Raymond of Poitiers came to Antioch not as a conquering prince but through a clandestine arrangement — smuggled into the city disguised as a pilgrim to avoid Byzantine interference, then hastily married to the twelve-year-old heiress Constance in 1136 to legitimize his rule. His reign ended at the Field of Artah in 1149, where Nur ad-Din's forces killed him and, according to chroniclers, sent his head to the Caliph of Baghdad in a silver box.
The "large bust" distinction separates this type from the smaller-bust denier of the same reign — a die variation catalogued by Malloy that collectors use to sequence the coinage chronologically within his thirteen-year principality.
Raymond of Poitiers came to Antioch not as a conquering prince but through a clandestine arrangement — smuggled into the city disguised as a pilgrim to avoid Byzantine interference, then hastily married to the twelve-year-old heiress Constance in 1136 to legitimize his rule. His reign ended at the Field of Artah in 1149, where Nur ad-Din's forces killed him and, according to chroniclers, sent his head to the Caliph of Baghdad in a silver box.
The "large bust" distinction separates this type from the smaller-bust denier of the same reign — a die variation catalogued by Malloy that collectors use to sequence the coinage chronologically within his thirteen-year principality.