The royal treasury[1] is the central repository or collection of wealth, funds, and valuable objects (such as gold, silver, jewels, and regalia) under a monarch's control.
History
When Aegon I Targaryen was crowned as King of All Westeros, he established the position of master of coin, or lord treasurer,[2] whose duties include keeping account of the receipts and expenditures from the royal treasury, as well as receiving reports from royal officials, borrowing money, and managing the royal treasury and finances of the kingdom.[3]
King Maegor I Targaryen's wars were ruinously expensive, exhausting the royal treasury, so his master of coin, Alton Butterwell, continuously raised taxes and imposed new ones, which only made Maegor more loathed than he already was.[4] This forced his successor, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, 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.[5]
At the start of the Dance of the Dragons, Ser Tyland Lannister, the new master of coin to Aegon II Targaryen, seized the royal treasury, swelled by years of peace and prosperity under Viserys, and divided the crown's gold into four parts. One part was entrusted to the Iron Bank of Braavos for safekeeping, another sent under strong guard to Casterly Rock, and a third part to Oldtown, while the remaining wealth was to be used for bribes and gifts, and to hire sellswords if needed.[6] After the fall of King's Landing, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and her uncle-husband Daemon executed several members of Aegon II's small council, but spared Tyland because they hoped they could force him to confess where he sent the royal treasury. Tyland was given over to the torturers, but despite being blinded and gelded, he refused to give up his secret, even after months of torture.[7] Since Rhaenyra was in desperate need of coin, Lord Bartimos Celtigar, the new master of coin, put in place the ruinous taxes his ancestor Lord Edwell Celtigar once enacted. Though these taxes replenished Queen Rhaenyra's coffers, they quickly made both the queen and Lord Bartimos despised by the populace.[8]
When Trystane Truefyre was crowned as King, he began to issue royal decrees from atop Aegon's High Hill, dividing the coin of the royal treasury among his own followers, including Ser Perkin the Flea, who used the coin to recruit scores of surviving gold cloaks, taking control of four of the seven gates of King's Landing.[9]
King Baelor I Targaryen emptied the royal treasury regularly to fund his charitable acts, including the year when he donated a loaf of bread daily to every man and woman in the city.[10]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Lord Eddard Stark, the new Hand of the King, is shocked when he finds out the Iron Throne is more than six million dragons in debt, especially because the Targaryens left a treasury overflowing with gold, but the small council explains to him that while Lord Jon Arryn was a prudent man, King Robert I Baratheon did not always listen.[11]
A Clash of Kings
Ser Davos Seaworth recruits the Lysene sellsail Salladhor Saan for King Stannis Baratheon by promising him that there is gold in the treasury at King's Landing.[12]
A Storm of Swords
The plans for the upcoming royal wedding between King Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell are grand, so Tyrion Lannister, the new master of coin, complains that the treasury is empty.[13]
Quotes
Tyrion: The treasury is empty, I've told you that. We're not done paying the alchemists for all that wildfire, or the smiths for my chain, and Cersei's pledged the crown to pay half the costs of Joff's wedding—seventy-seven bloody courses, a thousand guests, a pie full of doves, singers, jugglers ...
Tywin: Extravagance has its uses. We must demonstrate the power and wealth of Casterly Rock for all the realm to see.[13]
References
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon III.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 17, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, A Surfeit of Rulers.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Jaehaerys I.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - The Blacks and the Greens.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Westerlands: House Lannister Under the Dragons.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Overthrown.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 20, Eddard IV.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 10, Davos I.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 32, Tyrion IV.