House Rosby

House Rosby’s role in the Dance of the Dragons is recorded through the changing loyalties and eventual fate of its lord. Lord Rosby first chose submission to Aegon II when offered a final chance to swear fealty; later, after shifting to the Greens to avoid imprisonment, he tried to return to the Blacks. His execution brought the house’s lands, castles, and revenues into a dispute over inheritance, resolved in favor of his sons.

Allegiance During the War

While imprisoned beneath the Red Keep, Lord Rosby was among the lords who had earlier supported Rhaenyra’s rights but were given one last opportunity to acknowledge Aegon II. He swore fealty, as did Lord Stokeworth and Lord Butterwell. Other captives held to their prior oaths and were executed. Lord Rosby’s choice distinguished him from those who refused the new king, but it did not settle his allegiance for the remainder of the conflict.

A Reversal and Its Cost

Later, Lord Rosby and Lord Stokeworth were described as Blacks who had gone over to the Greens to avoid the dungeons. They then attempted to return to Rhaenyra’s faction. Rhaenyra treated the reversal as evidence of disloyalty rather than as a welcome change of sides, and both lords were executed. The sequence left House Rosby associated with repeated changes of allegiance, first under Aegon II and then amid Rhaenyra’s rule of King’s Landing.

The Inheritance Dispute

The deaths of the two lords left their estates without living male heads. Lord Rosby’s daughter was twelve; Lord Stokeworth’s was six. Daemon Targaryen proposed marrying the girls to Hugh Hammer and Ulf White, granting the dragonseeds control of their fathers’ lands as a reward for their service. Corlys Velaryon opposed the plan: both girls had younger brothers, and neither deceased lord had named a daughter as heir. In his view, setting aside the sons would challenge established inheritance practice far beyond these two houses.

Settlement and Significance

Rhaenyra chose Corlys’s position, with the account attributing her decision to concern that overturning the sons’ claims would cost her the support of other lords. House Rosby’s lands, castle, and revenues were therefore awarded to Lord Rosby’s sons, rather than to his daughter or Hugh Hammer. Hugh and Ulf received knighthoods and small holdings on Driftmark instead. The episode shows how House Rosby’s fate was shaped not only by its lord’s wartime choices, but also by the wider political stakes attached to inheritance and noble support.