Aegon I (aka Aegon the Conqueror)

Greeting fellow acolytes. Welcome to another episode of The Westerosi Primer. My name is Liz. If you’re new to this podcast, welcome! I hope you enjoy this journey of all things Westeros. And in this episode, I’ll be talking about King Aegon I and his famous conquest.

Before I start the discussion, there are a couple of things to note. First there will be some potential spoilers for people who have not read any of the books connected to A Song of Ice and Fire. There may also be potential spoilers for House of the Dragon and other future shows adapted by Max in the future. So if you’re okay with this, then please continue listening.

Second, the information in this episode comes from the written works of George R. R. Martin and the contributors of A Wiki of Ice and Fire on Westeros.org. Check out the full show notes and other links located on this show’s website: thewesterosiprimer.com With that said, let’s begin!

To talk about Aegon I aka Aegon the Conqueror, you not only will need to talk about Aegon, but you have to talk about his sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys. So in this episode I’ll be talking about all three siblings in some respect. Which only makes sense because the Conquest involved all three.

So who is Aegon Targaryen? There’s been many men with the name. This is similar to what we see with the Starks and their traditional use of Brandon. This Aegon is the one who started a dynasty that lasted almost 3 centuries. Let’s begin with who he was before the conquest.

Aegon was born the only son and middle child of Aerion Targaryen and Valaena Velaryon. If you listened to the episodes I did in Season 1, you’ll know that there’s been at least a couple different times I’ve discussed the intermarriage between the Targaryens and Velaryons. In fact Valaena Velaryon was the product of a Velaryon-Targaryen marriage. Aegon had one older sister named Visenya and one younger sister named Rhaenys. All three siblings were born on Dragonstone. Visenya was born 29 BC, which means before conquest. Aegon was born in 27 BC and Rhaenys was born in 25 BC.

As we also know, the Targaryens will periodically marry each other if they don’t have other Valyrians to marry. What is unusual is that Aegon married both of his sisters. He apparently married Visenya because it was his duty to his family, but he married Rhaenys because he actually loved her. In a romantic sense. Before their marriages to each other, all three siblings had already claimed dragons. Aegon had Balerion, Visenya had Vhagar, and Rhaenys had Meraxes. Aegon also had the Valyrian steel Sword Blackfyre and Visenya had the sword, Dark Sister. As you can imagine Visenya is a warrior woman. Rhaenys in a sense is the opposite. She enjoyed poetry and culture.

Of course the next thing we need to talk about is the Conquest itself. One interesting thing that came up with Season 1 of House of the Dragon is the mention of Aegon’s dream. I like many book readers were surprised by this inclusion and it created so many questions and debates. The fascinating thing is that Ryan Condal indicated in interviews that despite not writing about it, he was told about this by George. Apparently this was the real motivation for his Conquest considering Fire & Blood never really explains much about the reasoning.

The other interesting thing not much talked about until Fire & Blood came out was that both Aegon and Visenya had explored quite a bit of Westeros in their early lives before the Conquest. It clearly gave them some general ideas of how the people would be like. The travels and explorations also influenced the creation of the Painted Table at Dragonstone. This is the famous table top map of Westeros that we’ve seen on Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.

If you haven’t listened to episodes 2-10 of the first season, I highly recommend you do so. I talked about a few things connected to the Conquest in relation to the different kingdoms and regions of Westeros. Rather than completely repeat what I already discussed in those episodes I’ll just quickly talk about the important events in the Conquest.

The start of the Conquest is connected with the Stormlands. I had already discussed in episode 1.04 how King Argilac of the Stormlands had tried to arrange a marriage alliance between his only child Argella with Aegon. At that point in time, one of Argilac’s biggest rivals was Harren the Black in the Riverlands. I also discussed Harren the Black in episodes 1.08 and 1.09. Argilac hoped this alliance would ensure some additional protection against incursions by the Ironborn. Aegon counteroffered with a marriage to his alleged half-brother, Orys Baratheon. Argilac was displeased at an alleged bastard being married to his daughter to say the least.

Some of the other kingdoms also refuse to bend the knee but offer alliances, which Aegon rejected. The war kicks off when Aegon’s forces leave Dragonstone and arrive at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush. He promptly has the Aegonfort built on the highest hill in the area. If that sounds familiar to any of you listeners, you should hopefully recognize this from episode 1.10 about the Crownlands when I talked about King’s Landing. If you couldn’t also guess, the Aegonfort would later become the Red Keep. On a side note, I have a suspicion that the Red Keep and Aegonfort are references to the Tower of London. The famous White Tower, which is what the Tower of London got its name from, was originally a motte-and-bailey designed structure and then later became the famous castle we know.

Pretty quickly many of the houses near the Blackwater Rush either surrendered or were attacked by dragon fire before surrendering. The first proper battle was with House Darklyn and House Mooton of Maidenpool. Orys led soldiers onto the field with Aegon on Balerion. Of course you can all guess how that battle ended, especially when you have a dragon known as the Black Dread flying around. After this battle is when Aegon is crowned with a Valyrian steel circlet with square cut rubies. It is the same crown that Aegon II receives at his coronation, which we saw in House of the Dragon.

Visenya and Vhagar head off to Gulltown with the Velaryon fleet. The Arryns managed to get a small fleet to fight off the invaders. It was a pyrrhic victory as the naval commander Daemon Velaryon was killed and Visenya burned the Arryn fleet in retaliation. There is a small rebellion in the Three Sisters as a result where they temporarily became a separate kingdom from the Vale. If you’re not familiar with any of the places I just talked about now, just head over to episode 1.03 to learn more about them. Visenya then heads off to Crackclaw Point before heading to the Reach.

Meanwhile Aegon headed northwest towards Harrenhal to confront the Ironborn rulers. Again I already discussed Harrenhal in the Iron Islands and Riverlands episodes. There were skirmishes as Aegon’s forces moved into the Riverlands. Naturally Harren the Black tried to rally the Riverlords to fend off Aegon. However the Riverlords were tired of this king who forced them to build his giant monument to his arrogance. They decided this was the perfect time to start a rebellion to expel the Ironborn. Like I said I already discussed this in episode 1.09 about the Riverlands.

As Aegon is tangling with Harren the Black, Orys is off to the Stormlands with Rhaenys and Meraxes as escort. As I briefly mentioned in episode 1.04 about the Stormlands, Orys and Argilac fight in the battle known as the Last Storm. And as I mentioned in that episode Orys kills Argilac, marries Princess Argella and starts House Baratheon. After the battle ends, Rhaenys and Meraxes head off to the Reach.

While the Targaryens were in the other kingdoms, King Mern IX Gardener and King Loren Lannister had already formed an alliance to fight the dragons together. As I mentioned in the episode 1.05 and 1.06, the three siblings and their forces confront the combined armies of the Reach and Westerlands. Not sure what you expect when you have three full grown dragons flying around other than excruciating fiery death. Of course this battle is the Field of Fire, which is undoubtedly going to be horrific. Imagine the battle in Game of Thrones between Daenerys and Jaime’s army in episode 7.04. Imagine that times three would probably give you a good picture what this battle was like.

Aegon and his forces were planning to head further into the Reach when they heard Northerners were heading south and crossing the Neck into the Riverlands. Upon arrival in the Riverlands, King Torrhen Stark had heard about what had happened at Harrenhal and the Field of Fire. Many of his men were prepared to fight against the invading Targaryens and their growing army of conquered lords. Of course I already discussed this in Episode 1.02 about the North what Torrhen decided to do.

The regent Queen Sharra Arryn tried to broker a marriage alliance so that her son could also become Aegon’s heir in exchange for her hand. The offer is refused. Queen Sharra was confident they could defend themselves from the invaders since the Eyrie was high up in the mountains. But of course I also discussed this in episode 1.03 why she was overestimating the defense of the Eyrie.

Rhaenys arrives in Dorne and talks to the Princess of Dorne, Meria Martell. Princess Meria makes it very clear that Dorne will be “unbent, unbowed, and unbroken.” Rhaenys promises to return with fire and blood. Dorne is unconquered even though Aegon and every ruler after him still calls themselves Lord of the Seven Kingdoms.

The last bit of rebellion is Oldtown. Aegon’s forces siege the city where the High Septon at the Starry Sept bars himself. Eventually the Hightowers and the High Septon surrender. The High Septon agreed to officially crown him as the king of all Westeros. It’s here that Aegon declares that the capital will not be Dragonstone or Oldtown, but the place where the Aegonfort was built on.

All during the Conquest, when lords and kings surrendered, they were expected to give up their swords. The swords were collected and sent to the new settlement of King’s Landing. The swords were used to create the famous Iron Throne that we all know. Aegon I is the king who created a variety of things that we all know is part of the royal court and procedure in the Red Keep.

The Small Council and the Hand of the King ranks were created at this time. The first Hand of the King is Orys Baratheon. There were other Hands of the King during Aegon’s reign. They included: Edmyn Tully, Alton Celtigar, Osmund Strong, and Alyn Stokeworth.

Some notable policies that he enacted included the King’s Peace, and the continuation of regional laws and customs. The King’s Peace basically means that conflicts within the realm needed the permission of the King to resolve via battle. In other words you can’t just attack rivals and neighbors because you feel like it. Obviously this was meant to be a way to reduce fighting and the mobilization of armies. It also made sense that Aegon allowed the lords to continue certain customs and traditional laws since it makes it easier to maintain order and reduce resentment towards him. This is pretty reminiscent of the Roman empire, which had a policy of allowing their provinces to maintain customs and many of the pre-existing laws to keep peace and efficient ruling.

A good example of this is the right for a lord to imprison and execute people convicted of crimes. We certainly see plenty of examples of this in the Saga. Another example is the “First night” which is basically the right of a lord to sleep with the bride of a vassal on her wedding night. This is later banned during the reign of Jaehaerys I, which I’ll talk about in a future episode.

Aegon would do tours of the different regions to learn more about the different kingdoms. He also headed off to the Iron Islands to settle the in-fighting that happened after Harren the Black’s death. Aegon made the decision to allow the Ironborn to rule themselves rather than make them vassals of the Lannisters or the Tullys. This is when the Greyjoys became the ruling house as I discussed in episode 1.08.

The next thing to talk about is the First Dornish War. If you listened to episode 1.07 about Dorne, I mentioned there were multiple attempts to conquer Dorne, but they failed. This particular war lasted 9 years and things went awry. Orys Baratheon was captured by the lord of House Wyl for 2 years and was later ransomed. Though he had his sword arm cut off. Orys got his revenge on the dead Lord Wyl by cutting off the hands of his son, Walter Wyl.

The biggest tragedy of course was the death of Rhaenys and Meraxes. She was attacking Hellholt when House Uller’s forces got a lucky scorpion shot, which hit Meraxes eye. Dragon and rider fell from the sky, similar to another Rhaenys Targaryen, who was one of her many descendants. Rhaenys body was never recovered from Dorne though Meraxes skull was later sent to King’s Landing.

Aegon and Visenya would spend the next two years burning Dorne multiple times in revenge. Despite that, the Dornish still didn’t surrender. I have no idea how Dorne still had people living there given how much death and destruction by dragon fire went on for 9 years. Unsurprisingly there were also multiple attempts to assassinate Aegon. There was one particular incident where Visenya saved Aegon. This then led to the creation of the Kingsguard, which Visenya herself selecting the knights.

Eventually peace happened after Princess Meria Martell dies and her son Prince Nymor reached out for a peace negotiation. Nymor only agreed to end hostilities but refused to surrender to the Targaryens. Aegon was planning to refuse such an outrageous proposal after the death of Rhaenys. However Nymor had sent a letter with the peace envoy, his daughter Deria. It’s unknown what was written in the letter as Aegon was angry and burned it after reading. He never explains what was written in it. Aegon went off to Dragonstone before coming back and agreeing to end the war. There are theories, but as of this recording, George hasn’t revealed any info.

During the war, Aegon wound up having two sons: Aenys and Maegor. Aenys was his son through Rhaenys and Maegor was his son through Visenya.

The next 20 years were relatively peaceful. A few notable things about his later reign was that he had the Aegonfort torn down and the creation of the Red Keep began. Also during this time was the balancing act between ruling as he wanted and making peace with the Faith of the Seven since it was the dominant religion south of the Neck. He had septs built in the growing capital to maintain good standing with the Faith.

Aegon the Conqueror died in the year AC 37 at the age of 63. He is followed by his son Aenys. Of course with his death, lords who weren’t completely satisfied with being ruled by the strange Valyrians saw an opportunity for rebellion.

And that just about covers the life of Aegon I. If you’re interested in finding out more for yourself, feel free to go to the full show notes where I will have links. Though be aware if you do any of this research there will be spoilers to the novels, House of the Dragon, and Max’s future adaptations.

Thank you for listening and tune in to the next episode where we’ll talk about two very different brothers: Aenys and Maegor. Valar morgulis.