Poor Fellows

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Poor Fellows
Poor Fellows.svg
Symbol A red seven-pointed star on white
(Argent, a mullet of seven points gules)
Type Military order
Region Seven Kingdoms
Allegiance Faith of the Seven
Current Leader High Sparrow
Disbanded 48 AC (original Faith Militant)
Reorganized 300 AC (reformed Faith Militant)
The poor fellows are suppressed - by Marc Simonetti ©

The Poor Fellows was an order of Westerosi, mostly smallfolk, sworn to the Faith of the Seven. They were part of the Faith Militant, and were otherwise known as the Stars, as they used a red seven-pointed star as their badge.[1] Their counterparts were the "Swords" or Warrior's Sons. The Poor Fellows obeyed and answered to the High Septon, as they believed the High Septon spoke for the Seven.

History

The red star of the Poor Fellows had its origins in the days of the Andal invasion of Westeros, when zealous warriors carved the seven-pointed star into their chests.[2]

Acting as a militant counterpart to begging brothers, Poor Fellows became defenders of wayfarers on the road, escorting pilgrims between septs. They greatly outnumbered their knightly counterparts in the Faith Militant, the Warrior's Sons.[1]

The Poor Fellows were of a humbler social background than the Warrior's Sons.[1] Women could rise to be leaders of the Poor Fellows: one of the most famous examples was Poxy Jeyne Poore, who led the Poor Fellows in the stormlands during the Faith Militant uprising, and was considered one of their most savage captains.[3]

Despite not being as trained, disciplined, or well-armed as the Warrior's Sons, the Poor Fellows formed the bulk of the Faith's army. They were lightly-armed footmen who carried whatever weapons they could make or find, often axes or cudgels, and they wore star badges, red on surcoats bleached white. Some even scourged or branded the seven-pointed star in their flesh.[1][4]

At the start of the Faith Militant uprising in 41 AC, Poor Fellows slew Septon Murmison for performing the incestual marriage of Prince Aegon Targaryen to Princess Rhaena Targaryen, both children of King Aenys I Targaryen. Poor Fellows also tried to assassinate the Targaryens at their manse in Visenya's Hill,[3] but were stopped by a knight of the Kingsguard.[N 1][5][6] They also surrounded Crakehall while Prince Aegon and Princess Rhaena took refuge there.[3]

Members of the order were brutally suppressed by King Maegor the Cruel because of their involvement in the rebellions. Maegor achieved a great victory over the Poor Fellows in the battle of Stonebridge, and defeated thirteen hundred of them at the Great Fork of the Blackwater.[7] An unnamed septon wrote a discourse on Maegor the Cruel's war against the Poor Fellows.[8]

Maegor outlawed the militant orders, offering a silver stag coin for an unrepentant Poor Fellow.[9] Support for Maegor declined in 48 AC, however, when Riverrun supported Septon Moon and Ser Joffrey Doggett of the Poor Fellows. Lord Daemon Velaryon and many great houses instead supported Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen, and Maegor died on the Iron Throne.[7] Although outlawed, the Poor Fellows existed until the reign of the Old King, Jaehaerys I. Jaehaerys the Conciliator and Septon Barth negotiated a peace with the High Septon, however, and the Swords and Stars peacefully disbanded.[10]

Some discrete groups of Poor Fellows, however, were rumored to still exist even decades later - driven underground and secretly preaching along the back roads of the Seven Kingdoms. By the time of the Dance of the Dragons, over eighty years after the order was officially disbanded, there were two instances of anti-Targaryen preachers among the commoners who were suspected of also being Poor Fellows. In 130 AC, during the war itself, the mad prophet known as the Shepherd rallied thousands of commoners to riot against Targaryen rule in King's Landing, culminating in the Storming of the Dragonpit.[11] In 133 AC, in the immediate aftermath of the war, the Winter Fever struck Westeros - and another suspected Poor Fellow had his tongue removed as punishment for preaching that the Seven had sent the plague as punishment for House Targaryen's incest.[12] Although both of these preachers made no secret of their hatred for the Targaryens, they never explicitly claimed to be Poor Fellows. Grand Maester Munkun, however, who lived through these events, raised the suggestion in his own account that the Shepherd could plausibly have been a Poor Fellow.

Recent Events

A Feast for Crows

In the aftermath of the War of the Five Kings, the sparrows make their way to King's Landing to demand the Iron Throne protection for the Faith. A man, with a seven-pointed star carved on his chest, identifies the group as "poor fellows".[13]

The new High Septon, known as the High Sparrow after the movement he leads, is allowed to restore the Poor Fellows after negotiating with Queen Regent Cersei Lannister. She overturns the law forbidding holy men from being armed, and the order is reborn.[1] The bulk of the current Poor Fellows are sparrows.

Poor Fellows protect Lancel Lannister, Lord of Darry, when Ser Jaime Lannister visits his cousin's castle.[14]

A Dance with Dragons

The Great Sept of Baelor is surrounded by a ragged horde of Poor Fellows.[15]

Poor Fellows and Warrior's Sons escort Cersei during her walk of atonement, with the Poor Fellows shoving onlookers away to open up a path for her.[4]

Historical members

Quotes

This debt shall be forgiven, and King Tommen will have his blessing. The Warrior's Sons shall escort me to him, shining in the glory of their Faith, whilst my sparrows go forth to defend the meek and humble of the land, reborn as Poor Fellows as of old.[1]

Filthy, unshaven creatures armed with spears and axes and clad in bits of dinted plate, rusted mail, and cracked leather, under roughspun surcoats bleached white and blazoned with the seven-pointed star of the Faith. The High Sparrow's ragged army.[4]

Cersei Lannister's thoughts on the reborn Poor Fellows

Notes

  1. Ser Raymont Baratheon, according to The World of Ice & Fire. In Fire & Blood the knight is unnamed. The character's name will be removed from future editions of The World of Ice & Fire.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 28, Cersei VI.
  2. The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Arrival of the Andals.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Fire & Blood, The Sons of the Dragon.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 65, Cersei II.
  5. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aenys I.
  6. The World of Ice & Fire, The Stormlands: House Baratheon.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Maegor I.
  8. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 11, The Kraken's Daughter.
  9. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 33, Jaime V.
  10. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Jaehaerys I.
  11. 11.0 11.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon II.
  12. Fire & Blood, Under the Regents - War and Peace and Cattle Shows.
  13. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 4, Brienne I.
  14. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 30, Jaime IV.
  15. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 54, Cersei I.
  16. 16.0 16.1 Fire & Blood, Prince into King - The Ascension of Jaehaerys I.