Wise Women

The Wise Women were the carefully selected household sent by Queen Alyssa Targaryen to Dragonstone in 50 AC to attend Queen Alysanne Targaryen. Their mission combined religious instruction, courtly service, and political surveillance. The plan failed to separate Alysanne from King Jaehaerys Targaryen: the women instead grew devoted to her, and later stood between her and attackers at Jonquil’s Pool, making the name a record of both a political scheme and the loyalty it unexpectedly fostered.

Formation and Composition

After Jaehaerys and Alysanne fled the Red Keep, the young king and queen were left on Dragonstone without the household expected for a princess, much less a queen. Queen Alyssa saw the need to provide Alysanne with attendants as an opportunity to influence the marriage. Lord Rogar Baratheon, the Hand, agreed to the plan, though his purpose also included establishing a channel for information from the island.

The party brought together women of differing ranks and duties. Septa Ysabel was charged with religious instruction, accompanied by the novices Lyra and Edyth. Lady Lucinda Tully, known for her piety, was sent to oversee the serving women, and her younger sister, Ella of House Broome, joined her. The company also included daughters of Lord Celtigar, as well as Jennis of House Templeton, Coryanne Wylde, and Rosamund Ball, noblewomen from the Vale, the stormlands, and the Reach. The arrangement made Alysanne’s household a small courtly network: its members could care for her, instruct her, and report on life at Dragonstone.

A Household with Two Political Purposes

Queen Alyssa hoped that the company’s religious women would persuade Alysanne, and perhaps Jaehaerys, to reconsider their marriage in light of the Faith’s teaching. The Queen Regent regarded the young couple as wayward rather than malicious and hoped that suitable instruction might change their course. Prayer, sermons, and readings from The Seven-Pointed Star were part of this effort. The women were not merely attendants: their selection and presence were intended to exert religious pressure inside the royal household.

Lord Rogar’s purpose was more openly political. He lacked confidence in the loyalty of Dragonstone’s garrison and the Kingsguard, and wanted eyes and ears on the island. He instructed Lady Lucinda and the others to send him reports about what the king and queen said and did. In particular, he wanted to know whether the couple intended to consummate their marriage, an outcome he sought to prevent. The same household thus served the Regent’s attempt at religious persuasion and the Hand’s effort to monitor and control the young rulers.

Coryanne Wylde’s inclusion has a more uncertain explanation. The historical account notes that she had previously given birth to a bastard child, while many other noble girls of suitable age were available. It presents the suggestion that she was selected for reasons concerning Jaehaerys, but does not establish that this was the purpose of Queen Alyssa’s plan or that Coryanne acted on it. The account also stresses that the sensational source advancing this version gives contradictory tellings. Her presence therefore remains a point of suspicion, not a confirmed explanation of the Wise Women’s mission.

Arrival and Unexpected Allegiance

The women travelled aboard the trading galley Wise Woman. At dawn on the seventh day of the second moon of 50 AC, they boarded and set out on the morning tide for Dragonstone. Queen Alyssa had sent word ahead by raven, but feared that the island’s gates might be closed to them. Instead, Alysanne and two Kingsguard met them at the harbor. Alysanne welcomed each woman with a smile and a gift; the account dates the company’s name, the Wise Women, from this arrival.

The religious campaign did not produce the division Queen Alyssa had hoped for. Alysanne remained convinced that she was meant to be Jaehaerys’s wife, confidante, and helpmate, and expected them to rule together. Her gentle and loving conduct, combined with the strength of that conviction, made it difficult for Septa Ysabel, Lady Lucinda, and the other women to condemn her. Rather than drawing away from her, they increasingly took her side. Rogar’s effort to divide the couple likewise failed: the historical accounts cited say that no harsh words or estrangement troubled their time together on Dragonstone before Jaehaerys reached his majority.

Defense of the Queen

The Wise Women’s loyalty became consequential when Alysanne was attacked at Jonquil’s Pool. Three women who tended the pool resented the queen and fell upon her with concealed daggers. Alysanne’s companions intervened without hesitation. Septa Edyth, Prudence Celtigar, and Rosamund Ball were among those hurt in the struggle; Rosamund died three days later. None of the attackers’ blades touched the queen.

The attack exposed a practical gap in the queen’s protection: the Kingsguard had been guarding the bathhouse entrance, not anticipating danger from within. The Wise Women’s intervention preserved Alysanne, while the death of Rosamund marked the cost of their defense. The episode also made clear how far the household’s relationships had moved from the purposes for which it was assembled. Sent to instruct, monitor, and potentially redirect the young queen, its members had become her companions and protectors. Their story is therefore one of a political appointment transformed by proximity and loyalty, though the evidence does not establish that the company continued as a formal organization beyond its service in Alysanne’s household.