The Cobbler Rebellion

The Battle of the Bloody Lake

The Sack of Oxcross

The Battle of Ash

The Battle of the Golden Tooth

The Hammer and Anvil of the Ford

The Cobbler Rebellion was a smallfolk rebellion that engulfed the Riverlands in the middle of 114 AC as the winter began due to various reasons stemming from the harsh punishments of the Crown following Agnes Tully's rebellion and the general unrest against House Targaryen.

## The Rise of the Cobbler

The sanctions on the Riverlands had been taxing upon not only the lords but the smallfolk as well.  Taxes had increased and even with the bountiful harvests, the general quality of life in the Trident sank during this time.  There were many that spoke up against this and one of the loudest was a cobbler from Fairmarket by the name of Marq.  Marq was a large man that was good at his craft, known for his boots that even some lords would travel across the Riverlands to buy.  His craft suffered under the economic hardships and soon he took to the streets protesting the horrid conditions, which was exacerbated by the winter that started that year and the food shortages that followed.  His son had perished in the famine and Marq blamed the Tully’s for the famines and quickly gathered a following.  Claiming to bring liberation to the smallfolk in the name of the Seven, Marq quickly grew his following.  His followers wore a pair of boots as a sign of their following and took to arming themselves with whatever implements they could find or were given.  Some of the more pious lords of the Riverlands, while not willing to outright rebel, gave arms and supplies to the Cobbler’s making them a force to be reckoned with.

## The Battle of the Blue Fork

As Marq began his assaults, the riverlords were sporadic with their response, the winter was hitting them and many did not want to raise all their men for the task.  The Tullys of Fairmarket raised some men and sent them after the Cobbler’s.  Marq, from atop his massive horse, ordered his men to resist the tyranny of the lords.  In a surprising victory on the north bank of the Blue Fork, the knights of Fairmarket were thrown back, with many driven into the cold waters of the Blue Fork where they drowned.  In the city of Fairmarket, the peasants rose up in support of the Cobblers, with much of the town going up in flames, but the castle there remained standing for now.

## The Fire is Lit

The rebellion spread quickly, with groups taking up residence in Oldstones, High Heart, and Stoney Sept as Lord Tully scrambled to stop them.  Lord Vypren and his family were taken hostage on the road, with all but their youngest son being killed.  Lord Blackwood ordered his family within the castle and his lands were soon infested with bandits, burning everything in sight.  At Seagard, Lord Mallister was forced to take to the streets to bring down a Septon who was preaching of a crusade against the Iron Islands and their Drowned God, sparking a riot that Lord Mallister’s men were forced to put down.  At Oldstones, a man called The Butcher of Blanetree, due to his killing of several members of House Blanetree, gathered his army to march south, only to be met by the forces of The Twins.  All across Westeros, small pockets of the Cobblers would rise up in smaller towns and even the bigger cities saw groups form, though many were quickly quashed by their lords, fearful of things spiralling to the point of the Riverlands.

## The Slaughter at Harroway

The way for Marq the Cobbler was clear.  He would ride to the Isle of Faces and destroy the last main vestiges of the Old Gods south of the Neck, then converge on Raventree Hall to destroy the heathens.   Lord Tully finally had gathered men and was marching along the River Road, while Lord Darry and Shawney marched to meet him at Lord Harroway’s Town.  Marq’s forces were in the town, having overrun House Roote’s keep and killing both Lord Roote and his eldest son, with the rest of the family being held hostage or having fled south to Harrenhal.  The forces of Darry and Shawney reached the town first, though the Cobbler’s held the bridge into town, forcing the lords to force a crossing.  The Cobbler’s held the bridge, joined by some members of the Harroway town guard and even some of Lord Roote’s guards that had joined their cause.  Lord Darry’s men were cut down in droves as they attempted to cross the bridge, as the Cobbler’s arrows rained down upon them.  Lord Shawney would suffer similar results when his men attempted to push across which they would eventually do, though with heavy losses.  Marq retreated his men from the town to the south under the cover of night, when Lord Tully and his forces arrived from the west.

## The Desecration of the Isle of Faces and the Battle of the Bloody Lake

The Cobbler’s forces arrived at Harrenhal, where Lord Strong was still marshaling his forces within the castle.  The mob was too great for him to deal with and so he shut the gates of Harrenhal.  Marq took up residence in the sept of Harrentown, burning down the brothels of the town and hanging the whores in the streets.  Lord Wode, who was within one of the brothels, suffered the same fate but was gelded before being paraded through the streets of the town.  From there, the Marq and a group of his best men boarded ships for the Isle of Faces and rowed out to the island.  There they fought with the Green Men and the followers of the Old Gods.  As they set alight the first few trees, the shores of the God’s Eye were bathed in blood as Lord Tully and his men finally descended from the north.  Lord Strong and his men rode out from Harrenhal and Marq’s army was shattered in what would become known as the Battle of the Bloody Lake.  Many of the Cobbler’s fell that day, but Marq and his lieutenants on the Isle of Faces slew the Green men and their followers and set fire to many of the weirwood trees before fleeing into the night as all were forced to watch the island go up in flames.

## Marq's Revenge

With the majority of his main force destroyed at Harrentown, Marq and his surviving lieutenants rode across the Riverlands in a blaze of quick attacks.  Lord Piper’s daughter was taken and raped by the bandits and Lord Smallwood found his son gelded in his bedchambers.  Merchants were slaughtered with their caravans.  In the Stoney Sept, Marq and his men reorganized their remaining followers and fled west into the mountains, as Lord Tully, now with Crown reinforcements, rode after him.  For the next few moons, the Cobblers seemed to disappear from the Riverlands and yet the attacks continued.  Kidnappings, burnings of holdfasts, and general banditry continued.  In the Westerlands, rumors began to swirl as well as the new year of 115 AC dawned.  In Nun’s Deep, the mines suddenly went silent as did the Pendric Hills.  Lord Tytos Lannister, bedridden for the last few years, dispatched his son, Ser Joffrey Lannister, along with Sers Tybolt, Tyran, and Aubrey Lannister to investigate these issues.  As they formed their forces, the Cobbler’s made their presence known again.

## The Sack of Oxcross

The Cobbler’s forces had converged on the village of Oxcross, sacking it and carrying off the goods that were held there, including a rather major blacksmith, silver from the Ashemark mines, and crops bound for Lannisport.  Just as quickly as they appeared, they vanished back into the hills and mountains.  Across the Westerlands, similar uprisings began.  Lord Farman quickly quelled an uprising on Fair Isle after several of his captains attempted to desert and his fleet managed to stop them.  Lord Lancel Lannister of Lannisport rode out with the Lannisport City Watch in force to brutally put down the Cobbler’s that were assembling in the square of the city near the Golden Sept.

## The Battle of Ash

Ser Joffrey and Ser Tybolt Lannister lead their troops through the Westerlands in a campaign against the Cobblers.  Near Ashemark, they came across a large force of Cobblers and engaged them.  There they routed their forces and captured several men, including some knights of House Swyft and the Heir of Kayce who had all joined the Cobbler’s cause.  Under torture, they revealed that there were other houses sympathetic to the cause.  Ser Tybolt Lannister lead their army east towards the Golden Tooth, which was under siege by the Cobbler’s.  Along the way, he seized Lord Sarsfield, who was named by the Heir of Kayce as a lord in collusion with the Cobblers.  After sacking his chambers, letters were found written by Marq the Cobbler instructing him on how best to hinder the Lannister efforts.  Lord Sarsfield was dragged out to the courtyard and hanged by Ser Tybolt without another word.

## The Battle of the Golden Tooth

With the letters of Lord Sarsfielf now in hand, Lord Tybolt brought the full might of his forces down upon the Cobbler’s that were still attacking House Lefford.  They smashed the Cobbler’s against the walls of the castle and many of them fled back into the Riverlands and the mountains.  Marq still eluded them, though Ser Joffrey and Lord Tybolt were injured in the fighting.  As long as Marq survived, his cause would continue with more villages and lordships coming under attack by the Cobblers and if they did not do something about him soon, the smallfolk would continue to turn against them.

## The Tully/Lannister Allaince

With the Westerlands now fully in the revolt, Lords Lannister and Tully met with one another at Wayfarer’s Rest two weeks after the Battle of the Golden Tooth.  Together they forged an agreement to work together to bring down the Cobblers and solidified it with the betrothal Lord Tybolt's son and heir, Jaime, with Lady Aelinor Tully.  The damage to the lands of the Riverlands and the West allowed the two regions to work together despite their history.

## The Hammer and Anvil at the Ford

The West and the Riverlands set to work, with their horsemen riding out into the western Riverlands and scouring the area for the Cobblers.  Villages were searched and suspected informers were interrogated without mercy.  They managed to track his forces down to the Mummer’s Ford.  Lord Tully took the eastern side of the river while Lord Lannister took the western.  Lord Tully had the honors of driving his men into the Cobbler’s while the Westermen held the opposite side.  The tactic worked like a charm.  Tully’s knights slammed into the Cobblers as they moved along the river and attempted to flee to the Western side.  Only then did they find the Westermen waiting for them, who cut them down in droves.  Marq the Cobbler was captured as he attempted to flee down the river to safety.  He was tortured and brutally executed weeks later.  Order was restored to the Westerlands and the Riverlands and the Crown aided the two regions in their recovery, finally ending the taxes that had been set upon them for the reparations of their past treason. House Lannister was restored to their title of Warden of the West as well, the title having belonged to House Tarbeck following Ser Jason Lannister's treason sixteen years prior.