章節 30: Maester Yandel's Kingdom of the True North (Chapter 6)
King Aerys the Magnificent, King Anarawd the Good, and the Summit of Castle Black.
"...It seems due to some quirk of fate, King Jaehaerys II was supplanted by his wife, and then after three years he died, reigning only for five years, which is when he is succeeded by his son Aerys, the young man I had met on the Red Keep is more agreeable than his father to say the least, and it seems he does not have his father's stubbornness and obsession to some prophecy, he asked for a summit at Castle Black, attended by the Lord Commander, Lord Rickard Stark, and also the Sealord of Braavos where we discussed the threat of the White Walkers and if possible renegotiate the Peace of Hardhome..." - Diary of Anarawd Map Rhodri of House of Canmore.
"...It was the first time since the visit of Queen Alysanne that a royalty came to the Wall once more, even still it is the first time that Castle Black became a place of a summit between a King Beyond the Wall, a Lord of Winterfell, a King in the Iron Throne, and a Sealord of Braavos, I can only hope that the larders of Castle Black could feed such a delegation!" - Account of Lord Commander Qorgyle of the Night's Watch.
King Jaehaerys II was often remembered as the king that have lost control of his court as his Small Council was often alarmed of the way he had spent the treasury to prepare for another Northern Campaign against the Kingdom of Hengledd, it was no surprising that during the third year of his reign he was struck with a sudden illness in which he was confined in his bed, it was during that time where his wife and sister, Queen Shaena Targaryen took on the role as regent for both her husband and her son, she redirected the campaign away from the True North towards the Stepstones and was able to take over some of the islands and bring back a much needed revenue towards their treasury, she had also sent correspondence to King Anarawd Canmore and also to her daughter Lady Rhaella Hasty asking for them to stop the Iron Bank from asking them credit, a request that was seemingly granted as the next year representatives from the Iron Bank had stopped approaching the Iron Throne and demanding guaranties for the debts owed.
It was also during the regency of Queen Shaena where she had consented to the marriage between Aerys Targaryen and Genna Lannister, their marriage was not even attended by King Jaehaerys II who was still confined to his bed, leading to rumors that he had died earlier on but still accounts in the Red Keep disprove such claims, the year after the marriage, however, when the first son of Aerys and Genna were born, Prince Daeron Targaryen, King Jaehaerys II Targaryen died but not before seeing his grandchild, it was said that his heart gave out when he saw Aerys present to him Prince Daeron, with his death came the reign of King Aerys II who will become to be known as the Magnificent after his reign.
"...by the grace of the gods I crown thee King Aerys the Second of his name, of House Targaryen, King of the Andals, the First men, and the Rhoynar, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm..." - Coronation Ceremony of King Aerys II Targaryen at the Sept of Baelor.
"...King Aerys II was an active and charismatic man, as much as he is known to flights of idealism, he can temper such with realism and active participation of what he wants to achieve, I suppose it also helps that Queen Genna was there to help advise him privately, there was not a time where Aerys would often clash with his two friends concerning his ideas and agendas, his idealism being argued against by Lord Tywin's calculating realism and Steffon being a neutral adjudicator, although often times he would support either Aerys or Tywin in those bouts of theirs, but at the same time the King would feast with them and they would leave a solar with good cheer and seeking the comfort of games like cyvasse and gwezboell which stimulates ones mind..." - Accounts of Grandmaester Pycelle concerning the private times of King Aerys II and his two friends.
"...There were never men with who I can fondly remember with both equal amounts of frustration and admiration than that of my dearest friends Aerys and Steffon, sometimes I ask the gods why I was never taken alongside them..." - Lord Tywin Lannister's words on the funeral of both Aerys and Steffon who both died of old age.
The start of King Aerys II's reign was considered to be a start of great changes in the Seven Kingdoms, he had started his reign by appointing his friends Lord Steffon Baratheon as Hand of the King, and Lord Tywin Lannister as Master of Coin, he further distanced his uncle, Prince Duncan by giving him the empty title of the Prince of Summerhall and also giving him the castle itself where he and his wife would live out the rest of their days away from the great games being played in King's Landing, he had also created a new offices in which a representative of the Night's Watch would often seat in with the Small Council, usually this representative would be the Lord Steward of the Watch who has his own rookery, and also the King's Steward, often appointed through a learned common man or merchant, which would be a counter balance to the Hand of the King, not that King Aerys II mistrusts his Hand but rather he wanted to know the progress of projects he instituted without having to rely on the Hand of the King to report them directly to him, he also had his Grandmaester institute a record of laws and old decisions made by lords and past kings in their courts, it was called as the Codex Aerys and it became a primer for maesters studying the laws of Westeros, on the advice of Lord Tywin Lannister and also his sister Rhaella he appointed as his Mistress of Whispers, the Lady Olenna Tyrell.
Another part of his projects were the institution of what would be known as Small Courts, these are courts that would take care of claims and suits between the Smallfolk and Merchants, all of this was handled by teams of Village Elders or prominent men of towns and cities as well as Maesters who are knowledgeable of the law. His foreign relations were also well remembered at it was during his time where he called upon King Anarawd and the Sealord of Braavos to meet in a summit at Castle Black so that they could reach an agreement concerning the arrangement of the defense of their realms.
"King Anarawd's reign is best described as a lukewarm reign unlike that of his father who was hailed as a man who had driven the White Walkers further from their Lands of Always Winter, a near legendary figure out of the pages of the Age of Heroes, Anarawd had to rely on his father's reputation to keep the Kingdom of the True North united as his father had wanted..." - Records of Kings of the True North by the Druid Hawin.
"There were times where I am this close from tossing a chieftain and see him tumbling down the hill, is this what my father experienced? I just hope that I can fill the void he had left..." - Diary of Anarawd Map Rhodri of House Canmore, King of the True North.
King Anarawd's reign was remembered to be a time of consolidation for the House of Canmore as the reigning family of the True North, King Anarawd had to constantly deal with the pressures of the newly risen factions in his court, the Royalists and the Tanists, the two factions had often times would brawl and cause a riot at the streets of the Cooleys that the King of the True North was forced to build a Great Hall at the center of the city which was separate from his residence, just so that he could try and get the two factions to reach to a compromise to whatever it is they were fighting about. The Royalists wanted Anarawd to strengthen royal authority over the Kingdom of the True North, while the Tanists wished for their way of life before Rhodri's unification and sacrifice to continue, the so called Yr Er Ess Rok, the "Noble Free age" although ironically there was nothing noble or free about that age as one Royalist put it "an age where we are on the verge of forgetting what separates us as a human between an animal, aye we are free, free to fear for our tomorrow and free to die in destitute and cold desolation".
It did not help in the reign of Anarawd that he had married a granddaughter of a key holder of the Iron Bank, Talia Sollys, but it did help him in deepening his ties with Braavos who supported him in his efforts in delaying any escalations from the South by King Jaehaerys II who was still intent on taking back his daughter although by doing so he had gained the ire of both Royalists and Tanists who wanted to fight the South in a war they were sure to win once again, but still with great strength of will and the support of his family, Anarawd was able to survive the first year of his reign and he managed to accomplish something that his father, Rhodri, was not able to do when he was alive, that is to further spread the use of the Silver Pound while also introduce a series of laws codified by the Druids and enforced by the Gallowglasses and the Wayfinders, he had also helped spread the Ailpin language as the language to be used by the people of his kingdom.
An event came where Anarawd's reign was considered best remembered, the Summit at Castle Black, both the Royalists and the Tanists agreed that it was a diplomatic masterstroke by Anarawd as he was able to get King Aerys II to agree for his kingdom to initiate trade with Skagos and the Sistermen without the intervention of House Stark, and also to further expand the support being given to them by the Iron Throne through the Night's Watch by having a rotating army with which would assist both forces of the Watch and the True North against the rising petty kingdoms easing the pressure on Hengledd and making them turn their attention to the White Walkers, it had also began a warming of the relationship between the True North and the South as Anarawd was joined by Bonifer and Rhaella who was then personally congratulated by King Aerys II and even giving gifts for the young Daemon, Aemon, and Justin Hasty.
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