SOURCE: "The Departure of Tatikios from the Crusader Army," in Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Vol. 44, No. 110, November, 1971. pp. 134-47.

In the following essay, France considers the departure of one of Alexius's military leaders and compares Anna's rendition with other accounts of the event.

The departure of Tatikios, the imperial representative on the Crusade, from the Latin camp in early February 1098 is an event which has received curiously little attention from historians. The actual circumstances of the departure have not been fully explored, but more important, perhaps, Tatikios's role in Byzantine-crusader relations remains obscure.

Few of the sources for the First Crusade cast much light on the role of Tatikios. Only one Greek source, the Alexiad of the Princess Anna Comnena,¹ illuminates this episode. Amongst the Latin sources, the account of the anonymous Gesta Francorum² has been given undue prominence, owing to the fact that many...