''Tancred; or, The New Crusade'' ( 1847) is a novel by Benjamin Disraeli, first published by

Henry Colburn Henry Colburn (1784 – 16 August 1855) was a British publisher. Life Virtually nothing is known about Henry Colburn's parentage or early life, and there is uncertainty over his year of birth. He was well-educated and fluent in French and h ...

in three volumes. Together with ''

Coningsby Coningsby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England, it is situated on the A153 road, adjoining Tattershall on its western side, 13 miles (22 km) north west of Boston and 8 miles (13 km) so ...

'' (1844) and '' Sybil'' (1845) it forms a sequence sometimes called the

Young England {{about, the Conservative political group, imaginary military society, Edward Oxford Young England was a Victorian era political group with a political message based on an idealised feudalism: an absolute monarch and a strong Established Church, ...

trilogy. It shares a number of characters with the earlier novels, but unlike them is concerned less with the political and social

condition of England The Condition-of-England question was a debate in the Victorian era over the issue of the English working-class during the Industrial Revolution. It was first proposed by Thomas Carlyle in his essay ''Chartism'' (1839). After assessing Chartism ...

than with a religious and even mystical theme: the question of how Judaism and Christianity are to be reconciled, and the Church reborn as a progressive force.

Synopsis

Tancred, Lord Montacute, the novel's idealistic young hero, seems destined to live the life of a conventional member of the British ruling class. Dissatisfied with his life in fashionable London circles, he instead leaves his parents and retraces the steps of his Crusader ancestors to the Holy Land, hoping there to "penetrate the great Asian mystery" and understand the roots of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. He meets the beautiful Eva, daughter of a Jewish financier, and becomes involved in the political machinations of her foster-brother, the brilliant Fakredeen, a Lebanese emir. At Fakredeen's instigation Tancred is kidnapped and held captive, but is nevertheless allowed to visit

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...

. He then has a vision of an angel who tells him he must be the prophet of "the sublime and solacing doctrine of theocratic equality", a concept which Disraeli leaves somewhat hazy. Tancred falls ill, and is released at the instigation of Eva, who nurses him back to health. She teaches him about the glories of Mediterranean civilization and the debt that Christianity owes to

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

. Tancred, in love with Eva and utterly convinced that she is right, proposes marriage, but the romance is broken off when his parents appear to reclaim their son and take him back to England. Critics noted that the novel's character, Fakredeen revealingly explores Disraeli's real self. They ask if it was coincidental that Tancred's obsession with the East and his crusade to create a new empire foreshadows the imperialism of Disraeli towards India and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in the 1870s.J.P. Parry, "Disraeli, the East and religion: Tancred in context." ''English Historical Review'' 132.556 (2017): 570-604.

Notes

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.
Online edition
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. {{Authority control Novels by Benjamin Disraeli British political novels British philosophical novels 1847 British novels Novels set in the Middle East Jewish–Christian debate Books written by prime ministers of the United Kingdom

Synopsis

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Further reading

External links