William, the duke of Normandy: 1048 to 1060
A worthy pursuit, nobody would disagree. You and Matilda do find the pope agreeable to an overturning of your excommuniction: the "price" is a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and you must build two abbeys upon your return. But your timing is awful. Normandy is threatened by powerful neighbors still. With you gone, the duchy is delivered up to anarchy and exploitation. The time lost by your little pious venture takes the rest of your life to reverse: there will be no conquests of foreign lands: no crowns to be won. You will be fortunate if you can reclaim and hold on to what you had, before you went off to impress the pope.
