In our previous video on the history of Westeros we covered the battles in the Riverlands between
Houses Stark and Lannister during the War of the Five Kings, but this was not the only
front in this chaotic conflict. To the south, the Baratheon claimant Stannis was about to
threaten Kings Landing with his army, and the upcoming battle would be the largest of
the entire war. Welcome to our video on the Battle of Blackwater Bay.
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Robb Stark managed to outwit the Lannister forces in the Riverlands and eventually captured
the Kingslayer, Jaime Lannister. He was declared the King in the North by his bannerman immediately
after the execution of Eddard Stark, however the very heart of the Seven Kingdoms sat in
the crosshairs of another of the Five Kings. Stannis Baratheon declared himself king on
the former Targaryen island stronghold of Dragonstone.
Stannis was in a prime position to launch his attack on the capital, and he had enough
ships to do so, however, he lacked troops, as only a few minor houses were sworn to the
House Baratheon of Dragonstone. In search of new forces, he looked towards his homeland
to the south: the Stormlands, where the third Baratheon brother, Renly, had also declared
himself King. Stannis’ advisor, a priestess of R'hllor, Melisandre, proclaimed that she
had seen two futures in the flames. One future in which Stannis is defeated by Renly, and
one in which his brother perishes and his forces flock to Stannis.
As the war broke out, Renly Baratheon was the most powerful of the Kings. Due to his
close association with the powerful lords of Highgarden and their heir, Loras, Renly
had taken Margaery Tyrell as his wife. The Tyrell dominion of the Reach was undoubtedly
the most fertile and agriculturally productive land in the Seven Kingdoms, allowing them
to accumulate vast wealth, and raise large armies from their dense populations. In addition,
his own seat of Storm’s End held direct Lordship over the Stormlands themselves, and
the majority of vassals therein declared for Renly. Overall, the forces sworn to the youngest
Baratheon totalled around 100,000 soldiers, including 20,000 cavalry.
Stannis, who considered Renly’s claim to the throne to be a betrayal, sailed to the
Stormlands with 5,000 infantrymen, and laid siege to the capital at Storm’s End. Hearing
this, Renly, who was encamped at Bitterbridge with his massive force, rode quickly home
with 20,000 horsemen in order to break the siege, while his foot remained at Bitterbridge
with Margaery. The two brothers attempted to negotiate, but
their clashing personalities caused this to fail, and it appeared battle would be joined
in the morning. However, a magic shadow assassin, conjured by Melisandre, murdered Renly in
the night, leading to chaos in his ranks. Around 18,000 of the Reach and Stormlander
cavalry who accompanied Renly now joined Stannis in the siege, led by House Florent, while
2,000 Tyrell horse under Loras Tyrell returned to Bitterbridge.
The siege continued but, wanting to finish it quickly, Melisandre was escorted underneath
the castle by Ser Davos Seaworth, where she summoned another shadow being, which assassinated
the castle’s castellan. The castle then yielded to Stannis. Melisandre’s optimistic
prophecy had come true. Meanwhile at the Bitterbridge camp, open fighting
broke out between the Renly loyalists and those who wished to defect to Stannis. Hoping
to secure the largest of these loyalist factions in an alliance, Joffrey’s Small Council
in King’s Landing first released two twin sons of House Redwyne, whose fleet was one
of the largest in the Seven Kingdoms, before sending Petyr Baelish as an envoy to the Tyrells.
To win their favour, the King’s advisors proposed that Joffrey should marry the newly
widowed Margaery Tyrell, thus making her a queen again. This succeeded, and riders were
sent north to Tywin Lannister to alert him of the threat to King’s Landing posed by
Stannis. Meanwhile, Lord Mace Tyrell began to levy his enormous resources to come to
the aid of his new ally. In King’s Landing, preparations were underway for the siege all
knew was coming. In the Riverlands, House Stark was engaged
in a brutal war with the Lannister Lion. After his victory at the Whispering Wood, Robb Stark
launched a raid into the now lightly defended Westerlands in order to draw Tywin home, while
Stannis used the opportunity to take King’s Landing.
At first, he fell for the trick, however the Tully forces, unaware of the plan, refused
to allow Tywin to cross the Trident. This mistake and delay allowed the riders from
Bitterbridge to reach him, and informed him of the situation near the capital. At once
he began to march back to King’s Landing, leaving a relatively small garrison at key
positions on the Trident. Meanwhile, Stannis’ army and fleet left Storm’s End for King’s
Landing, preparing to take the city. The defenders of King’s Landing had been
reinforced in the weeks before the assault. The City Watch had been tripled in size under
new King’s Hand, Tyrion Lannister, now consisting of 5,700 gold cloaks - however only around
2,000 were dependable veterans. Roughly 800 sellswords had been hired through Tyrion’s
friendship with the mercenary Bronn. In addition, 300 knights had heeded the call to the city’s
defence, as well as contingents from the nearby castles of Rosby and Stokeworth. Finally around
150 of Tyrion’s personal mountain clansmen allies were also present at the battle.
To defend the city walls, hundreds of scorpions, catapults and ballistae were manned by hundreds
of engineers. In the river and the bay, 45 royal war galleys defended the entrance to
the Blackwater, supplemented by at least a dozen vessels taken from traders in the weeks
leading up to the battle. All in all, the defenders numbered between 7,000 and 8,000
men. The attackers, led by Stannis, had around
16,400 knights and armoured cavalry on the south bank of the river, mainly the defector
forces from Renly from the Reach, Stormlands and Crownlands. Around 200 ships sailed towards
King’s Landing that day, from Myr, Lys, the Stormlands and Dragonstone. On the transport
ships, the original 5,000 strong infantry force, consisting of footmen, archers and
crossbowmen, waited to disembark. Before the assaulting army reached the city,
Tyrion sent his Vale mountain clansmen, who were experts at guerilla warfare, out into
the Kingswood with guides to harass Stannis’ marching columns and supply lines, and to
kill his scouts. Despite this, his forces reached the southern edge of the Blackwater
Rush only having suffered light casualties. The first clashes would take place mainly
on the river. Seeing the most illustrious vessels of the royal navy opposite them, Stannis’
fleet advanced up the Blackwater and onto the river itself with no reconnaissance, ten
lines strong with twenty ships in each, while the Lysene pirate fleet under Salladhor Saan
remained in the bay, protecting the fleet’s rear from any surprise attack.
As the first lines of the attacking fleet advanced up the river, Joffrey’s smaller
navy withdrew past two towers; one at each side of the river. Buckets of pitch and missile
weapons, as well as ballistae and scorpion siege weapons, began to assail the ships commanded
by Imry Florent. More disconcertingly, three massive trebuchets on Visenya’s hill began
to launch massive boulders at the fleet from inside the walls, occasionally carving deadly
holes in the Baratheon ranks. At this time, the defending fleet finally
halted its withdrawal and engaged the attackers, pinning them in place. While the royal galleys
fought well, they were hopelessly outnumbered and soon began to suffer losses. Sensing that
the moment was right, Tyrion Lannister then sprung his trap; unmanned hulks, seeping with
a viscous green fluid, were sent into the midst of the battle. When one of them was
rammed by an attacking ship, it exploded, causing massive devastation and almost total
losses among both fleets, as well as a chain reaction causing other wildfire laden husks
to detonate. Stannis’ commanders ordered a retreat, however the two towers on the lower
reaches of the Blackwater were then used to raise a blocking chain, preventing any retreat
and leaving most of the ships at the mercy of the raging wildfire. Half of the fleet
which had taken part in the riverine incursion was destroyed, along with the majority of
the defending navy. Nevertheless, the burning fluid on the river
was not evenly spread and many ships managed to escape the inferno; the Myrish by sailing
to the south bank of the river, while the first two lines commanded by Imry Florent,
perhaps 30 or 40 ships, had escaped the wildfire’s grasp completely; more than enough to ferry
Stannis’ host across the Blackwater. A more immediate concern was the survivors
of the wildfire attack. Eight ships landed under the city wall and disgorged several
hundred soldiers, maybe close to a thousand. After organising their forces upstream, they
brought a battering ram and began to assail the King’s Gate.
As the attackers came ashore, they were attacked several times by Sandor Clegane and a small
contingent of cavalry. While this delayed and disconcerted Stannis’ soldiers, the
defenders suffered grievous casualties, and Sandor refused to launch another attack. Realising
his men’s morale would collapse if they had no leader, Tyrion shamed them by leading
the attack himself, proclaiming that if he were a half-man leading an attack, then what
would they be if they refused? This worked, and he, along with Ser Mandon Moore of the
Kingsguard and Podrick Payne, led the cavalry and sallied out of the King’s Gate in a
wedge formation, dispersing the attackers, before moving over to the Mud Gate, where
again they smashed into the enemy. On the river near this location, the mangled
and charred wrecks of several dozen ships had formed into a makeshift bridge, which
brave knights and men-at-arms of Stannis were crossing. The defenders advanced onto the
increasingly rickety bridge and engaged in a brutal grinding melee in the uneven terrain;
both sides suffered heavy casualties. As the battle on the collapsing boat bridge
progressed, Ser Mandon betrayed Tyrion on Cersei’s orders and attempted to kill him,
before being himself killed by Podrick. Now almost unconscious, the Hand was dragged away
by his soldiers, who retreated demoralised into the city walls.
Though it seemed like the battle was lost, the defenders had actually bought the city
enough time for reinforcements to arrive. On the south bank of the Blackwater a vast
army moved into view. 50,000 Tyrell bannermen and 20,000 Lannister soldiers appeared; commanded
by Lord Tywin on the right, Randyll Tarly in the centre and Lord Mace Tyrell on the
left. Ser Garlan Tyrell; dressed in the armour of
the deceased Renly Baratheon, led the vanguard which first thrust into Stannis’ unengaged
army. The former supporters of Renly, convinced their dead ‘King’ had returned, deserted
Stannis in the thousands, while thousands more were killed in the slaughter. Melisandre’s
vision of doom had also come true. Seeing the battle was turning for the worse, Salladhor
Saan’s unaffected ships approached the south shore, allowing Stannis and several hundred
of his soldiers to escape. Though they had eventually reigned victorious,
the cost for the defenders had been high. 1,600 gold cloaks of the city watch had been
killed or had deserted, while the vast majority of the roughly 1,000 sellswords, knights and
men-at-arms had been lost in the sallies. Over 40 royal war galleys were destroyed,
taking all of their crews with them to the bottom of the Blackwater. However, Stannis’
losses were catastrophic. Around 90% of the 200 ships he had brought had either been destroyed
by the wildfire or the enemy’s vessels, or were scuttled upstream, along with their
marines and crews. Many lords had been killed, along with almost
a thousand knights. Several thousand footmen had died and another several thousand had
been left behind due to a lack of space on the retreating ships, while most of the Stormlanders
and Reachmen who had previously abandoned Renly deserted Stannis by the thousands.
As a consequence of this battle, the threat to King’s Landing was at an end, Lord Tywin
Lannister once again was appointed Hand of the King, and the Lannister-Tyrell alliance
was now the most powerful force in the War of the Five Kings, which allowed Lord Tywin
to deal with the Starks in a different way.
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