Summary
Summary of Tancred; Or, the New Crusade
Tancred; Or, the New Crusade at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 10 h 35 min8 h 25 min fast, 12 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 151,300 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1847by Benjamin Disraeli
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
An heir without his own wishes
Tancred’s coming of age begins with preparations for a feast, not with the young man’s hopes. The French chef Leander discusses food as though planning a battle, while the household prepares to celebrate the duke’s only son. Everyone seems to know what the occasion requires.
At Montacute Castle, Tancred stands pale and calm among the celebrations. His parents have guarded him closely throughout his life, but nobody has asked what he wants. Beneath the comfort and comedy lies a sadness that privilege cannot answer.
Key idea 2
Tancred wants more than public phrases
When Tancred asks his father for a private conversation, the duke expects to discuss Parliament.
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Key idea 3
Sidonia understands the pilgrim’s real question
Tancred’s family hopes delay and society will weaken his wish to travel.
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Key idea 4
A stranger questions his inherited beliefs
In Jerusalem, Tancred fasts alone before kneeling at the Holy Sepulchre.
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Key idea 5
Captivity changes the direction of faith
On the road to Mount Sinai, horsemen ambush Tancred’s party.
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Key idea 6
Every ally brings a private ambition
Fakredeen takes Tancred to his castle in Lebanon and embraces his plan for a vast Arab movement to free Asia.
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Key idea 7
Blood and money shape the argument
Sidonia treats race as the key to history, explaining nations through blood and powerful individuals.
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Key idea 8
Comedy and vision belong together
The voice of the novel changes with Tancred’s surroundings.
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Key idea 9
Reaching the dream leaves another question
Tancred begins with everything except the message he wants.
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Who it’s for
Readers who enjoy a satirical comedy of manners that grows into a spiritual adventure will find it here. It suits anyone curious about Jerusalem, the desert, Victorian politics, and how East and West shaped each other's faith.
What this book is
What would bring a duke's only son, with castles and comforts waiting at home, to kneel in the dust of Jerusalem? In Tancred, Benjamin Disraeli sends young Lord Montacute on exactly that road. He wants to ask heaven a question that London, Parliament and his own bishop cannot answer.
Disraeli published the book in 1847, the third of a trio of novels with Coningsby and Sybil. He was a politician as well as a writer, and he knew the great houses well. The result is a comedy of manners, an adventure story and a religious argument in one book. You will meet a French chef, a duchess, a banker's daughter, a debt-ridden prince and a desert sheikh.
In this summary
- 1An heir without his own wishesFree
- 2Tancred wants more than public phrases
- 3Sidonia understands the pilgrim’s real question
- 4A stranger questions his inherited beliefs
- 5Captivity changes the direction of faith
- 6Every ally brings a private ambition
- 7Blood and money shape the argument
- 8Comedy and vision belong together
- 9Reaching the dream leaves another question
A Chef Plans the Heir's Great Feast
The book opens not with a hero but with a cook. In Mayfair, the young French chef Leander calls on his old teacher, Papa Prevost. The duke's son is coming of age, and the whole county must be fed. Leander talks of soufflés as if they were battles.
Disraeli enjoys the joke. Every servant copies the world above, and he smiles at the copy. Then the scene moves to Montacute Castle, home of the Duke of Bellamont, who loves his county, and his strict Protestant wife, Katherine. They have one child, Tancred.
That child has been guarded all his life. He was taken home from Eton at the first sign of fever, and his parents rented a house near Oxford. On his coming of age, two thousand townspeople feast in a pavilion, and there stands Tancred, pale and strangely calm. Nobody has asked the heir what he wants. A life without wishes of its own can still be full of sadness.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Check yourself
Why does Tancred want to go to Jerusalem?
Right. “The Church speaks with contradictory voices, and he wants a fresh message from heaven.”Not quite. “The Church speaks with contradictory voices, and he wants a fresh message from heaven.”
What complicates Tancred’s relationships with his allies?
Right. “Every ally Tancred finds carries a private purpose.”Not quite. “Every ally Tancred finds carries a private purpose.”
What debt does the novel argue Europe has forgotten?
Right. “The argument says that Europe owes its faith and laws to Asia and the Hebrew people, and has forgotten both.”Not quite. “The argument says that Europe owes its faith and laws to Asia and the Hebrew people, and has forgotten both.”
Go deeper: the whole of Tancred; Or, the New Crusade
About 11 h to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 151,300 words
- Reading timeAbout 10 h 35 min
Questions about Tancred; Or, the New Crusade
What is Tancred by Disraeli about?
It follows Tancred, the only son of a duke, who leaves a life of ease to seek a divine message in Jerusalem. On the way he meets a banker, a Bedouin sheikh, a scheming prince and a mountain queen.
Who is Sidonia in Tancred?
Sidonia is a very rich Sephardic financier who also appears in Coningsby. He understands Tancred's aim, gives him letters to a prior and a banker in Jerusalem, and explains his belief that race drives history.
What is the New Crusade in the title?
It is Tancred's journey to the East, named for his crusader ancestor. Instead of capturing the Holy Sepulchre, he hopes to bring a fresh spiritual message from Arabia back to a Europe that seems to have lost its faith.
When was Tancred written and is it a true story?
Disraeli published it in 1847 as the third of a trilogy with Coningsby and Sybil. The plot is invented, but it uses real places, real politics such as the Syrian crisis of 1840, and the author's own beliefs.
Is Tancred easy to read?
Short chapters, lively dialogue and a witty narrator carry it along. London chapters read like comic gossip, and the desert chapters are full of action, so each part has its own pace and color.
Cite this edition
Disraeli, Benjamin. Tancred; Or, the New Crusade. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/tancred-or-the-new-crusade.
Disraeli, B. (2026). Tancred; or, the new crusade. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tancred-or-the-new-crusade (Original work published 1847)
Disraeli, Benjamin. Tancred; Or, the New Crusade. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tancred-or-the-new-crusade.
@book{disraeli2026tancred,
author = {Disraeli, Benjamin},
title = {Tancred; Or, the New Crusade},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tancred-or-the-new-crusade},
note = {First published 1847}
}
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