Longtable was a stronghold in the Reach whose surrender to Ormund Hightower briefly spared its lady and household from harm during the Dance of the Dragons. The terms granted there became a grim point of comparison when Hightower’s forces later reached Bitterbridge.

Setting and Siege

As Ormund Hightower besieged Longtable, people fled ahead of his advancing host and crowded into Bitterbridge, about thirty leagues to the northeast. The movement of refugees gives Longtable’s siege a wider consequence: the threat to the stronghold helped drive civilians toward a neighboring town that would soon face the same army.

Surrender and Terms

Lady Merryweather yielded Longtable to Hightower. He kept his word not to harm her or her people, but stripped the castle of its wealth and food. The provisions fed his thousands as he broke camp and marched on to Bitterbridge, making Longtable’s stores part of the army’s immediate supply.

Contrast with Bitterbridge

At Bitterbridge, Lady Caswell asked Hightower for the same terms Lady Merryweather had received. Instead, Hightower had Prince Daeron answer that she would receive the terms she had given Prince Maelor. Bitterbridge was then sacked, while Longtable’s surrender had been met with a promise of personal safety. The contrast marks the limits of the protection a negotiated submission could offer: at Longtable it was honored, but it did not spare the castle’s wealth and food, and it did not guarantee the same treatment for another besieged house.