The Law on Crenellations

The Law on Crenellations was a fiscal and strategic measure introduced by Jaehaerys I Targaryen: lords who wished to build a castle or expand or repair an existing seat had to pay a substantial price. It made the strengthening of a noble stronghold serve the Crown’s finances, while treating the growth of those same fortifications as a potential threat to royal authority.

Scope and Operation

The law applied when a lord sought to build a new castle or expand or repair an existing seat. The privilege came at a hefty price, bringing revenue to the Crown from construction that might otherwise have strengthened a lord’s independent power. The account describes the levy as a law on crenellations, but gives no schedule of charges or further administrative details.

The Treasury and the Regency

The law emerged from a prolonged shortage of royal funds. The wars of Maegor the Cruel had drained the treasury; tax increases and new taxes imposed during his reign raised less gold than expected and deepened the lords’ hostility. The expensive coronation of Jaehaerys and the Golden Wedding of his mother, Queen Alyssa, added to the burden, while Lord Rogar Baratheon was determined to finish the Dragonpit before handing over the capital and kingdom, despite a lack of funds.

During the regency, Edwell Celtigar, master of coin, tried to replenish the treasury by taxing the smallfolk of King’s Landing. Port fees were tripled, some goods taxed on both entry and departure, and innkeepers and builders faced new levies. Instead of filling the vaults, the measures slowed building, emptied inns, and diverted merchant ships to other ports; work on the Dragonpit stopped when the Crown could no longer pay its builders. Jaehaerys’s approach shifted the burden toward costly goods and construction rather than relying on these levies on ordinary city life.

Revenue and Royal Security

Jaehaerys explained the crenellation law’s dual purpose to Grand Maester Benifer. As he put it, “The larger and stronger a castle, the more its lord is tempted to defy me.” The charge was therefore not only a way to replenish the treasury: by making new construction and improvements costly, it was also meant to discourage lords from building stronger fortresses. Those who had to build regardless would contribute to royal revenue as they spent on their own defenses.

The policy reflected a wider effort to raise money without demanding direct payments from the lords or placing another burden on the smallfolk. Jaehaerys and his master of coin, Rego Draz, first secured three substantial loans from financial rivals in Braavos, Tyrosh, and Myr, allowing work on the Dragonpit to resume. Jaehaerys then turned to taxes on luxury imports, reasoning that a wealthy man could avoid them by giving up costly goods, while those who wanted such displays of wealth would pay. The crenellation levy applied the same fiscal logic to a different kind of expenditure: a lord who chose to enlarge or strengthen his seat would help fund the Crown.

Later Taxation and Significance

The later reign of Rhaenyra brought another severe struggle over royal revenue. After Aegon II seized the treasury and Tyland Lannister sent three-quarters of the late king’s wealth away, Rhaenyra’s master of coin, Bartimos Celtigar, restored taxes imposed by his ancestor Edwell and added many new levies. When Ser Tyland Lannister became Hand, he abolished the taxes enacted by Rhaenyra and Celtigar. These episodes show the recurring pressure to replenish the Crown’s depleted coffers, but the account does not specify whether the Law on Crenellations was among the taxes later restored or abolished.

The law joined public finance to the material balance of power between king and lords. A castle was both a costly building project and a potential instrument of defiance; by taxing its construction and improvement, Jaehaerys sought to make noble fortification yield revenue while limiting its unchecked growth.