Wedding of Maron Martell and Daenerys Targaryen

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The bride and groom, Daenerys and Maron by Lopata Four

The wedding of Maron Martell and Daenerys Targaryen occurred in 187 AC at King's Landing, unifying Dorne with the rest of the realm under Targaryen rule.[1]

Background

Historical conflicts

Dorne and the rest of the continent of Westeros were long at odds. For hundreds of years, Dorne defied the Reach and the stormlands.[2] The Marcher lords in turn built great castles to defend against Dornish incursions.[3]

When Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya Targaryen arrived in Westeros and conquered the Seven Kingdoms, establishing their House as kings over all of Westeros, Dorne alone remained unconquered.[4] They would make an attempt to conquer Dorne, but after the deaths of Queen Rhaenys and her dragon Meraxes, the Targaryens abandoned the ambition of conquering Dorne for a time and forged a peace with Nymor Martell, the Prince of Dorne.[5] Despite this lasting peace, other Dornish Wars and conflicts would follow from time to time, and raiders would still descend from the Red Mountains to the Dornish Marches.[6] Furthermore, the ancient hatred would long persist between the Dornish and their neighbors in the marches, stormlands, and the Reach.[7]

After the ascent of young King Daeron I Targaryen in 157 AC, the conflict between the Targaryens and Dorne reignited. Though only a boy, King Daeron quickly set his sights upon completing the Conquest of his ancestors and bringing Dorne into the realm. Daeron's forces reached Sunspear, where the Prince of Dorne was forced to submit. Yet the smallfolk of Dorne proved tenacious, rising up in rebellion. Daeron himself was forced to return to put down the rebels in 160 AC. Yet, when he met with the Dornishmen under a peace banner to discuss terms, Daeron was betrayed and murdered.[2]

Peace through marriage

Daeron's successor and younger brother King Baelor I Targaryen journeyed to Dorne to forge a peace. He agreed to betroth his young cousin, Prince Daeron, to the Prince of Dorne's eldest child, Myriah Martell. The two would wed when both were of age.[8] By the time his father, King Aegon IV Targaryen, took the throne, Daeron's greatest ally was Myriah's younger brother, Maron Martell, who succeeded their father as Prince of Dorne.[7]

When Daeron succeeded his father as king in 184 AC, he soon began negotiations with his good-brother, Prince Maron, to unify Dorne with the rest of the Seven Kingdoms.[1] It was Daeron's hope that, where violence had failed, marriage could put an end to hostilities with Dorne.[9] After two years of negotiation, an agreement was made to betroth Maron to Daeron's younger sister, Princess Daenerys.[1] The betrothal was made despite the famed passion that Daenerys and her bastard half-brother apparently held for each other.[10] Daeron valued matters of state over matters of love,[9] and believed the good of thousands must come before the good of just two.[10] He also did not wish to give his sister to the half-brother with whom he had sometimes clashed and many were eying as a claimant to the throne over himself.[9]

Wedding

Maron and Daeron pay their respects to Baelor after the wedding by Magali Villeneuve for The World of Ice and Fire

Because Daenerys was not yet of age, her wedding to Maron would not take place until a year later, in 187 AC. With the marriage, Prince Maron knelt and swore oaths of fealty to the Iron Throne. He and King Daeron then departed the Red Keep and rode to the Great Sept of Baelor, where they laid a wreath before the feet of the statue of King Baelor and proclaimed, "Baelor, your work is done." With this, the realm was unified from the Wall to the Summer Sea, as Aegon the Conqueror had dreamed.[1]

As part of the wedding celebrations, a tourney was held. In the tourney, King Daeron's eldest son, Prince Baelor, took a famous victory, defeating Daemon Blackfyre in the final tilt and earning the name Breakspear at the age of seventeen.[1]

The next year, Daeron raised the castle of Summerhall in the Dornish Marches, near the boundaries of the Reach, the stormlands, and Dorne, to mark the peace forged by the wedding of Maron and Daenerys.[1]

Aftermath

Despite the peace, not all were satisfied with the marriage. Prince Maron won a number of concessions through the union, holding greater autonomy and rights than the other great lords. Furthermore, the generations of enmity between Dorne and their neighbors was not easily set aside, and the knights and lords of the Dornish Marches came to mistrust King Daeron, looking back on days when the Dornish were not rivals for the king's attention but enemies to fight.[1]

Displeasure with Daeron's concessions and lingering enmity with the Dornish were among the seeds of the coming Blackfyre Rebellion. Many lords unhappy with King Daeron began to turn to his bastard half-brother, Daemon Blackfyre.[1] Supposedly, Daeron's choice to give Daenerys to Maron over him helped lead Daemon to rebellion.[9] Although both he and Daenerys had a number of children with their respective spouses, and Daenerys was a loyal wife to Maron,[1] Daemon's supporters claimed it was for love of Daenerys that he rebelled.[11]

For House Martell, the union between Maron and Daenerys would be an important influence in the generations that followed. Maron built the Water Gardens for his bride, which became a gathering place for the children of both House Martell and those of their lords and smallfolk. The wisdom taught by Daenerys to her and Maron's heir would be passed through the generations of Princes and Princesses of Dorne all the way to Prince Doran Martell, the present Prince of Dorne.[10]

Attendees

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron II.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron I.
  3. ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Stormlands.
  4. ↑ Fire & Blood, Aegon's Conquest.
  5. ↑ Fire & Blood, Reign of the Dragon - The Wars of King Aegon I.
  6. ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: Dorne Against the Dragons.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon IV.
  8. ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 So Spake Martin: Asshai.com Interview in Barcelona (July 28, 2012).
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 38, The Watcher.
  11. ↑ The Sworn Sword.
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