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This historian and lawyer would like to put some false claims to rest now once and for all. Through the years the majority of our history have been lost to civil wars and other tragedies yet the status of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen’s first three children have been clear as day, despite the misinformation spread by Green snakes.
The Dance of The Dragons was a civil war between two sides of the Targaryen family, one led by Princess Rhaenyra and the other led by Prince Aegon, that much we know thanks to the documentation of the masters. However in between facts that have been verified curious history enthusiasts may find some rather confusing rumours about the paternity of Princes Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey Velaryon. In the effort to discredit Princess Rhaenyra’s claim to the Iron Throne her step mother Queen Alicent and her supporters have claimed that her sons from Laenor Velaryon were bastards. Many sources from the time claimed that Laenor Velaryon would rather enjoy the company of the knights than that of his wife Princess Rhaenyra, I do not intend to prove or disprove these rumours, but rather explain to the untrained why this does not matter.
The term ‘bastard’ is first and foremost a legal term meaning ‘a child born to unmarried parents’, and as such using it to refer to any of Princess Rhaenyra’s children is incorrect. Due to different sources describing the three princes' appearance differently, many take it as a confirmation that they were not Laenor Velaryon’s children by blood and as such they had to have been bastards. The records from that time are hard to verify and as such the true appearance of the princes are unknown but as I explained ‘bastard’ is a legal term and should be treated as such.
We have records of the union of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Ser Laenor Velaryon in the Sept of Remembrance as such we know that they wed legally and their marriage was recognised both by the Faith of Seven and the then King Viserys. Records of the birth of her three oldest children were also written by her personal maester Grand Maester Gerardys, and all three of the princes were born well within the marriage of their parents.
To those unfamiliar with the law this is very important, because in any legally recognised union, the children’s father is assumed to be their mothers lawfully wedded husband. This is called the ‘presumption of paternity’ that has existed as long as law itself or maybe even longer, and it is still a pillar of our law system today. Within the ‘presumption of paternity’ if the mother’s husband had at any point thought the children weren’t his he would be well within his right to not claim the children, and then those children would be bastards. Such thing did not happen with any of Princess Rhaenyra’s children, and there are not only verified records of Ser Laenor claiming all three princes as his, but his father Corlys Velaryon, Master of Drifftmark and Lord of the Tides as well as the head of House Velaryon claimed Lucerys Velaryon as his heir after Ser Laenor’s passing.
Three people had rights to question the paternity of Princess Rhaenyra’s children, the first was Ser Leanor Velaryon, the second was the king himself KIng Viserys Targeryen and the third Lord Corlys Velaryon. Seeing that all three people accepted Rhaenyra’s children to the children of Ser Laenor Velaryon the argument that they were bastards has no leg to stand on. The claims that they were bastards only served to further support for Princess Rhaenyra’s half brother Prince Aegon Targaryen who upon their father’s passing usurped Rhaenyra and started the Dance of the Dragons.
As a historian it is important to try to stay impartial and recognise that history is written by the winners and as such be critical of every source we read, however such claims of bastardy can not be tolerated when every evidence points to the fact that they weren’t.
To those who are still critical of my statement and try to argue that they couldn’t have been Ser Laenor’s kids by blood, I am here to tell you that it doesn’t matter. To further explain why it doesn’t matter I am going to use adoption as an example. There have been many Lords documented through our history who in order to save their House from dying out adopted heirs after they either lost all of theirs, or were unable to produce one. It is an established fact that an adopted child has the same place in inheritance as a child by blood, therefore the actual origin of the three princes' blood does not matter. I would also like to shine light on the fact that the claim to The Iron Throne comes from the mother’s, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen’s, side and it is well recorded how she gave birth to all three of the princes.
It has been several years since the Dance of The Dragons, there are still many things we don’t know for certain and we will probably never know, however if there is one thing we do know is that Princes Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey Velaryon were claimed by Ser Laenor and were birthed by Princess Rhaenyra whom were in a recognised union at the time of all three children's conception and as such they were and never will be bastards.
Maester Belladonna