch he slew, say chroniclers, 700 infidels; with Robert of Normandy he first set foot in the Holy City July 15, 1099. Appointed by Godfrey de Bouillon prince of Galilee, he founded churches in Nazareth, in Tiberias, and on Mount Tabor, and helped at Ascalon to guard the new Christian kingdom against the Fatimite caliph. His efforts on Godfrey's death (1100) to secure the crown of Jerusalem to Bohemond only roused Baldwin's jealousy again; but his own principality he held successfully against both Turks and Greeks, even Edessa owning his supremacy. He was busy with plans for bringing the Syrian chieftains under his sway, when he died in Antioch of a wound received in battle (1112).
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the hero of the First Crusade. He was the son of Otto the Good and Emma. He distinguished himself by deeds of valor at the taking of Nice and Antioch, and was first on the walls of Jerusalem. Later he was made prince of Galilee. He is the hero of Tasso's celebrated poem, Jerusalem Delivered. Tancred was valiant in battle and merciful in victory. He died at Antioch in 1112. See Tasso ; Crusades
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The outline of Tancred's career that Collier's gave in 1921 still stands: Nicaea (Aiton's "Nice"), Tarsus, Antioch, the storming of Jerusalem in July 1099, the principality of Galilee, and death at Antioch in 1112. What has shifted is the tone. Aiton's 1910 verdict that he was "valiant in battle and merciful in victory" comes largely from Tasso's poem of 1581 and from friendly chroniclers; modern historians dwell instead on 1099, when the refugees who took his banner as a guarantee of safety on the Temple Mount were killed anyway, and on his stripping of the Dome of the Rock. Chronicle figures such as the 700 infidels slain at Antioch are now read as rhetoric rather than arithmetic, and Ralph of Caen's Gesta Tancredi, the fullest early account, became available in English translation in 2005.
Written for this edition, 2026.