Coryanne Wylde

**Coryanne Wylde** was a noblewoman from House Wylde during the early reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. The events of her life are a matter of dispute between historical records and her alleged biography, a scandalous book called *A Caution for Young Girls*.

## History

Coryanne Wylde was the daughter of Lord Morgan Wylde of the Rain House. At the age of thirteen, she was deflowered by a "surly lad" from the stables. According to *A Caution for Young Girls*, her lover was a handsome boy her own age, but according to the Rain House maester, he was thirty years old and pox-scarred. Per both accounts, he was gelded and sent to the Wall shortly afterwards. Coryanne was confined to her chambers, where in 48 AC, she gave birth to a bastard son, who was soon sent away to Storm's End to be fostered by a castle steward and his wife. Few beyond the walls of the Rain House knew of her shame.

In 50 AC, Coryanne was summoned to King's Landing. Queen Regent Alyssa Velaryon was sending septas and girls of noble birth to Dragonstone to be a household for her daughter, Princess Alysanne Targaryen, and Coryanne was chosen as a representative of the stormlands. When the raven came for Coryanne, her mother told her to let everyone believe she was a maiden, and to never speak of her child. However, the truth was that Queen Alyssa and the Hand of the King, Lord Rogar Baratheon, were attempting to undo the secret marriage of young King Jaehaerys I Targaryen and his sister-wife Alysanne, which at the time was unconsummated, and the ladies' mission was to try and persuade Alysanne to annul the marriage. It is not certain why Coryanne was included, but *A Caution for Young Girls* states that Lord Rogar or his brother, Ser Borys, placed Coryanne among these ladies with the instruction to bed King Jaehaerys, in order to anger Alysanne into undoing the marriage. If this was the case, the attempt failed.
On the fifteenth day of the sixth moon of 50 AC, Coryanne eloped with the married Ser Howard Bullock, the younger son of the commander of Dragonstone's garrison. A fishing boat carried them to Driftmark, where they took ship to Pentos, and then to the Disputed Lands, where Ser Howard joined the Free Company. In 53 AC, he died in Myr from a fall from his horse after a night of drinking, and Coryanne was left alone and penniless. The rest of Coryanne's life has not been recorded in history, but it is believed the tales she told to the sellswords of the Free Company and the magisters of Pentos helped spread gossip across the narrow sea about the marriage of Jaehaerys and Alysanne.

## Legacy

Around 90 AC, the first copy of *A Caution for Young Girls* appeared in Westeros, a book of erotica allegedly written by Lady Coryanne. The book details a life of "sin, suffering, and slavery", in which Coryanne had many erotic adventures, both in Westeros and in Essos. In the book, Coryanne is a handmaid to a queen, the paramour of a young knight, a camp follower in the Disputed Lands, a serving wench in Myr, a mummer in Tyrosh, the "plaything" of a corsair queen in the Basilisk Isles, a slave in Volantis (where she was tattooed and had her nipples pierced with rings), the handmaid of a Qartheen warlock, and the mistress of a pleasure house in Lys. At the end, Coryanne repents her sins, becomes a septa at the Starry Sept in Oldtown, and writes the story of her life as a warning for young maidens.

Archmaester Gyldayn used the many variants of *A Caution for Young Girls* as a source for his history book, *Fire & Blood, Being a History of the Targaryen Kings of Westeros*. Gyldayn attempted to determine why a shamed daughter of a minor noble was sent to be a lady-in-waiting for Queen Alysanne Targaryen, when so many other maidens without reproach were available. Many historians have asked the question since, but no plausible explanation has ever been given, so Gyldayn could only conclude that the assertion in *A Caution for Young Girls* was true. Lord Rogar Baratheon would have known of Coryanne's shame because he was Lord Morgan's liege, and because her bastard son was placed at Storm's End, and thus chose her to seduce King Jaehaerys.

According to Gyldayn, many years later, a story was told that King Aegon IV Targaryen was asked about *A Caution for Young Girls'*s claim regarding Coryanne and Jaehaerys. Allegedly, Aegon replied that if Rogar had any sense, he should have ordered all the maidens sent to Dragonstone to bed the king, since he didn't know which of them Jaehaerys would prefer. This story became very popular among the smallfolk; however, Gyldayn found no proof that the conversation actually happened.