Hargreaves, Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8778-7417 and Carey, Denis (2026) The Laws of the Realm: Simulating Sovereignty, Succession and Justice in Crusader Kings III. In: Aroni, Gabriele and Wagner, Anne, (eds.) International Handbook of Legal Language and Communication: From Text to Semiotics. Springer Nature (In Press)

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Abstract

This chapter examines how Crusader Kings III transforms medieval legal, political, and cultural systems into an interactive semiotic realm. The game operationalises core doctrines of law, sovereignty, taxation, vassalage, succession, marriage, inheritance, and war through procedural design, enabling players to engage with jurisprudence not as a static text but as a living simulation. Through an examination of titles, crown authority sliders, feudal contracts, elective assemblies, gender laws, and religious sanction, this chapter demonstrates how the game functions as a playable model of feudal legality and legitimacy.

Attention is given to the semiotics of succession, ranging from primogeniture and partition to elective monarchies, including Scandinavian Thing assemblies and Islamic clan succession rules. Gender inheritance laws (male-only, male-preference, equal, female-preference, female-only) are analysed as signifiers of cultural-legal variation and power relations. This chapter also explores the entanglement of law and religion, as crusades, holy wars, excommunication, and assassination plots emerge as legal-theological phenomena, with the interface and event system operating as narratives of moral legitimacy and coercive authority. Marriage, dynastic union, and murder are examined as mechanisms of contract, alliance, and liability, illustrating the performative dimensions of legality.

Adopting a legal-semiotic perspective and drawing on John Fiske’s account of the video game player as co-author of meaning, this chapter shows how the game’s interface and narrative architecture represent law as symbol, procedure, and simulation. In doing so, it demonstrates how digital games can function as jurisprudential laboratories, shaping understanding of justice, authority, and legal consciousness through interactive design.

Item Type:	Book Section
Status:	In Press
Subjects:	K Law > K Law (General) K Law > KD England and Wales
School/Department:	York Business School
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/14843

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