Rei Jaehaerys I

ABOUT

Jaehaerys I Targaryen, known as the Conciliator, the Wise, or later as the Old King, was Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and the fourth Targaryen king on the Iron Throne, ruling from 48 AC to 103 AC, serving as king of the kingdom for fifty-five years. His dragon was Vermithor. He was the grandson of Aegon the Conqueror. His long reign was marked by political stability and economic prosperity, much of it due to the reforms he implemented.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Reign: 48 AD to 103 AD Full name: Jaehaerys Targaryen, the First of His Name Pseudonym(s): the Conciliator the Sage the Old King Titles: King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men Lord of the Seven Kingdoms Territory Protector Born: 34 AD, in King's Landing Death: 103 AD, in King's Landing

FAMILY

Royal House: House Targaryen Predecessor: Maegor I Targaryen Herdeiro(s): 1st: Aemon Targaryen (55 AD - 92 AD) 2nd: Baelon Targaryen (92 AD - 101 AD) 3rd: Viserys Targaryen (101 AD - 103 AD) Successor: Viserys I Targaryen Rainha: Alysanne Targaryen Sons: Aegon Targaryen Alyssa Targaryen Aemon Targaryen Baelon Targaryen Daela Targaryen Aeryn Targaryen Vaegon Targaryen Maeghelle Targaryen Valerion Targaryen Viserra Targaryen Gaemon Targaryen Saera Targaryen Gael Targaryen Pai: Aenys I Targaryen Mother: Alyssa Velaryon

APPEARANCE AND PERSONALITY

According to a semi-canon source, Jaehaerys had the violet eyes of House Targaryen. At sixteen, he wore his hair loose, about his shoulders. Early in his reign, he grew a thin beard and mustache. By the time he was twenty-four, Jaehaerys looked "a king to the last hair of his head". He was a tall, handsome man, who wore his hair in a thick braid that fell almost to his waist, and his facial hair had grown into a full, beautiful golden beard flecked with silver. In his old age, his beard turned white and grew to his waist. Even in his old age, Jaehaerys still stood erect, without stooping. By 84 AC, at the age of fifty, Jaehaerys had grown thinner, almost skeletal, and his beard and hair had become more gray than gold. He seemed wise and dignified even in his later years. Jaehaerys carried himself with grace. It was said that his smile could warm a maiden's heart, and his frown could turn a man's blood to ice. He wore as his crown a simple band of yellow gold set with seven gemstones of different colors. Jaehaerys was wise beyond his years. He spoke justly, was open, and was as chivalrous as he was brave. According to Grand Maester Benifer, Jaehaerys was "learned as a maester and pious as a septon." While Benifer may have been trying to flatter Jaehaerys with such a statement, according to Archmaester Gyldayn there was some truth to it as well. Queen Alyssa, Jaehaerys's mother, was said to have called Jaehaerys "the best of my three sons."

APPEARANCE AND PERSONALITY

Jaehaerys was decisive in both thought and action, and always sought the most peaceful ends. In times of trouble, rather than dwell on matters, Jaehaerys would shrug his shoulders and get to work. He never acted without thought, and he did not trust to chance. Jaehaerys also disliked making direct threats, but he had other ways of expressing his disapproval. According to the Sealord of Braavos, Jaehaerys was very skilled at making veiled threats. Even at the age of fourteen, Jaehaerys refused to allow his council to rule the realm in his name during his regency, and would involve himself in many of the matters the small council faced. He was never shy about letting his voice be heard. Nor was he a man to waste time on censure, recrimination, or appeals. Jaehaerys was an accomplished knight. By the time he was fourteen, Jaehaerys was skilled with both a spear and a longbow. Following a rigorous training regimen during his time at Dragonstone, he became skilled at arms as well, to the point that Ser Elyas Scales, Jaehaerys's master-at-arms, stated that Jaehaerys would never be skilled enough to join the Kingsguard, but that he was skilled enough to best his uncle Maegor in combat, if Maegor were still alive. Jaehaerys was known for his love of travel, and made many royal advancements. He and Alysanne were known to stay at the Inn at the Crossroads during their travels, so much so that it was later renamed the Two Crowns.

APPEARANCE AND PERSONALITY

When he was younger, Jaehaerys was fascinated by the heavy tomes and scrolls of Old Valyria found in the library on Dragonstone. Jaehaerys was always close to his sister-wife Alysanne, even as a child, and had a strong affection and regard for her. Toward the end of his life, after the deaths of his wife and most of his children, Jaehaerys's strength and intelligence began to fail, leaving him often confined to bed.

UNIQUE LIFETIME

Jaehaerys was the third son, and fourth child, of Prince Aenys Targaryen and his wife, Lady Alyssa Velaryon.[15] He was born on the twentieth day of the ninth moon,[10] 34 AC,[11] in King's Landing.[16] He had two older brothers, Aegon and Viserys, an older sister, Rhaena, and two younger sisters, Alysanne and Vaella.[15] His sister Rhaena placed a dragon egg in his cradle after his birth, from which Jaehaerys's dragon, Vermithor, would eventually hatch.[11] When his grandfather, King Aegon I Targaryen, died on Dragonstone in 37 AC,[17] his father, Aenys, ascended the Iron Throne.[18] Followers of the Faith of the Seven began an uprising after King Aenys I married Jaehaerys's two eldest siblings, Rhaena and Aegon, to each other in 41 AC. After the Poor Fellows scaled the walls of the Red Keep in an attempt to assassinate the royal family, Jaehaerys fled with his parents and siblings to Dragonstone.[18] By the end of the year, most of the realm had rallied to the side of the Faith, and King Aenys, unable to decide how to deal with the rebels, fell ill. In 42 AC, he collapsed upon learning that Rhaena and Aegon were besieged at Quail's Hall, and died three days later.[18][19][11]

REIGN OF MAEGOR

Jaehaerys was at Dragonstone for his father's cremation. Within hours, Queen Dowager Alyssa fled to Driftmark, her father's residence, with Jaehaerys and Alysanne.[19][11] Meanwhile, Dowager Queen Visenya Targaryen flew to Pentos to rescue her son Maegor from his exile. Once back on Dragonstone, Maegor claimed the Iron Throne for himself, ignoring the claim of Jaehaerys' older brother Aegon. Later that year, after a visit from Visenya and Vhagar, Alyssa brought Jaehaerys, her sister Alysanne and his brother Viserys to King's Landing, where they witnessed King Maegor's marriage to Tyanna of the Tower. In 44 AC, Jaehaerys, Alysanne, and their mother resided on Dragonstone as hostages of the Dowager Queen Visenya. In the chaos that ensued after Visenya's death from natural causes that year, Jaehaerys, his sister Alysanne, and his mother Alyssa fled the island. In retaliation, King Maegor had Jaehaerys' brother Viserys, who resided in King's Landing, tortured to death. As Jaehaerys's elder brother Aegon was killed by Maegor in battle the previous year, Jaehaerys became the eldest living son of the late King Aenys I. In 47 CE, Maegor forced three widows of proven fertility to marry him in a ceremony. One of these Black Brides was Jaehaerys' older sister, Rhaena. Still without a son, Maegor officially disinherited Jaehaerys and proclaimed Rhaena Aerea's daughter as his heir.[20] However, the kingdom slowly turned against Maegor, and when Jaehaerys put forward his claim to the throne, he unified the factions that opposed him.[20] The first great lord to openly proclaim himself for Jaehaerys was his second cousin, Lord Rogar Baratheon of Storm's End.

REIGN OF MAEGOR

Other great houses followed, including House Lannister, House Tyrell, House Arryn[22] and, although they originally joined Maegor against Prince Aegon, House Tully.[23] Rhaena, Jaehaerys's sister, fled from Maegor on her dragon after learning of Jaehaerys' claim, stealing his Valyrian steel sword, Blackfyre, in the process. Two of Maegor's Kingsguard knights, Ser Olyver Bracken and Ser Raymund Mallery, joined Jaehaerys as well.

RISE OF JAEHAERYS

In 48 AC, following Maegor's mysterious death, Jaehaerys arrived in King's Landing at Vermithor, at the head of Lord Rogar Baratheon's army. Most of Maegor's supporters had fled, and Jaehaerys imprisoned the few who remained. As Jaehaerys was only fourteen years old, Jaehaerys' mother, Dowager Queen Alyssa Velaryon would serve as queen regent during the first two years of Jaehaerys' reign, and the lord Rogar Baratheon, whom Jaehaerys had named Lord Protector of the Realm and Hand of the King, would provide further guidance. Jaehaerys decided to pardon the lords and knights who had served Maegor, restoring their lands and titles to them, although he required a son or daughter as a hostage for each, or the payment of a sum in gold to the crown .[8] An exception was made for some: the jailers and confessors who aided in the torture and death of Prince Viserys were all executed. Of Maegor's Kingsguard, Ser Maladon Moore was executed for his involvement in Queen Tyanna's murder, while the remaining five (including Ser Olyver Bracken and Ser Raymund Mallery, who had deserted Maegor for Jaehaerys but whose service was refused by the young king, because he did not want oathbreakers to serve him) was given the choice between execution or dressing in black. All except Ser Harrold Langward chose to wear black. When Ser Harrold demanded a trial by combat, Jaehaerys wished to face the knight himself. In this he was rejected by his mother, the Queen Regent. Harrold Langward was killed by the Crown's champion, Ser Gyles Morrigen, who was named Lord Commander of Jaehaerys' Kingsguard soon after.

RISE OF JAEHAERYS

While the realm observed Jaehaerys's willingness to grant pardons, the remaining followers of Maegor dismissed their armies and traveled to King's Landing to swear fealty to the new king. After Septon Moon's sudden death, the Poor Fellows besieging Oldtown fled, and Jaehaerys was free to go to Oldtown, where he was blessed and crowned by the High Septon with his late father's crown at Stoney Sept. Although he was urged to do so by Lady Lucinda Tully and Ser Joffrey Doggett, Jaehaerys refused to reinstate the Swords and Stars of the Faith, insisting that the Crown would protect the Faith from then on. Jaehaerys removed the bounties that King Maegor I had placed on the heads of the Warrior's Sons and Poor Fellows,[8] and pardoned all those who laid down their swords.[24][6] In return, the Faith agreed to forgo its traditional right to hold trials, accepting the justice of the throne from that point forward.[6][25] Jaehaerys swore that the crown would always protect and defend the Faith.[26] Additionally, Jaehaerys offered a white cloak to Ser Joffrey Doggett, a former warrior's son, and the knight accepted. Thus, Jaehaerys reconciled the Iron Throne and the Faith.

MARRIAGE

In 49 AC Jaehaerys' mother, Queen Regent Alyssa Velaryon, and Lord Rogar Baratheon, Hand of Jaehaerys, were married in the event that became known as the Golden Wedding.[7] Although Jaehaerys liked and respected Rogar, he felt slighted, as Rogar had not asked for Jaehaerys' permission for the marriage. Jaehaerys did not approve of the marriage,[7][10] confessing to Septon Barth (sometime after the latter's arrival in King's Landing the following year) that he did not need a second father and that he felt his intelligence, judgment and temperament were superior. to those of Rogar.[10] According to Barth's accounts, Jaehaerys believed that Rogar's motivation for the marriage was a desire for power, not affection for Alyssa, and felt that Rogar was overreacting. But as he had not objected to his sister Rhaena's marriage on Fair Isle earlier that year, Jaehaerys felt he could not object to his mother's choice either. Jaehaerys granted audience to any lord or knight who desired a private word with him, agreeing to speak with them in his manor. Those who accepted the offer were all impressed by Jaehaerys. Furthermore, during the wedding celebration, the five remaining vacancies in Jaehaerys's Kingsguard were filled by the winners of a weapons test that became known as the War for the Whitecloaks.

LEGACY

Jaehaerys was the longest-reigning Targaryen monarch, ruling for fifty-five years. Because of this, he is referred to as the "Old King". His reign is remembered as the most prosperous period in the history of the Targaryen monarchy. His rule brought peace, stability, and justice to the Seven Kingdoms. According to the archmaesters, the population of Westeros north of Dorne doubled during Jaehaerys's reign, with the population of King's Landing becoming four times larger.[3] Jaehaerys even managed to forge peace between House Bracken and House Blackwood in the riverlands, which would last fifty years, but would not last much longer than his reign.[23][29] Jaehaerys is considered the greatest of the Targaryen kings by many historians and laymen. There is a pedestal of the Old King that stands in the Citadel in Oldtown with the words "He united the land and made the seven kingdoms one" inscribed on it. Jaehaerys's grandson and successor, Viserys I Targaryen, wore Jaehaerys's crown. When Viserys died in 129 AC, his eldest son Aegon ascended the throne instead of Viserys's proclaimed heir, Rhaenyra, sparking the war known as the Dance of the Dragons . Ser Steffon Darklyn of the Kingsguard and his retainers defected to Rhaenyra's black faction at Dragonstone. With them, they brought the crown Jaehaerys I had worn. Prince Daemon Targaryen, Rhaenyra's husband and uncle, wore this crown during Rhaenyra's coronation.