18 h 14 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 18 h 14 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if wealth, rank, and a future in Parliament leave you with nothing you truly want?
Tancred, Viscount Montacute, has the life his parents wish for him: wealth, standing, and a clear path into society. But the young duke’s heir refuses politics and marriage. He sets out for Jerusalem instead, determined to discover what faith and duty require beyond the drawing rooms of London.
In Benjamin Disraeli’s Tancred; Or, the New Crusade, that search brings him among bankers, chieftains, and visionaries with plans of their own. Eva, a learned Jewish banker’s daughter, challenges his assumptions. Fakredeen, a charming emir deep in debt, sees opportunity. As Tancred travels through Syria and into the desert, spiritual longing meets worldly ambition.
What you’ll discover
- An heir who refuses Follow a young man who questions the comfortable future his family takes for granted.
- London’s sharp social comedy Enjoy ironic talk, gossip, and the schemes of fashionable people trying to change Tancred’s mind.
- Eva’s searching questions Meet a proud, learned woman whose understanding of faith and history tests Tancred’s beliefs.
- Ambition beneath the charm Watch Fakredeen’s dreams of power complicate an English visitor’s search for spiritual purpose.
- Faith against comfortable certainty Explore Disraeli’s argument that Europe seeks answers among the peoples it looks down upon.
Who will love it
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’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An heir without his own wishes
- Tancred wants more than public phrases
- Sidonia understands the pilgrim’s real question
- A stranger questions his inherited beliefs
- Captivity changes the direction of faith
- Every ally brings a private ambition
- Blood and money shape the argument
- Comedy and vision belong together
- Reaching the dream leaves another question
Who’s who
- TancredThe Marquess of Montacute, a serious young heir who leaves his sheltered life to seek a divine message in the Holy Land.
- The Duke of BellamontTancred's gentle father, a county landowner who dislikes fashion and cannot bring himself to oppose his son.
- The Duchess of BellamontTancred's strict, sincere mother, who has settled every point of doctrine and fears for her son's health and faith.
- Lord EskdaleThe family's worldly cousin, who tries to delay the crusade by yachts, invitations and society.
- SidoniaA very rich Sephardic financier who understands Tancred's quest and equips him with letters and ideas about race.
- EvaBesso's daughter, the quick-minded Lady of Bethany, who questions Tancred's faith and loves her people and her foster brother.
- FakredeenA charming young Syrian emir, deep in debt, who dreams of a throne and attaches himself to Tancred.
- BaroniTancred's resourceful attendant, who talks his way out of danger and serves the master who gave his family their chance.
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Tancred; Or, the New Crusade
by Benjamin Disraeli · 1847
A duke's only son leaves London for Jerusalem, hoping heaven will answer what Europe no longer can.
Challenging10–20 hours to readEnglish
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In short
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.
Tancred; Or, the New Crusade at a glance
- 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
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
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.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1847
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
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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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.
The author
Benjamin Disraeli
1804–1881 · British statesman and novelist
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) was a British politician and novelist. He was born in London and lived in England. His novels include Henrietta Temple (1837), Coningsby (1844), Sybil (1845), and Tancred (1847). He led the Conservative Party and served as British prime minister in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880.
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