The Maiden’s Day curse

The Maiden’s Day curse was the name given to a series of slanders, attacks, and accidents involving young noblewomen competing to become Aegon III’s queen. The stories turned the eagerly anticipated Maiden’s Day ball into a contest shadowed by suspicion: some blamed chance, while others believed unseen political hands were at work. The account does not establish who caused the misfortunes.

The contest and its rivals

After Queen Jaehaera’s death, the announcement of a ball to select Aegon III’s bride stirred excitement across the realm. The event was still three moons away when Lord Unwin Peake summoned his daughter, Myrielle Peake, to court, hoping she would win the king’s favor. According to rumor, Unwin also set secret schemes in motion against other young women he considered likely rivals.

Calumnies circulated about several candidates. Cassandra Baratheon was again accused of having caused the little queen’s death; other stories targeted Ysabel Staunton, Elinor Massey, Rosamund Darry, and Lyra Hayford. Jeyne Smallwood, Jeyne Mooton, and Jeyne Merryweather were also subjected to a scandalous tale. These allegations are presented as gossip, not established facts, and their accumulation made the competition seem less like a courtly celebration than a campaign to discredit its participants.

Misfortunes and the name

Rumors of sabotage extended beyond words. Tyshara Lannister said that a groom had entered her room without invitation; Grand Maester Munkun’s examination found that her maidenhead had been broken. Lucinda Penrose was attacked while hawking beside Blackwater Bay: her hawk was killed, her horse stolen, and her nose injured. Falena Stokeworth, an eight-year-old who had sometimes played with the little queen, broke her leg in a fall on the serpentine steps. Lady Buckler and her two daughters drowned when their boat sank while crossing the Blackwater.

Some people began calling the succession of calamities the Maiden’s Day curse. The label gathered together incidents of very different kinds, from rumor and alleged assaults to falls and a fatal accident. It did not prove that they shared a cause, but it gave the court a phrase for its unease as the ball approached.

Suspicion without proof

Mushroom admitted in his testimony that he had been paid by Tessario the Thumb to turn Aegon against prospective brides and other maidens. He had been frequently summoned to the king’s company after Jaehaera’s death; although his jokes did not lift Aegon’s gloom, they amused Gaemon Palehair, and the king often called for him for the boy’s sake. Mushroom’s confession confirms that at least one effort to influence the king through slander took place. It does not establish that Unwin or his agents were responsible for the other reported misfortunes.

The account leaves the central accusation unresolved: the Hand and his followers may have been behind the tragedies, or they may have been coincidences. Either way, the name endured as a sign of the fear and intrigue surrounding the choice of a queen. More than a thousand noble maidens crowded into the Red Keep despite restrictions on age and birth; candidates even came from across the sea, though none of the girls sailing from Old Volantis reached King’s Landing, having been carried off by corsairs from the Basilisk Isles. Against that immense competition, the suspected curse expressed how readily a royal marriage contest could become a struggle over influence and reputation.