died Feb. 20, 1194, Palermo
King of Sicily (119094), the last of the Norman rulers.
He rebelled twice (1155, 1161) against his uncle William I of Sicily, and he gained the Sicilian throne after the death of William II. He gave in to the demand of Richard I (the Lionheart) in 1191 for the legacy left him by William II and the return of the dowry of his sister Joan, William's widow, after Richard occupied Messina. Emperor Henry VI sought to wrest the Sicilian throne from Tancred, unsuccessfully besieging Naples in 1191 and marching on Sicily again in 1194. Tancred died before his arrival, and Henry was crowned king.