Faith Militant uprising

Note: The title of this article is conjecture and may be subject to change.

Faith Militant uprising
The Faith Militant by Tim Durning © Fantasy Flight Games
Date	41–48 AC
Location	Seven Kingdoms
Battles	Burning of the Sept of Remembrance Battle of Stonebridge Battle at the Great Fork Submission of Oldtown Ambush at the Wendwater
Result	Faith Militant proscribed and disbanded Abolition of the Faith's right to judgment
Belligerents Faith of the Seven  Faith Militant  Warrior's Sons  Poor Fellows  House Blanetree  House Falwell  House Lorch  House Terrick  House Wayn  House Lychester  House Tully Iron Throne  House Targaryen  House Velaryon  House Harroway  House Meadows  House Smallwood Notable commanders The High Septon Ser Damon Morrigen Wat the Hewer Ser Horys Hill Septon Moon Ser Joffrey Doggett Jeyne Poore Dennis the Lame Ragged Silas King Aenys I Targaryen King Maegor I Targaryen Ser Davos Darklyn King Jaehaerys I Targaryen Strength Faith Militant Rebel houses Royalist houses Losses Ser Damon Morrigen hundreds of Warrior's Sons thousands of Poor Fellows High Septon Jeyne Poore Septon Murmison Ser Davos Darklyn

The Faith Militant uprising was a rebellion by the militant orders of the Faith of the Seven against the rule of House Targaryen over the Seven Kingdoms. The uprising began during the reign of King Aenys I Targaryen, continued through the reign of Maegor I Targaryen, and eventually ended during the reign of Jaehaerys I Targaryen.

Prelude

Although the uprising began during the reign of King Aenys I Targaryen, the first seeds were already planted during the reign of his father, King Aegon I Targaryen. Before the birth of Aenys's children, his younger half-brother Maegor was regarded as his heir. However, Aenys was wed in 22 AC, and his first child, Princess Rhaena, was born the next year. Her birth sparked the discussion of the line of succession, as it was unclear whether Maegor remained second in the line of succession or whether he fell behind the newborn Rhaena. In 24 AC, shortly after Maegor turned twelve, his mother Queen Visenya Targaryen proposed a betrothal between Rhaena and Maegor to settle the issue of the royal succession. However, both Prince Aenys and his wife and the High Septon protested. The High Septon suggested his own niece, Lady Ceryse Hightower, as a bride for the young prince instead. Maegor and Ceryse were subsequently wed in 25 AC at the Starry Sept in Oldtown, in a ceremony officiated by the High Septon himself.

After fourteen years of childless marriage, Maegor suddenly announced in 39 AC that Ceryse was barren and that he had taken another wife, Lady Alys Harroway, the daughter of the new Lord of Harrenhal, Lucas Harroway. Unable to convince the septon at Dragonstone to perform the wedding, Maegor had taken Alys to wife in a Valyrian wedding ceremony led by the Dowager Queen, Visenya.

Maegor's second marriage angered many. Ceryse's father, Lord Martyn Hightower, protested the marriage to King Aenys and demanded that Maegor set Alys aside. The High Septon denounced the marriage as sin and fornication and called Alys "this whore of Harroway." Many of the pious lords in the realm similarly condemned the marriage, and openly began to call Alys "Maegor's Whore". Maegor remained defiant, however, citing that his father had taken two wives as well, claiming that the strictures of the Faith did not rule the blood of the dragon.

King Aenys announces the marriage of his children Aegon and Rhaena to each other, Game of Thrones Blu-ray

Maegor quarreled bitterly with his brother over the marriage, as the king had neither known of the marriage prior to the ceremony, nor given his leave for it. Eventually, Aenys made Maegor choose between setting Alys aside or going into exile for five years. Maegor chose the latter, and left for Pentos in 40 AC. The High Septon was not yet satisfied, however, so Aenys appointed Septon Murmison as his new Hand of the King, but even he could not heal the rift between the Iron Throne and the Faith.

The situation worsened in 41 AC, when Aenys wed his daughter Rhaena and son Aegon to one another. The High Septon sent Aenys a denunciation, addressing him as "King Abomination". Even the pious lords and smallfolk who had loved Aenys turned against the king.

The Uprising Begins (42 AC)

Faith Militant storm the Red Keep and nearly kill King Aenys, from Game of Thrones Blu-ray

Conflicts began in King's Landing. For having performed the wedding ceremony, Septon Murmison was expelled from the Faith. A fortnight later, he was cut to pieces by Poor Fellows who had taken up arms. And other Poor Fellows scaled the walls of the Red Keep, attempting to murder the king and his family, failing only when a knight of the Kingsguard intervened. The Warrior's Sons began to fortify the Hill of Rhaenys, ensuring the Sept of Remembrance could withstand the Targaryens.

Aenys and his family fled the city and went to Dragonstone. Aenys refused to follow Visenya's advice to burn the Starry Sept at Oldtown and the Sept of Remembrance in King's Landing. Meanwhile, thousands of Poor Fellows threatened the king's supporters and dozens of lords gave their support to the Faith. By the end of the year, most of the realm had joined the side of the Faith. Aenys, unable to decide how to deal with the rebellion, fell ill. He collapsed when he learned that Rhaena and Aegon were besieged at Crakehall, and died three days later.

Maegor the Cruel

Maegor wins the trial of seven against the Warrior's Sons.

Visenya flew on Vhagar to Pentos after Aenys's funeral in order to retrieve Maegor from exile. Maegor was crowned upon his return to Dragonstone, and executed Grand Maester Gawen for protesting his claim to the throne. Maegor then flew upon Balerion to King's Landing, where the militant orders of the Faith had seized the Sept of Remembrance on Rhaenys's Hill and the half-completed Red Keep. On Visenya's Hill, Maegor raised the banner of House Targaryen and gathered the support of thousands.

Dowager Queen Visenya challenged those who questioned Maegor's right to rule to prove themselves. The challenge was met by Ser Damon Morrigen, the Grand Captain of the Warrior's Sons. Maegor quickly decided to settle the matter with swords, and Damon demanded a trial of seven, to which Maegor agreed.

The burning of the Sept of Remembrance, by Jordi Gonzalez Escamilla

Though Maegor was the only survivor out of fourteen combatants, he took a blow to the head and collapsed just as the last Warrior's Son died.

On the twenty-eighth day of Maegor's coma, Queen Alys Harroway returned from Pentos, bringing with her Tyanna of the Tower, a courtesan who had become Maegor's lover during his exile. Tyanna took over his care, and Maegor woke from his coma on the thirtieth day. Maegor mounted Balerion and without warning flew over Rhaenys's Hill, unleashing the Black Dread's dragonflame during the burning of the Sept of Remembrance. Those who tried to flee from the flames were slain by archers Maegor had placed around the hill. The screams of burning and dying men were said to echo in the streets of King's Landing, and it was claimed a pall hung over the city for seven days.

Open Warfare (42-43 AC)

The battle at Stonebridge, by Marc Simonetti

Maegor and the Faith each began raising field armies to their causes. Later that same year 42 AC, a force of Poor Fellows nine thousand strong gathered in the southern Reach under the command of Wat the Hewer and marched northeast towards King's landing. While crossing the Mander, however, they were caught between six lordly armies supporting Maegor. The army of the Poor Fellows was poorly trained and equipped, had no cavalry of their own, and was caught totally out of position: it was cut to pieces by lordly cavalry in the resulting Battle at Stonebridge. The sheer brutality of the carnage made the Mander run red with blood for twenty leagues, resulting in the bridge and castle that commanded it forever after being known as Bitterbridge. Wat the Hewer managed to kill half a dozen lords, including Lord Meadows, the commander of the king's army, but was taken alive himself and delivered to King's Landing in chains.

The Warrior's Sons, by Andrew Bosley © Fantasy Flight Games

A second, larger and better organized army loyal to the Faith gathered in the western Riverlands, composed of thirteen thousand Poor Fellows, the two hundred knights of the Warrior's Sons chapter from Stoney Sept, and a dozen rebel lords from the riverlands and westerlands who added their own trained knights. They marched east toward King's Landing at met Maegor with his main host in the great Battle at the Great Fork of the Blackwater Rush, the largest engagement of the entire war. Both sides were of roughly equal size at over 20,000 men, but Maegor had twice as many armored horse and more bowmen. Maegor himself came riding Balerion the Black Dread, and though the Faith's army wisely attacked during a rainstorm to try to negate the dragon's advantage so great was his power that this only slightly limited him. The result was still a savage battle that lasted all day until nightfall, but which ended in a decisive victory for Maegor.

With the Faith's field armies smashed following these two victories, Maegor returned to King's Landing in 43 AC to consolidate his forces for new offensives. He announced his intent to take a third wife by wedding Tyanna of the Tower. Grand Maester Myros spoke against the proposed wedding, stating that Maegor's "one true wife", Ceryse Hightower, awaited him at the Hightower. Maegor heard him out in silence before beheading Myros with Blackfyre. Maegor and Tyanna were wed on Rhaenys's Hill, surrounded by the remains of the Warrior's Sons who had died at the Sept of Remembrance. At Oldtown, however, the High Septon loudly denounced "the abomination and his whores", while Ceryse continued to insist that she was Maegor's only lawful queen.

The High Septon shouting a sermon calling the faithful to rise up against the Targaryens, art by Douglas Wheatley

The High Septon also attempted to reconsolidate what remained of the Faith's forces. Following the death of Damon Morrigen in the trial of seven against Maegor, the surviving chapters of the Warrior's Sons held an election for a new Grand Captain to lead the entire order. They chose the commander of the Lannisport chapter, Ser Joffrey Doggett, who marched south to Oldtown to receive the High Septon's blessing in person. By the time he arrived at the city he had amassed two thousand followers of knights, squires and freeriders. Afterward Doggett led them back to his chapter's home territory in the Westerlands.

As the Faith continued to resist his rule, Maegor raised a set of laws which forbade holy men from carrying arms, and punished lords who spoke out against the suppression of the Faith. In response, the High Septon commanded Maegor to present himself in Oldtown and beg the forgiveness of the gods for his sins and cruelties. While Maegor remained focused on the Red Keep's construction, the "pious lords" continued their resistance for half a year, until Visenya mounted her dragon, Vhagar, and burned the seats of Houses Blanetree, Terrick, Deddings, Lychester, and Wayne in the riverlands within a single night. Maegor flew Balerion to the westerlands, burning the seats of Houses Broome, Falwell, Lorch, and other "pious lords" who had defied his royal summons.

Next, Maegor and Visenya turned towards Oldtown, threatening to incinerate the Starry Sept in response to the High Septon's condemnation of his polygamous marriages. Shortly after, the High Septon died suddenly, allowing Lord Martyn Hightower to open his gates before Balerion and Vhagar could burn the city. Rumors about the nature of the High Septon's death still persist today. As he had been in good health, some have suggested that he had committed suicide, either to save himself from Maegor's wroth or to spare Oldtown from the dragonfire. Others believe that the gods themselves had struck him down. Most believe he had been murdered, although opinions differ about the murderer's identity. Ser Morgan Hightower, the commander of the Warrior's Sons in Oldtown, who was the only Warrior's Son pardoned by King Maegor, has been suggested as the murderer. Others have suggested Lady Patrice Hightower, the aunt of Lord Martyn and Ser Morgan. The archmaesters of the Citadel have been suggested to have played a role in the High Septon's death, and Dowager Queen Visenya, a rumored sorceress, has also been named.

Septon Pater was elected as the new High Septon that same night. A more passive man, he anointed Maegor upon his arrival at the Starry Sept and did not lift a finger as the Warrior's Sons at Oldtown were either sent to the Wall or executed. Maegor remained at Oldtown for half a year, presiding over the trials personally before returning to King's Landing at the end of 43 AC. Adding to his earlier laws, Maegor now placed bounties on the heads of the faithful who remained defiant: a gold dragon was given for the scalp of a Warrior's Son and a silver stag for the scalp of a Poor Fellow.

Interlude: Targaryen internal conflicts (43 AC)

Maegor had been battling not only the Faith during his reign, but also his own family. Aenys I Targaryen's widow, Dowager Queen Alyssa Velaryon, and her two youngest children, Jaehaerys and Alysanne, had been made hostages on Dragonstone, while Prince Viserys had been made Maegor's squire in King's Landing.

Though not part of the "Faith Militant uprising" as such, in late 43 AC a third side to the conflict briefly arose when Maegor's nephew Aegon "the Uncrowned" launched his own rebellion, because as Aenys I's eldest son Maegor had brazenly usurped the throne ahead of him. Aegon was an untested youth and had no support when the Faith Militant uprising began but was instead besieged with his sister-wife Rhaena at Crakehall. Initially, Targaryen loyalists rallied to the strong warrior Maegor when he began to hammer the Faith's armies in 42 AC Aegon did manage to abscond with and mount his father's dragon, Quicksilver, and as the year progressed several lords privately grew wary of Maegor's growing brutality and (it was rumored) were starting to whisper that Aegon would be a better alternative. Aegon was as-yet unproven, however, and the Great Houses would not openly support him until he won at least some victories in the field. Moreover, the High Septon refused to make common cause with young Aegon due to his incestuous marriage, which is what had initially sparked the Faith Militant uprising in the first place.

Balerion kills Quicksilver in the Battle Beneath the Gods Eye, art by Jota Saraiva

With the support of some lords from the westerlands and riverlands, Aegon was able to raise a moderately sized army 15,000 strong and led by himself on dragonback. As they marched east towards King's Landing, however, the more experienced Maegor managed to surround him with individually smaller armies on three sides. Although Aegon's army attempted to force its wasy east with a charge before the others could close the encirclement, Maegor then appeared on Balerion. In the resulting Battle Beneath the Gods Eye, dragon fought against dragon for the first time since the Doom of Valyria. Quicksilver was no match for Balerion at the height of his power and majesty, and Maegor's dragon killed her and her rider in mid-air. Afterward Aegon's army panicked and was easily routed. Maegor and Visenya then spent the rest of the year firebombing the castles of lords in the riverlands and westerlands who had supported young Aegon.

Despite his successes, several of Maegor's supporters were still wary that he had yet to produce a healthy heir. In late 44 AC his second wife Alys Harroway gave birth to a stillborn monstrosity, which led his third wife Tyanna of Pentos to accuse her of infidelity. Maegor responded by massacring House Harroway down to the last child. Upon returning from Harrenhal, Maegor was devastated to learn that his mother Visenya had died while he was on campaign. Not only had she been his greatest supporter and advisor, but without her the dragon Vhagar was left riderless. Maegor still rode Balerion as his mount, but he could not be in two places at once.

Without Visenya's guidance and with the increasing strain of subsequent stillborn horrors, Maegor increasing spiraled into senseless tyranny which made even ardent Targaryen loyalists among the Great Houses grow uncomfortable. Worse, in the confusion at the Red Keep in the hours after Visenya's death the captive Dowager Queen Alyssa managed to escape the Red Keep along with her two youngest children, Jaehaerys and Alysanne. It was believed they fled into exile in the Free Cities but no one knew exactly where, so Maegor had Alyssa's middle son Viserys tortured to death trying to extract the information out of him and then left his own nephew's body to rot in the courtyard of the Red Keep. Some suspect that Maegor was in fact aware that Viserys didn't know where his mother had fled, but killed him and desecrated his corpse to try to lure Alyssa back to give her son a proper funeral. Either way his barbarity didn't work, and Maegor was now a kinslayer twice over.

Insurgency (44-48 AC)

A band of Poor Fellows ambush Maegor’s loyalists in the woods, art by Diego Gisbert Llorens

The new High Septon too proved unable to halt the rebellion. Although he attempted to disband the Stars and Swords, he made little effort to reduce the constant violence. When the High Septon once called Pater died in 44 AC, another was raised up in his place. This new High Septon spoke no word against the king or his queens, and became known as the "High Lickspittle".

While the field armies of the Faith were destroyed and few lords would openly support them, thousands of Poor Fellows remained throughout the realm and new leaders soon rose to command them. Instead of ending, in 44 AC the Faith Militant uprising shifted into a new insurgency phase which would last throughout the rest of Maegor's reign, as the uprising turned into a conflict fought by roving bands of Faith Militant in the woods and hedges of the Seven Kingdoms. While Maegor could defeat them in one area if he directed all of his strength to it, other bands of the Faith Militant would grow stronger in other areas while he was preoccupied. Moreover, as was earlier seen in the First Dornish War, dragons are not as useful against rebels using ambushes and hit-and-run attacks.

Different rebel bands of Faith Militant formed in different regions of southern Westeros, with no one overall leader.

Areas of activity by different rebel bands of Faith Militant (locations for Ragged Silas and Dennis the Lame are conjectural).

• In the westerlands, Ser Joffrey Doggett's band operated in the northern hill country and ruled it in all but name. He had been blessed by the original High Septon himself before his suspicious death and the core of Doggett's forces were the well-trained knights from the Lannisport chapter of the Warrior's Sons (by this point the other four chapters had all been neutralized). Many pious lords secretly supported his band with supplies, still respecting the Warrior's Sons for their dignity and honor. Doggett's rebel band of the Faith Militant remained a major thorn in Maegor's side throughout his reign.
• In the northern Reach and southern riverlands, a large band mostly composed of Poor Fellows and rabble coalesced around a bearded brute who claimed to be a septon, known as "Septon Moon". His followers even crowned him as their own High Septon, though this was not widely acknowledged even by the other bands of Faith Militant. While perhaps the largest band of Poor Fellows by raw numbers, Moon and his followers - composed of converted rabble and camp followers rather than chivalrous knights of the Warrior's Sons - were not seen as very reputable by the lords of the realm compared to Doggett and his group.
• In the stormlands, a band of Poor Fellows was led by what was considered the order's most savage captain, a woman known as Poxy Jeyne Poore. Poxy Jeyne led the Poor Fellows in the forested lands between King's Landing and Storm's End, making travel impassable. While her band wasn't as large as Doggett's or Moon's, Poxy Jeyne and her band more than made up for this with ruthlessness and cunning ambushes. The densely wooded terrain made Jeyne's cell more difficult to fight than others, and as the kingswood was in close proximity to King's Landing this made her band a particular danger to Maegor's powerbase in the capital city.
• Dennis the Lame and Ragged Silas also led unspecified rebel bands (perhaps in the Vale or northern riverlands).

Because they had been outlawed and condemned, the surviving Faith Militant did not have the strength to meet the king's forces in open battle. Disguised as hedge knights, however, they hunted and slew Targaryen loyalists and those whom they considered traitors to the Faith. When these new bands of Faith Militant began to form in 43 AC Maegor was consumed by internal family rivalries. Afterward, given that the rebels did not have the strength to meet him in open battle or challenge his castles, Maegor chose to spend a year replenishing his armies and focusing on completion of the Red Keep. By the end of 44 AC, both Maegor and the rebels had significantly increased their numbers.

In 45 AC Maegor launched a new campaign against the Faith Militant by targeting the rebel band closest to King's Landing, that led by Poxy Jeyne Poore in the stormlands. Maegor hunted down the Poor Fellows who had taken refuge in the kingswood south of the Blackwater Rush. Through hit-and-run attacks Jeyne's band managed to elude and harass Maegor's forces for a time, but what Maegor could not achieve through combat he did through treachery: Jeyne was eventually betrayed by three followers who received pardons and knighthoods for turning her over to the king. Three septons with Maegor declared Jeyne to be a witch, and the king ordered her to be burned in a field by the Wendwater. On the day of Jeyne's execution, three hundred Poor Fellows and peasants under the leadership of Ser Horys Hill attempted to rescue her. Jeyne's public execution was a trap to lure out her remaining followers, however, with Maegor's forces waiting and ready for them in an ambush. The rescuers were surrounded and slaughtered. In 46 AC, Maegor brought two thousand skulls from his campaign against the Faith to King's Landing, claiming they were the heads of Warrior's Sons and Poor Fellows. Many suspected they were the skulls of innocent smallfolk, however.

Maegor's reign of terror

Maegor's three "Black Brides".

Despite Maegor's success in the kingswood, his focus there destroying Poxy Jeyne's band gave the rebel cells in other regions over a year to grow in strength. Septon Moon roamed the riverlands and the Reach, Joffrey Doggett controlled the hills north of the Golden Tooth, and Dennis the Lame and Ragged Silas were still at large. Moreover, the rebel attacks were proving costly relative to their size, and despite this Maegor continued his major building projects on the Red Keep and Dragonpit. By 46 AC Maegor's wars had become ruinously expensive and the royal treasury was running dry. Maegor's Master of Coin, Lord Alton Butterwell continuously raised taxes and imposed new ones and when these measures failed, Maegor bluntly demanded a tribute of gold from the high lords. Day by day, the Seven Kingdoms turned against its king, as both smallfolk and lords began to despise him for his many cruelties.

In 47 AC Maegor reached his darkest point of atrocity with his so-called "Black Brides". It was rumored that Maegor was responsible for his first wife Cersye Hightower's death in 45 AC, and he was certainly responsible for his second bride Alys Harroway's death later that year. Still, his third wife Tyanna of Pentos could not produce the heir he needed to stop the Great Houses from privately wavering in their support. To address this, Maegor devised a new triple-marriage to three more women: Elinor Costayne, Jeyne Westerling, and his own half-niece Rhaena (daughter of Aenys and widow of Aegon the Uncrowned). Jeyne died giving birth to another stillborn monster, after which it was revealed that Tyanna had been poisoning the other brides, and Maegor personally executed her in early 48 AC by cutting her heart out with his sword. Maegor had failed to produce an heir, and now his wanton brutality soured the lords of the realm by the day.

Maegor's downfall

The death of Maegor I Targaryen, by Vazdelart ©

By 48 AC Maegor's tyranny could no longer be borne by the realm. At Storm's End Aenys I's last surviving son, Prince Jaehaerys, put forth his claim to the throne. First Lord Baratheon then Lord Velaryon supported Jaehaerys, and in rapid succession all of the Great Houses declared their support for him. This new rebellion saw almost no bloodshed, as Maegor's long-suffering supporters quickly abandoned him almost overnight, each defection encouraging and speeding along the next. Joffrey Doggett marched east with his Faith Militant from the westerlands, and when they reached Riverrun House Tully threw open their gates and publicly joined their levies to his army. The combined strength of the Baratheons, Velaryons, and soon others continued to mass around Jaehaerys at Storm's End.

Facing so much opposition with only the forces of a handful of minor lords from the crownlands at his disposal, Maegor's situation was dire. Dismissing his few remaining advisors, Maegor brooded alone in the throne room all night as the rebel armies advanced on the nearly defenseless capital - and was found dead on the Iron Throne the next morning. Accounts differ as to how exactly Maegor died: some suggest several possible traitors, though others suggest Maegor opened his own wrists on the swords of the Iron Throne rather than wait for the rebels to capture him alive.

Aftermath

Aenys's son Jaehaerys succeeded Maegor and reconciled with the Faith.

Prince Jaehaerys ascended the throne in 48 AC following Maegor's death. He was crowned by the High Septon, and he declared an amnesty for the surviving Faith Militant. While he wished to disband the holy orders, Jaehaerys appointed Joffrey Doggett to his kingsguard where he served faithfully for many years. Septon Moon and his less reputable rabble of followers marched on Oldtown to try to have him formally declared High Septon, but he received no support from major lords. Moon was assassinated in the night and his followers quickly dispersed (many suspect Moon's death was ordered by the Hightowers but accounts differ).

The first dozen years of young Jaehaerys's reign would be spent trying to reunite a realm strained by his uncle's tyranny, though thankfully Jaehaerys proved to be an adept diplomat. Moreover the royal treasury was seriously depleted, so Jaehaerys had to take out massive loans from the Iron Bank of Braavos and then spend years adjusting the tax code to try to pay off the interest without inflaming the lords of the realm to rebellion again.

About a decade into his reign, he became acquainted with Septon Barth, who tended to the books and records in the Red Keep's library. Jaehaerys soon named him Hand of the King, a position he kept for forty years. Together with Barth, Jaehaerys formally re-conciliated the Iron Throne with the Faith. The Poor Fellows and Warrior's Sons, much reduced in number, were still present and restless, eager to restore their orders. Jaehaerys sent Septon Barth to Oldtown to speak with the High Septon. It was agreed that the Iron Throne would always protect and defend the Faith, if the last few Stars and Swords would put down their weapons, and if the Faith agreed to accept justice from the Iron Throne instead of the Faith. The Faith accepted Targaryen marriage practices in the Doctrine of Exceptionalism.

Two years after Jaehaerys ascended the throne, members of the Faith Militant and Maegor's loyalists who had been exiled to the Wall made common cause in a rebellion against the leadership of the Night's Watch to try to establish their own lordships, requiring the intervention of Lord Walton Stark to crush the traitors.