France. Aquitaine. Duchy of Aquitaine. Alienor, 1137-1204. Denier. (Silver, 18.5 mm, 0.85 g). +DVCISIT (S lying) Alpha and Omega, two crosslets. Rev. +. AQVITANIE Cross within a beading. Bd 466 (3f). PA. 274(59/11). E11a. Elias 24-26 var. Extremely Fine. This coin is minted on a very wide flan, showing most of the beading. The relief is very clear. This denier has no circulation. Rare coin in this state. Ex CGF, 30th December 2000, lot 910. Alienor's coinage is anonymous and is known only from denier of this type and obols (Elias 12). Alienor was the daughter of the last Duke of Aquitaine and Poitou; she was born around 1122. In 1137, when she was just fifteen, she married Louis of France, the future Louis VII, and brought Guyenne, Gascony, Saintonge and Poitou as her dowry. In 1152 Louis VII had his marriage annulled at the Council of Beaugency, and Alienor remarried less than six weeks later to Henry of Plantagenet, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy, who became King of England in 1154 under the name Henry II. She lived in Aquitaine and formed a court. After trying to incite her sons against their father, Henry II had her committed to a convent in Salisbury; she was not released until 1189, at the time of the accession of her son Richard Lionheart. She took over the government when Richard Lionheart left for the Third Crusade. On his return, she retired to Fontevrault Abbey, where she died in 1204. Her recumbent statue is still preserved in the abbey.