Dinero of Alfonso VIII, King of Castille

This AR Dinero of Alfonso VIII was struck during his long reign between 1148 & 1214 AD. He became king upon the death of his father while only two years of age. The coin is in in VF+ condition with some areas of weakness to the strike. Obv. - The king's head L. - Rev. - a castle.

As some of you know who have followed some of my prior posts, I have combined the hobbies of genealogy and numismatics, so apart from just the historical interest, I treasure it for the family connection, as he was my 25th great-grandfather.

Not everyone is aware of the close familial ties between English, French, Spanish, and other European noble houses. Not only was Alfonso married to Eleanor of England, daughter of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, but Alfonso's daughter, Blanche of Castille married Louis VIII of France. I descend through their second son, Robert, Count of Artois, whose daughter Blanche of Artois married my ancestor Edmund "Crouchback" Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster and of Leicester - a son of Henry III.

Also of note regarding Alfonso VIII is his descent fro Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, more famously known as el Cid, through his daughter Cristina Rodriguez, which makes him my 29th great-grandfather - but I'm not a descendant of Charlton Heston & Sophia Loren ;-P

I'm your basic "down-to-Earth" American guy, and I don't believe in elitism, but I do love ancient and medieval history. I feel very connected to the past. Most people with even a small amount of European origin are descendants of Charlemagne - the difficulty is having the perseverance to conduct the research to prove it, and hoping that records were not destroyed in our planet's innumerable senseless wars! I still love all of my ancestors equally, whether noble or peasant - Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Pagan, or otherwise. Some even say that Muslim families intermarried with the Catholic Spanish nobility... Ultimately, we are all cousins.