Nymeria’s Conquest vs. Aegon’s Conquest: Part 1
Going through Tumblr as I often do, I came across this really interesting post made by who I assume is a Martell fan. Explaining why they think Nymeria’s Conquest was morally superior to that of Aegon’s.
Suffice to say I found most of the reasons given and informations presented both lacking and at times incorrect. So here’s the first part of my debunking of it, focusing on the reasons they listed as to why Nymeria’s Conquest is a morally righteous one, while on part two I will break down the reasons why they think Aegon’s wasn’t.
Well true enough, the same of course can be said about the Targaryens who came to dragonstone because Valyria was at the brink of apocalypse at a time where Westeros was in fact in conflict, because they almost always were before aegon’s conquest.
Well *Dakota Johnson voice* that’s not true.
Such supremacy was easier to declare than to achieve, however. Years of war followed, as the Martells and their Rhoynar partners met and subdued one petty king after another. No fewer than six conquered kings were sent to the Wall in golden fetters by Nymeria and her prince, until only the greatest of their foes remained: Yorick Yronwood, the Bloodroyal, Fifth of His Name, Lord of Yronwood, Warden of the Stone Way, Knight of the Wells, King of Redmarch, King of the Greenbelt, and King of the Dornish.
For nine years Mors Martell and his allies (amongst them House Fowler of Skyreach, House Toland of Ghost Hill, House Dayne of Starfall, and House Uller of the Hellholt) struggled against Yronwood and his bannermen (the Jordaynes of the Tor, the Wyls of the Stone Way, together with the Blackmonts, the Qorgyles, and many more), in battles too numerous to mention. When Mors Martell fell to Yorick Yronwood's sword in the Third Battle of the Boneway, Princess Nymeria assumed sole command of his armies. Two more years of battle were required, but in the end it was Nymeria that Yorick Yronwood bent the knee to, and Nymeria who ruled thereafter from Sunspear.
Though she married twice more (first to the aged Lord Uller of Hellholt, and later to the dashing Ser Davos Dayne of Starfall, the Sword of the Morning), Nymeria herself remained the unquestioned ruler of Dorne for almost twenty seven years, her husbands serving only as counselors and consorts. She survived a dozen attempts upon her life, put down two rebellions, and threw back two invasions by the Storm King Durran the Third and one by King Greydon of the Reach. - The World of Ice and Fire - Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships
Seen here, Nymeria’s conquest takes eleven years to be completed, and afterwards she puts down two rebellions against her and her reign and survives a dozen attempts on her life, so there were insurrections against her and undoubtedly against her descendants though sadly very little of Dornish history is written compared to the extensive look at the Targaryen history Fire and Blood offers.
I am a little confused on which war Aegon started after the Conquest, I am assuming they mean the Dornish War. But well that was a part of the Conquest? After all did Nymeria put down her sword until the Yronwoods were conquered, did she settle down until they were subdued? No she didn’t, even if it took her eleven years, because her conquest too was incomplete. But I suppose it’s only a crime when Targaryens do it.
Also I don’t what the idea that Martells didn’t start any wars after their conquest is based upon. Even with what little we know about their history, we know that they did indeed start wars with other Kingdoms.
Yup that she most certainly did. Though I am not entirely sure how this is a reason why Nymeria’s Conquest is more morally righteous than that of Aegon. Aegon turned down the offers to marry Sharra Arryn and Argella Durrandon not because he was unwilling to make alliances (which he did make moving further into his Conquest) because well he was already married. Not to one but two women at that. Instead he offered to marry Argella to his right hand, which Argilac responded with maiming Aegon’s envoy and sending his hands back to him, and married his son Maegor to the daughter of Lord Hightower.
His High Holiness proposed a different bride for Maegor: his own niece, Ceryse Hightower, maiden daughter to the Lord of Oldtown, Manfred Hightower (not to be confused with his grandsire of the same name). King Aegon, mindful of the advantages of closer ties with Oldtown and its ruling house, saw wisdom in the choice and agreed to the match. -The Sons of the Dragon, Fire and Blood
Again absolutely correct, instead she waged war for eleven years, which is clearly better than four battles that the dragons were involved in.
Yes she did! Nymeria is a great woman. But oh my I must have missed the part where Aegon and his sisters committed genocide and destroyed cultures and forced the people of Westeros to worship the Valyrian gods instead of switching to the Faith themselves. In fact going as far as to get married under the Faith of the Seven and get crowned by the High Septon.
Suffice to say this is another thing that’s factually incorrect. So here is what’s written about Aegon and his sisters and how they approached the Westerosi culture:
The reconciliation of the Seven Kingdoms to Targaryen rule was the keystone of Aegon I’s policies as king. To this end, he made great efforts to include men (and even a few women) from every part of the realm in his court and councils. His former foes were encouraged to send their children (chiefly younger sons and daughters, as most great lords desired to keep their heirs close to home) to court, where the boys served as pages, cupbearers, and squires, the girls as handmaidens and companions to Aegon’s queens. In King’s Landing, they witnessed the king’s justice at first hand, and were urged to think of themselves as leal subjects of one great realm, not as westermen or stormlanders or northmen. -Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I, Fire and Blood
So Aegon’s chief goal is to unite the Realm that has been divided for thousands of years. He makes great effort to include men and women from all regions of Westeros in his council. He makes peace with his former foes. What a terrible, terrible man.
The Targaryens also brokered many marriages between noble houses from the far ends of the realm, in hopes that such alliances would help tie the conquered lands together and make the seven kingdoms one. Aegon’s queens, Visenya and Rhaenys, took a special delight in arranging these matches. Through their efforts, young Ronnel Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie, took a daughter of Torrhen Stark of Winterfell to wed, whilst Loren Lannister’s eldest son, heir to Casterly Rock, married a Redwyne girl from the Arbor. When three girls, triplets, were born to the Evenstar of Tarth, Queen Rhaenys arranged betrothals for them with House Corbray, House Hightower, and House Harlaw. Queen Visenya brokered a double wedding between House Blackwood and House Bracken, rivals whose history of enmity went back centuries, matching a son of each house with a daughter of the other to seal a peace between them. And when a Rowan girl in Rhaenys’s service found herself with child by a scullion, the queen found a knight to marry her in White Harbor, and another in Lannisport who was willing to take on her bastard as a fosterling. -Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I, Fire and Blood
Again we are told the chief goal of the Conquerors is to make peace and knit the realm together, to overcome their differences and become one strong kingdom. And to achieve that they encourage marriages across the country, arranging matches themselves, focusing specifically on the houses such as Blackwoods and Brackens that have had a long running enmity between them. Precisely the very same thing the op praised Nymeria for.
The other half [of his time] he devoted to an endless royal progress, taking his court from one castle to another, guesting with each of his great lords in turn. Gulltown and the Eyrie, Harrenhal, Riverrun, Lannisport and Casterly Rock, Crakehall, Old Oak, Highgarden, Oldtown, the Arbor, Horn Hill, Ashford, Storm’s End, and Evenfall Hall had the honor of hosting His Grace many times, but Aegon could and would turn up almost anywhere, sometimes with as many as a thousand knights and lords and ladies in his train. He journeyed thrice to the Iron Islands (twice to Pyke and once to Great Wyk), spent a fortnight at Sisterton in 19 AC, and visited the North six times, holding court thrice in White Harbor, twice at Barrowton, and once at Winterfell on his very last royal progress in 33 AC. -Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I, Fire and Blood
“It is better to forestall rebellions than to put them down,” Aegon famously said, when asked the reason for his journeys. A glimpse of the king in all his power, mounted on Balerion the Black Dread and attended by hundreds of knights glittering in silk and steel, did much to instill loyalty in restless lords. The smallfolk needed to see their kings and queens from time to time as well, the king added, and know that they might have the chance to lay their grievances and concerns before him. -Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I, Fire and Blood
Aegon’s at it with his genocide again! How despicable it is of him to travel across the Realm, turning up anywhere and everywhere, taking counsel with his lords, holding the court to hear his people’s problems. And just you wait, it gets worse!
And so they did. Much of every royal progress was given over to feasts and balls and hunts and hawking, as every lord attempted to outdo the others in splendor and hospitality, but Aegon also made a point of holding court wherever he might travel, whether from a dais in some great lord’s castle or a mossy stone in a farmer’s field. Six maesters traveled with him, to answer any questions he might have on local law, customs, and history, and to make note of such decrees and judgments as His Grace might hand down. A lord should know the land he rules, the Conqueror later told his son Aenys, and through his travels Aegon learned much and more about the Seven Kingdoms and its peoples. -Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I, Fire and Blood
Aegon made a point of holding the court wherever he might, even in a farmer’s field. Aegon made a point of having at least six maesters around him at all times to inform and correct him where his own knowledge falls short on Westeros’ laws, customs and history. Aegon made a point of telling his son and heir that a lord should know the land that he rules and indeed learned much of Westeros himself through his travels.
Each of the conquered kingdoms had its own laws and traditions. King Aegon did little to interfere with those. He allowed his lords to continue to rule much as they always had, with all the same powers and prerogatives. The laws of inheritance and succession remained unchanged, the existing feudal structures were confirmed, lords both great and small retained the power of pit and gallows on their own land, and the privilege of the first night wherever that custom had formerly prevailed. -Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I, Fire and Blood
To honor the Seven, Aegon decreed that the city would have seven gates, each defended by a massive gatehouse and defensive towers. Work on the walls began the next year and continued until 26 AC. -Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I, Fire and Blood
Grand Maester Gawen was the third in that office. Aegon Targaryen had always kept a maester on Dragonstone, as his father and father’s father had before him. All the great lords of Westeros, and many lesser lords and landed knights, relied upon maesters trained in the Citadel of Oldtown to serve their households as healers, scribes, and counselors, to breed and train the ravens who carried their messages (and write and read those messages for lords who lacked those skills), help their stewards with the household accounts, and teach their children. During the Conquest, Aegon and his sisters each had a maester serving them, and afterward the king sometimes employed as many as half a dozen to deal with all the matters brought before him. -Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I, Fire and Blood
But the wisest and most learned men in the Seven Kingdoms were the archmaesters of the Citadel, each of them the supreme authority in one of the great disciplines. In 5 AC, King Aegon, feeling that the realm might benefit from such wisdom, asked the Conclave to send him one of their own number to advise and consult with him on all matters relating to the governance of the realm. Thus was the office of Grand Maester created, at King Aegon’s request. -Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I, Fire and Blood
The institution of the king’s small council did not come into its full bloom until the reign of King Jaehaerys the Conciliator, but that is not to suggest that Aegon I ruled without the benefit of counsel. He is known to have consulted often with his various Grand Maesters, and his own household maesters as well. On matters relating to taxation, debts, and incomes, he sought the advice of his masters of coin. Though he kept one septon at King’s Landing and another at Dragonstone, the king more oft wrote to the High Septon of Oldtown on religious issues, and always made a point of visiting the Starry Sept during his yearly circuit. More than any of these, King Aegon relied upon the King’s Hand, and of course upon his sisters, the Queens Rhaenys and Visenya. -Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I, Fire and Blood
Queen Rhaenys consulted with her maesters and septons, then rendered her decision. An adulterous wife gave offense to the Seven, who had created women to be faithful and obedient to their husbands, and therefore must be chastised. As god has but seven faces, however, the punishment should consist of only six blows (for the seventh blow would be for the Stranger, and the Stranger is the face of death). Thus the first six blows the man had struck had been lawful...but the remaining ninety-four had been an offense against gods and men, and must be punished in kind. From that day forth, the “rule of six” became a part of the common law, along with the “rule of thumb.” -Three Heads Had the Dragon - Governance Under King Aegon I, Fire and Blood
Familiarity is the father of acceptance, it is said. The High Septon who had crowned Aegon the Conqueror remained the Shepherd of the Faithful until his death in 11 AC, by which time the realm had grown accustomed to the notion of a king with two queens, who were both wives and sisters. King Aegon always took care to honor the Faith, confirming its traditional rights and privileges, exempting its wealth and property from taxation, and affirming that septons, septas, and other servants of the Seven accused of wrongdoing could only be tried by the Faith’s own courts. -The Sons of the Dragon, Fire and Blood
The destroyer of cultures and religions ladies and gentlemen.
An actually fair point though an oversimplification of the Dornish War in my humble opinion. Not to mention that it can also be said that Targaryens did much to help Westeros when it comes to wealth and trade and food as well, and on a larger scale at that.
With fewer men marching off to war, more remained to work the land. Grain prices fell steadily throughout his reign, as more acres came under the plough. Fish became notably cheaper, even for common men, as the fishing villages along the coasts grew more prosperous and more boats put to sea. New orchards were planted everywhere from the Reach to the Neck. Lamb and mutton became more plentiful and wool finer as shepherds increased the size of their flocks. Trade increased tenfold, despite the vicissitudes of wind, weather, and wars and the disruptions they caused from time to time. The crafts flourished as well; farriers and blacksmiths, stonemasons, carpenters, millers, tanners, weavers, felters, dyers, brewers, vintners, goldsmiths and silversmiths, bakers, butchers, and cheesemakers all enjoyed a prosperity hitherto unknown west of the narrow sea. -Jaehaerys and Alysanne - Their Triumphs and Tragedies, Fire and Blood
Well that is correct, though I don’t see the relevance to our topic of discussion.