His master took him to the Holy Land and ordered him to keep a diary of events during the Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa, from 1189 to 21 June 1190. His *Descriptio expeditionis asiaticae Friderici* contains three important letters: the first, addressed by the Bishop of Passau to the Duke of Austria, must have been written by Tageno himself; the second, sent by Frederick I; the third, dispatched to the Emperor by Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem.
The work, published by Früher-Struve in *MGH, Scriptores*, I, pp. 407-16, was inserted in abbreviated form in the Chronicle of the priest Magnus of Reichersperg in *MGH, Scriptores*, XVII, pp. 509-16. A partial version was published by J. F. Michaud in *Bibliothèque des Croisades*, III, Paris 1829, pp. 23-35.