Fraction de denier au château

The Principality of Antioch occupied an awkward commercial position — a Latin crusader state embedded in a Byzantine and Islamic trading network that had no use for its coinage. Small copper fractions like this one were minted to fill a gap at the lowest end of local exchange, where neither Byzantine nor Arab issues circulated in sufficient quantity. The reign bracket of 1120–1140 encompasses Bohemond II's brief rule and the regency of Alice of Antioch, a period of serious dynastic instability following his death at Anazarbus in 1130.

Metcalf's classification of this type remains the standard reference, though die studies suggest the series was struck over a compressed period rather than continuously across the full two decades.