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Friedrich II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Sicily and Jerusalem. He was called stupor mundi by his contemporaries. How much cooler can you get?
 
I rather like Robert Guiscard de Hauteville, the Duke of Apulia and Calabria.
 
I really like Harald Hardrada King of Norway in 1066 start. His achievements were'nt that amazing, but he have a really badass history. Commander of the Varangian Guard, King of Norway and pretender to the Danish and English thrones, and killed on the battlefield. The Last Great Viking he is often called. His story would make a cool movie I think :)

Wiki link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Hardrada#Return_to_Scandinavia
 
Best is subjective, but I would have to give my vote to stupor mundi as well, no idea what his stats in-game are, but I think he is probably the most impressive human being to have lived during the CK2 time-frame.
 
You didn't specify that it had to be a ruler so I say El Cid. Great stats and, I believe, the highest marshal score of any character in the game. Beyond that, one of the most famous and interesting figures of the time.
 
Friedrich II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Sicily and Jerusalem. He was called stupor mundi by his contemporaries. How much cooler can you get?

But he mostly failed as far as politics are considered, at least inside the HRE and Italy. So he would have a high learning score, but a medicore stewartship and diplomacy score.

Richard Lionheart, 3rd Crusade. Or Sal-ah-din-same period.

What exactly did he achieve? Apart form getting imprisoned, nearly losing his realm about it and being a prick as a son and father?


No, as far as military achievements are considered, Timur would probably the "best" character.

As far as politics and inner stability are considered, it would probably be Sala ad-Din, who founded a stable realm out of nothing, that resisted the three big European powers, even so it would crumble under his heirs.
 
As a French who studied history, I would have to say Philip II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_France

His consolidation of royal demesne was a huge step for France history. French vassals were too powerful, the King couldn't do much and didn't have such great power before. Philip II changed that. He player a major role in the formation of the France as a centralized state around Paris, which remains today in the way France is organized.

And when he defeated both the English King and the Emperor at Bouvines in 1214, it created a first feeling of being part of a kingdom in France, not just being a peasant of some village. Kind of a little birth of patriotism, even if it was directed towards the King, and not the country.