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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Sulla80, post: 5334931, member: 99456&quot;]A fun post &amp; coins, [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER], and I have no coins of Richard Lionhearted or any other Richards. However, I can add this coin which is from the right time period and does (eventually) make a connection to Richard I the Lionhearted and King Arthur&#039;s mythical sword, Excalibur.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Tancred (King of Sicily reigned 1189-1194) Æ Follaro</b></p><p><b>Obv:</b> +<i>ROGERIVS:</i>; in center, <i>REX</i>; dots above and below</p><p><b>Rev:</b> Arabic (Kufic) legend on two lines - المالك تنقرير (<i>al-malik Tanqrir; the King, Tancred</i>)</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1225907[/ATTACH] </p><p>Tancred has quite a story as the bastard son of Roger the III. Short, ugly and mocked by his critics as the &quot;Monkey King&quot;, a small but fierce soldier he was called &quot;Tancredulus&quot;, battles for the throne in Sicily, exile to Constantinople, sailing a fleet to Alexandria, Egypt, only to retreat quickly, a coup to become king of Sicily, a reign of 5 years that included battles with Richard the I of England and Philip the II of France which led to a treaty at Messina and a gift of friendship in AD 1191 of the sword Excalibur (purported to be King Arthur&#039;s) from Richard I (The Lionheart).&nbsp;&nbsp; The sword was apparently discovered with the tomb of Arthur and Guenevier in 1191 in Glastonbury Abbey (or perhaps this was just a publicity stunt to raise money to rebuild the Abbey which had suffered a serious fire in 1884).&nbsp; Despite the battles, Richard and Tancred seem to have become fast friends.</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;On the other hand the king of England gave Tancred that best of swords which the Britons call Caliburne (or Excalibur, as it is called in the &quot;Idylls of the King&quot;), formerly the sword of Arthur, once the noble king of England. Moreover king Tancred gave the king of England four great ships that they call ursers and fifteen galleys; and when the king of England was departing he brought him on his way as far as Taormina, two stages from Catania.&quot;</p><p>- <a href="https://archive.org/details/CrusadeOfRichardI/page/n65/mode/2up" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://archive.org/details/CrusadeOfRichardI/page/n65/mode/2up" rel="nofollow">The Crusades of Richard I: 1189-92, Thomas Andrew Archer, 1912, p.48</a></p><p><br /></p><p>And a quick conclusion to Tancred&#039;s story: more battles with his Aunt Constance and her husband Emperor Henry the VI for the throne, more battles in Apulia, and ultimately his death in Palermo in 1194 at the age of 56.&nbsp; The fate of the sword, unknown (at least to me).</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="4">Ref:</font> <a href="https://www.academia.edu/35488648/Two_Treaties_of_Messina_1190_1191_Crusading_Diplomacy_of_Richard_I" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.academia.edu/35488648/Two_Treaties_of_Messina_1190_1191_Crusading_Diplomacy_of_Richard_I" rel="nofollow"><font size="4">Two Treaties of Messina 1190–1191: Crusading Diplomacy of Richard I</font></a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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