Taking of the Shields

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Battle of the Shield Islands
Conflict War of the Five Kings
Date +/- 300 AL
Place Shield Islands, the Reach
Result Greyjoy victory
Combatants
House Greyjoy House Chester
House Serry
House Grimm
House Hewett
Commanders
Euron Greyjoy
Victarion Greyjoy
Strength
Iron Fleet fleet of the Shield Islands
Casualties
6 longships significant
Ser Talbert Serry - 38 ships captured

The Battle of the Shield Islands was the opening battle of Euron Greyjoy's new campaign after his ascension to King of the Iron Islands. It took place in and around the Shield Islands in the Reach.

Intro

When Euron Greyjoy was made King of the Iron Islands he promised to conquer the Seven Kingdoms and return the ironborn as a significant power in the Seven Kingdoms. His first strike would be a surprise attack on the unguarded Reach, whose armies were off fighting battles in the Crownlands and the Riverlands.[1]

Battle

On the Mander

King Euron sent Torwold Browntooth and the Red Oarsman down the river Mander to draw out the lords of the Shield Islands and back up the Mander to where the majority of the ironborn fleet was waiting. Of the Shield Islands fleet that engaged in battle, only a dozen got away from the trap. Among those killed was Ser Talbert Serry. The final total from the ironborn point of view was six ships lost and thirty-eight ships captured.[2]

On the Islands

All four islands were captured with severe losses to the inhabitants of the Shield Islands. Lord Humfrey Hewett and his family were captured. Ser Harras Harlaw landed at Grimston and planted his standard beneath the castle walls. He dared the defenders to face him. He killed every one who came out except for two, who yielded. After the seventh man was defeated the septon in the castle declared the gods had spoken and surrendered the castle.[3]

Aftermath

After the Shield Islands had been taken, King Euron raised four new lords, naming Nute the Barber Lord of Oakenshield, Andrik the Unsmiling Lord of Southshield, Maron Volmark Lord of Greenshield and Ser Harras Harlaw Lord of Greyshield. The lords sworn to Highgarden who had escaped destruction on the islands or the Mander retreated and waited for reinforcement from Highgarden. The peasant women and children whose husbands and fathers died during the battle were sold into slavery by the ironborn.[4] According to the tidings that reached King's Landing, Lord Chester and Lord Hewett were slain, Lord Grimm was held captive in his own castle and Lord Serry had fled to Highgarden with the remnants of his fleet.[5]

War of the Five Kings

References and Notes