France. Aquitaine. Duchy of Aquitaine. Richard the Lionheart, 1169-1199. Denier, 1st type. (Silver, 18 mm, 0.85 g). Bordeaux (?). + RICA RDVS in two lines between omega and crosslet. Rev. + AGVITANIE Potent cross. Bd. 471 (3f). PA. 2760. E.4. Elias 10a. Extremely Fine. A fine example of this often crude coinage. Wide flan. EX CGF, 26th July 1999, lot 750. Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199) was duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou from 1169. He paid homage to Louis VII in 1172 and took possession of his dukedom in 1174. Having conspired against his father with his brothers, he was obliged in 1185 to surrender Aquitaine, which was entrusted to his mother Alienor of Aquitaine. Richard the Lionheart is the second son of Henry II Plantagenet and Alienor of Aquitaine. In 1175, with the help of Louis VII of France, he and his brothers rebelled against their father. A homosexual, he was manipulated by Philip, the future king of France (Philip II Augustus). He became heir to the kingdom after the death of his brother Henry in 1183 and succeeded his father in 1189. He spent the ten years of his reign fighting in the Holy Land and France. He took part in the Third Crusade and almost retook Jerusalem. He dealt with Saladin. On his return, he was taken prisoner in Austria and remained there for two years. Married to Berangère of Navarre, the daughter of Sanche VI who never set foot in England, he had no children. He died during the siege of the fortress of Chalus in 1190 and was buried in Fontevrault Abbey, like his mother Alienor, five years later.