Difference between revisions of "Jaehaerys I Targaryen"

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* [[Master of Coin]] - Lord [[Lyman Beesbury]]
 
* [[Master of Coin]] - Lord [[Lyman Beesbury]]
 
* [[Lord Commander of the Kingsguard]] - Ser [[Ryam Redwyne]]{{ref|trp}}
 
* [[Lord Commander of the Kingsguard]] - Ser [[Ryam Redwyne]]{{ref|trp}}
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==References in the Books==
 +
==='' The Princess and the Queen ''===
 +
When Ser [[Steffon Darklyn]] of the [[Kingsguard]] and his retainers defected to [[the blacks]] they brought with them to [[Dragonstone]] a stolen crown: a band of yellow gold ornamented with seven gems of different colors. This was the crown King Viserys had worn, and his grandfather the Old King Jaehaerys before him. 
 +
 +
===''A Feast for Crows''===
 +
At the [[Wall]] Sam recalls that there were dragons there two hundred years ago, Queen Alysanne had visited Castle Black on [[Silverwing|her dragon]], and Jaehaerys, her king, had come after her on [[Vermithor|his own]].
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 +
When talking to [[Cersei Lannister]] about having King [[Tommen]] rearm [[the Faith]] the new  [[High Septon]] asks her did not Jaehaerys the Conciliator once swear upon the Iron Throne itself that the crown would always protect and defend the Faith? Cersei thinks to herself that she has no idea what Jaehaerys the Conciliator might have sworn.
 +
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Outside [[Riverrun]] Lady [[Genna Lannister]] makes it known to [[Jaime]] how she feels about Queen Cersei rearming the Faith, she reminds Jaime that King Jaehaerys agreed to pardon all those who would set aside their swords.
 +
 +
During their travels in the [[riverlands]] Septon Meribald tells [[Brienne]] and her companions some of the history of the [[inn at the crossroads]].  He tells them the inn was raised during the reign of the first Jaehaerys, and that Jaehaerys and his queen slept there during their journeys, and for a time, the inn was known as the Two Crowns in their honor.
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===''A Dance with Dragons''===
 +
While taking to [[Reek|Theon Greyjoy]] [[Roose Bolton]] tells him that the maesters will tell him that King Jaehaerys abolished the lord’s right to the [[first night]] to appease his shrewish queen, but where the [[old gods]] rule, old customs linger.
  
 
==Family==
 
==Family==

Revision as of 00:58, 26 January 2015

House Targaryen crest.PNG
Jaehaerys I
House Targaryen crest.PNG
JAEHAERYS I.jpg
Jaehaerys I by Amok©
Monarch
Reign 48 AC - 103 AC
Full name Jaehaerys Targaryen First of His Name
Titles
  • King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men
  • Lord of the Seven Kingdoms
  • Protector of the Realm
Predecessor Maegor I Targaryen
Heirs
Successor Viserys I Targaryen
Personal Information
Aliases
  • The Conciliator
  • The Old King
  • The Wise
Born 34 AC[1]
King's Landing
Died 103 AC
King's Landing
Family
Dynasty House Targaryen
Queen Alysanne Targaryen
Issue Aegon Targaryen
Alyssa Targaryen
Aemon Targaryen
Baelon Targaryen
Daella Targaryen
Aeryn Targaryen
Vaegon Targaryen
Maegelle Targaryen
Valerion Targaryen
Viserra Targaryen
Gaemon Targaryen
Saera Targaryen
Gael Targaryen
Father Aenys I Targaryen
Mother Alyssa Velaryon[2]
References
Books

Jaehaerys I Targaryen, known as the Conciliator, the Wise or the Old King, was the fourth Targaryen King of the Seven Kingdoms, ruling from 48–103 AC. He was a dragonrider whose mount was Vermithor. He was the grandson of Aegon the Conqueror.

Appearance and character

According to a semi-canon source, Jaehaerys looked wise and dignified even into his later years, with a long white, flowing beard. Not a warrior, his crown was a simple gold band with seven different colored stones inset.[3]

Jaehaerys was a gifted horse rider, a decent warrior and above all else to be wise beyond his years. He was decisive both in thought and deed, always seeking the most peaceable ends. [4]

Early life

Jaehaerys was the third son of King King Aenys and Alyssa Velaryon. During the Faith Militant uprising when Aenys thought King's Landing too unsafe. He fled to Dragonstone with his wife and children except for his eldest children Aegon and Rhaena who were in the Westerlands at this time.

Dragonstone was held by Visenya Targaryen whose council was for Aenys to bring "Fire and Blood" to the Faith of the Seven. Aenys never the most robust, fell seriously ill. The dowager Queen Visenya Targaryen took over his care and Aenys briefly improved. Aenys though suffered a collapse when he learned his son and daughter were besieged at Crakehall and died later. Upon his death Visenya mounted her dragon and flew to Pentos to retrieve her son Maegor.

Due to the plotting of Visenya Targaryen his half-uncle, Maegor I, took the Iron Throne before Jaehaerys eldest brother Aegon. Visenya kept Jaehaerys, his mother and sister hostage on Dragonstone for two years while her son fought the Faith Militant. Maegor took Jaehaerys older brother Viserys with him though as a squire/hostage to ensure Alyssa's good behavior.

Aegon Targaryen fought Maegor to try and take his fathers throne but was slain by Maegor at the Battle Beneath the Gods Eye.

In 44 AC Maegors mother, Visenya Targaryen passed away in. The chaos of her death gave Alyssa an opportunity to escape with her other children, Jaehaerys and Alysanne. She also took the Valyrian sword Dark Sister with her and fled. Eventually finding sanctuary at Storm's End. Maegor as punishment had her son Visery's tortured to death, leaving his mutilated body in the courtyard of King's Landing to rot.

By 48 AC the realm had had enough of Maegor tyrannical rule, thus Jaehaerys, the last surviving son of King Aenys put forth a new claim for the Iron Throne and was supported by Robar Baratheon the Lord of Storm's End who Jaehaerys named Protector of the Realm and Hand of the King.

After Maegors death on the Iron Throne. Jaehaerys was crowned at the age of fourteen and wed to his sister Alysanne. [5]

Reign

Jaehaerys inherited from his uncle's reign a war with the Faith Militant, known as the Faith Militant uprising. Maegor had used brutal methods to eradicate the rebellion, such as placing bounties on the heads of all members of the Faith Militant, but the rebellion had continued. Jaehaerys instead pacified the rebellion with the offer of amnesty for all participants and the disbanding of the Faith Militant.[6] The offer was accepted and the orders disbanded on the condition that the Iron Throne would always defend the Faith of the Seven. This act earned him the name "the Conciliator." Jaehaerys later in his reign also took away the right of the Faith to conduct criminal trials. This pleased many Lords as they often complained of unscrupulous septries and septons making free with the wealth and property of their neighbors and those they preached to. [7]

Jaehaerys ruled for over five decades, becoming the longest ruling of the Targaryen kings, which led to him also being referred to as the "Old King". Jaehaerys brought to the realm a time of great peace and prosperity, aided by his beloved sister-wife, Good Queen Alysanne. Alysanne convinced him to abolish the lord's right to the first night.[8] Alysanne was Jaehaerys great love, his greatest friend was Septon Barth. No man of humble birth ever rose so high as the plain spoken but brilliant Septon. Barth worked in the Red Keep's library due to his keen intelligence. The young Jaehaerys who loved to read became acquainted with Barth who attended the King's books and records.[4] Jaehaerys eventually raised him to be his Hand, many Lord of long and noble lineage were aghast at the appointment of a smith's son to this prestigious office. Barth however proved more then capable of the post and served as Hand for forty years.[9]

With Barth's aid Jaehaerys reformed the realm more then any king who lived before. Jaehaerys created a unified code, so that North to the Dornish Marshes the realm would share common law. Great works were implemented to improve King's Landing such as sewers, drains and wells. Barth believed the fresh water and the flushing away of offal and waste was essential to a cities health. A vast network of roads were built and became known as the kingsroad,[4] and the king and queen were known to stay at the inn at the crossroads during their journeys, so that afterward it was called the Two Crowns. [10]

Such was Jaehaerys's wisdom and skill at diplomacy that he even managed to negotiate a truce and bring fifty years of peace between Houses Bracken and Blackwood, two houses whose animosity has lasted for well over two thousand years.[11]

Jaehaerys was known for his love of travel, and once visited the North with Queen Alysanne, six dragons and half his court.[12] His grandson Viserys told his own grandchildren a tale of Jaehaerys flying north to defeat a vast host of wildlings, giants, and wargs at the Wall.[5]

It was during Jaehaerys' reign that the Night's Watch castle Deep Lake was built, which was paid for by his wife's jewels and built by men Jaehaerys sent north.[13]

Jaehaerys and Alysanne had thirteen children, though only nine lived to adulthood.[2][4] The eldest son of these nine was Aemon and the second son was Baelon. After Aemon died in 92 AC Jaehaerys chose Baelon as his heir, rather than Aemons daughter Rhaenys. This decision by Jaehaerys caused the Second Quarrel between the king and his wife, which would only be resolved by their daughter, septa Maegelle, in 94 AC.

After his old friend Septon Barth passed away, Jaehaerys chose for his Hand the legendary knight Ryam Redwyne, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Ser Ryam while a great knight proved a terrible Hand, and was replaced in that office by the king's son and heir Prince Baelon.

Baelon died suddenly in 101 AC and Ser Otto Hightower took the office of Hand of the King for Jaehaerys's final years. Baelons death meant the calling of the first Great Council. The Great Council of 101 choose Viserys I, Jaehaerys grandson as his new heir. [14]

After the deaths of both his beloved wife and son Baelon, Jaehaerys's grief was great. The Old King's mind began to wander in the last two years of his reign and his time was usually spent bed ridden. His new Hand Otto Hightower effectively ruled the realm while his daughter Alicent looked after the ailing King, reading to him, washing him and helping to feed him.[5]

Jaehaerys passed away in 103 AC. He was sixty nine when he died. His body was burned in the Dragonpit and his ashes interred with Good Queen Alysanne's beneath the Red Keep. All of Westeros mourned, even Dorne. The Old King was well loved and brought the realm a time of great peace and prosperity.[5]

Legacy

Jaehaerys' entire reign is remembered as the most prosperous period in the history of the Targaryen monarchy. His reign brought peace, stability and justice to the Seven Kingdoms. Jaehaerys is possibly the best king that Westeros ever saw and is regarded as such by many historians and laymen.

Small Council under Jaehaerys I

During the reign of King Jaehaerys his small council had the following known members:

References in the Books

The Princess and the Queen

When Ser Steffon Darklyn of the Kingsguard and his retainers defected to the blacks they brought with them to Dragonstone a stolen crown: a band of yellow gold ornamented with seven gems of different colors. This was the crown King Viserys had worn, and his grandfather the Old King Jaehaerys before him.

A Feast for Crows

At the Wall Sam recalls that there were dragons there two hundred years ago, Queen Alysanne had visited Castle Black on her dragon, and Jaehaerys, her king, had come after her on his own.

When talking to Cersei Lannister about having King Tommen rearm the Faith the new High Septon asks her did not Jaehaerys the Conciliator once swear upon the Iron Throne itself that the crown would always protect and defend the Faith? Cersei thinks to herself that she has no idea what Jaehaerys the Conciliator might have sworn.

Outside Riverrun Lady Genna Lannister makes it known to Jaime how she feels about Queen Cersei rearming the Faith, she reminds Jaime that King Jaehaerys agreed to pardon all those who would set aside their swords.

During their travels in the riverlands Septon Meribald tells Brienne and her companions some of the history of the inn at the crossroads. He tells them the inn was raised during the reign of the first Jaehaerys, and that Jaehaerys and his queen slept there during their journeys, and for a time, the inn was known as the Two Crowns in their honor.

A Dance with Dragons

While taking to Theon Greyjoy Roose Bolton tells him that the maesters will tell him that King Jaehaerys abolished the lord’s right to the first night to appease his shrewish queen, but where the old gods rule, old customs linger.

Family

Ancestors

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Valaena
Velaryon
 
Aerion
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unknown
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Visenya
 
Aegon I
 
Rhaenys
 
 
Orys
Baratheon
 
Argella
Durrandon
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ceryse
Hightower
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aenys I
 
Alyssa
Velaryon
 
 
House Baratheon.svg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Elinor
Costayne
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alys
Harroway
 
 
Maegor I
 
Rhaena
 
Aegon
 
Viserys
 
Jaehaerys I
 
Alysanne
 
Vaella
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jeyne
Westerling
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tyanna of
the Tower
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rhaella
 
Aerea
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
House Targaryen.svg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Children

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aenys I
 
Alyssa
Velaryon
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rhaena
 
Aegon
 
Viserys
 
Jaehaerys I
 
Alysanne
 
Vaella
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Issue
 
Aegon
 
Daenerys
 
Aemon
 
 
Baelon
 
Alyssa
 
Maegelle
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Vaegon
 
Daella
 
Saera
 
Viserra
 
Gaemon
 
Valerion
 
Gael
 


Descendants

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rodrik
Arryn
 
Daella
 
 
 
 
 
Baelon
 
Alyssa
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aemma Arryn
 
 
 
 
 
Viserys I
 
 
 
 
 
Alicent Hightower
 
Daemon*
 
Aegon
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
unknown son
 
Baelon
 
Rhaenyra
 
Daemon*
 
Aegon II
 
Helaena
 
Aemond
 
Daeron
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aegon III
 
Viserys II
 
Visenya
 
Jaehaerys
 
Jaehaera
 
Maelor
 

References and Notes