What’s notable about Princess Tomasina is that her father is actually Matilda’s husband. While leading troops in the siege of Cremona, Matilda gives birth to her fourth child. Despite now wielding the smaller force, she’s still winning the war. The Empire wins the battle, but Matilda has done well to cripple key castles and towns. By the time the armies do clash, Matilda’s forces have been whittled down by numerous sieges and supply line problems. The next year is spent watching as two roughly equally sized death balls chase each other around the map-a slow, painful reminder of how irritating Crusader Kings II’s combat can be. There are literally no consequences for success or failure. After all, this war isn’t for land or titles it’s for the honour of a Pope. Rather than meddle, I decide to let things play out. In fact, her forces now rival that of the Empire. I briefly worry, until Matilda’s army marches in and crushes the peasants with almost comical ease. Matilda’s beaten the Holy Roman Empire before, of course, but here she’s also dealing with a large peasant revolt in Brescia, her northernmost territory. This doesn’t sit well with Matilda, who remains an adamant fan of Popes-both in actual history, where it’s thought she had affairs with both Pope Gregory VII and Pope Urban II, and in Crusader Kings II, where she’s decided to launch an inadvisable war on behalf of the Vatican. The Empire, for whatever reason, has established Anastasius V ‘the Ill-Ruler’ as an antipope, attempting to undermine the Vatican and Anastasius IV, the actual Pope. On April 7, 1079, Matilda embarks on an antipapal war against the Holy Roman Empire. And look, I don’t want to make it sound like every problem can be solved by a murder, but I think this problem can be solved by a murder.

As a result, Matilda and Shabsai now hate each other. This isn’t likely to change anytime soon, mostly because Matilda recently confessed to a fling with her lover, Duke Oberto of Corsica. Matilda has three bastard children, but none with her husband, King Shabsai. Right now, Matilda’s biggest problem-other than having pissed off the map’s second largest military power-is her lack of an heir. I’m just providing support-money, stat boosts, traits and the occasional assassination plot-via console commands. Instead, Matilda is being controlled by the AI. This was all possible because I’m not actually playing Crusader Kings II. She’s the Queen of Sardinia and Corsica (a kingdom that also comprises her original Italian duchy), and, at the age of 31, seceded from the Holy Roman Empire after a war against its new ruler, Kaiser Ordulf the Drunkard, who currently lives in her dungeons. My Matilda di Canossa-the Crusader Kings II one-is essentially a turbocharged version of her historical counterpart. Look, I don’t want to make it sound like every problem can be solved by a murder, but I think this problem can be solved by a murder.

Crusader kings 2 great holy war