High king is a noble rank throughout the known world, defined as a monarch with kings among their vassals. It is often, if not always, an elective position.
According to legend, the First Men were united under Garth Greenhand, High King of the First Men.[1] Eventually his realm splintered into the Hundred Kingdoms of Westeros.[2][3]
In pre-Rhoynar migration Dorne, the high king was elected from a dozen noble houses settled along the Greenblood river. These included Houses Briar, Brook, Brownhill, Holt, Lake, Shell, and Wade. This kingdom was dissolved after a generation of war. When House Yronwood ruled northern Dorne, they styled themselves High Kings of Dorne.[4]
The Iron Islands were an elective monarchy with a high king, ruling over petty rock kings and salt kings, for thousands of years since the Age of Heroes. When Urron Greyiron made the kingdom hereditary, he began styling himself "King of the Iron Islands" instead and abandoned the tradition of driftwood crowns, passing on a black iron crown from king to heir.[5]
To resist the coming of the Andals, Bronze King Robar II Royce united several kingdoms of the First Men and declared himself High King of the Vale, the Fingers, and the Mountains of the Moon. He was the first and last monarch to hold this title, being defeated by the Andal Artys I Arryn, the first King of Mountain and Vale.[6]
The High King of Sarnor was a figurehead and rarely exercised any real power, and the kings of Sarnor's city-states were practically independent. The last head of state of the Kingdom of Sarnor was High King Mazor Alexi.[7]
References
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Reach.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 24, Bran IV.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 60, Jon VIII.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Kingdoms of the First Men.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Iron Islands: The Iron Kings.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Vale.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Grasslands.