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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Parthicus, post: 2891673, member: 81887&quot;][ATTACH=full]695189[/ATTACH] </p><p>Crusader States, Principality of Antioch.&nbsp; Bohemund III (1163-1201 AD).&nbsp; Billon denier (19mm, 1.0g).&nbsp; Obverse: Bust left, wearing chain mail and helmet with cross ornament, crescent before and star behind, inscription around +BOAMVNDUS.&nbsp; Reverse: Cross, with crescent in second quadrant, inscription around +ANTIOCHIA.&nbsp; From a John Anthony auction, ex [USER=81808]@Aethelred[/USER] Collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Principality of Antioch was one of the several states set up by the victorious Crusaders after the First Crusade in 1098 AD.&nbsp; Bohemund was born in 1148, the son of Constance, Princess of Antioch and her husband Raymond of Poitiers.&nbsp; The next year Raymond was killed in battle with Nur ad-Din, the Zengid atabeg of Aleppo (I showed a Byzantine-imitative coin of his recently).&nbsp; Constance tried to retain power for herself but was eventually forced out, and Bohemund took the throne in 1163.&nbsp; Just a year later, he was taken captive in battle by Nur ad-Din, but was allowed to be ransomed and to retain his throne as Nur ad-Din thought that conquering Antioch would be considered a provocation by the Byzantine Empire.&nbsp; (Middle Eastern politics, then as now, could get complicated.)&nbsp; Bohemund continued to rule (give or take the occasional capture by the enemy) until his death in 1201; the whole story is quite lengthy, and you can read the summary here on Wikipedia:</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemond_III_of_Antioch" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemond_III_of_Antioch" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemond_III_of_Antioch</a></p><p>Reading that, one is amazed at how much of the Crusaders&#039; time was spent fighting each other, rather than any of the various Muslim states.&nbsp; The history of that time is interesting, but the constant conflict of numerous groups, sometimes allied in odd patterns, gets wearisome after a while.&nbsp; What really attracted me to this coin was the portrait.&nbsp; That is clearly a medieval warrior, in helmet and chain mail, and while it&#039;s not particularly realistic it conveys the intended message very clearly.&nbsp; This coin cost me $50 in a recent John Anthony auction, which is quite reasonable for this coin in this condition.&nbsp; Share your coins of the Crusaders, or their Seljuk/Ayyubid/etc. opponents.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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