The struggle between monarchs in Europe, particularly between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, would spawn well over a hundred years of conflict in Italy. The Investiture Controversy caused a split between the Italian city states and even the people within the city states. Guelph was the name given to those who supported the Papacy—while the Ghibellines were the supporters of the Holy Roman Empire. Guelph cities tended to be farther away from the Papal States and closer to the Holy Roman Empire, and Ghibelline cities tended to be farther away from the Holy Roman Empire and closer to the Pope’s temporal power.

Battles raged across Italy from the mid-1100s to the mid-1300s with both sides ending up on top at one time or another. This sixth Men of Iron game covers some of those battles: beginning with Frederick Barbarossa trying to recapture rebelling provinces in Italy in the late 12th century, taking a spin through the 13th century with a few battles that spelled the end of direct Hohenstaufen rule of Italy, and ending with a war that myth says was fought over the theft of a bucket from one city by another!

The battles include:

• Legnano 29 May 1176 – Frederick Barbarossa fights the Lombard League for control of northern Italy.
• Cortenuova 27 November 1237 – Frederick II, grandson of Barbarossa, tangles with the second Lombard League for control of northern Italy.
• Montaperti 4 September 1260 – Florence and Sienna fight one of the bloodiest battles in medieval Italy.
• Benevento 26 February 1266 – Manfred, King of Sicily, dies in battle in southern Italy against Charles I, also King of Sicily, securing Charles I as the title King of Sicily.
• Tagliacozzo 23 August 1268 – Conradin III, King of Jerusalem, is captured and executed after a battle in southern Italy against Charles I, King of Sicily.
• Campaldino 11 June 1289 – Florence and Arezzo fight in northern Italy. Famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri fought in the battle. Later, his brand of Guelph would lose power in Florence, and he would be forced into exile.
• Zappolino 15 November 1325 – Modena and Bologna fight, not over an oaken bucket stolen from a well, but over a long-standing feud replete with raids and reprisal that had occurred almost a century.