[2] On 9 March 1161, Tancred joined his uncle Simon, Prince of Taranto, in invading the palace, detained the king and queen, William I and Margaret, and their two sons, and incited a massacre of Muslims.

Originally, the older of these two sons, Roger IV, Duke of Apulia, was destined to be crowned in place of William, but soon the populace supported the accession of Simon himself.

In 1174, a large fleet, led by Tancred on behalf of William II, sailed to Egypt and briefly besieged the city of Alexandria.

The Sicilians realised that their expected allies would not be coming (due to King Amalric I of Jerusalem's death) and with Saladin's army approaching they returned to their ships and sailed home.

[4] In June 1185, Tancred led a huge Sicilian fleet of 300 ships under the command of Richard, Count of Acerra his brother-in-law to Durazzo to attack the core of the Byzantine Empire.

His coup was backed by the vice chancellor Matthew d'Ajello and the official class, while the rival claims of Constance and her husband, Henry VI, King of the Romans, were supported by most of the nobles.

Richard immediately demanded the release of his sister, William II's wife Joan, imprisoned by Tancred in 1189, along with every penny of her dowry and dower (in response of her vocal support of Germans).

In April 1191 in Rome, Henry and Constance were crowned emperor and empress of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Celestine III, and now the pair turned south to claim the Kingdom of Sicily.

Salerno, once Roger II's mainland capital, sent word ahead that Henry was welcome and invited Constance to stay in her father's old palace to escape the summer heat.

Naples offered the first resistance of the whole campaign, withstanding a siege with the help of Margaritus of Brindisi's fleet, until much of the imperial army had succumbed to malaria and disease.

Once Henry had withdrawn with the bulk of the imperial army, the towns that had supposedly fallen to the empire immediately declared their allegiance to Tancred, for the most part now fearing his retribution.

The populace of Salerno saw an opportunity to win some favour with Tancred and delivered Constance to him in Messina, an important prize given that Henry had every intention of returning.

Despite this Tancred always treated his aunt, now detained, honourably with courtesy, which his wife Queen Sibylla strongly opposed, believing this would implicitly acknowledge the claim of the latter.

[5] His widow, Sibylla of Acerra, established a regency for their son, William III, but Henry returned to Italy later that year, with his army financed by the lucrative ransom of Richard I. Naples surrendered in May, almost without a blow, and the rest of the Regno followed.