House Tyrell of Highgarden is a noble family from the Reach. House Tyrell served as the High Stewards of Highgarden under House Gardener, a title they held hereditarily. When the last Gardener King perished from the flames of Aegon the Dragon, Harlen Tyrell surrendered Highgarden to the Targaryen and rose as Lord Paramount of the Mander and Warden of the South.
House Tyrell's power reached its peak following Renly's ascension, with Mace Tyrell named as Hand of the King and three vassals in the Small Council. Throughout the reign of the Baratheon Dynasty, House Tyrell would actively support its rule, despite the less than favourable treatment bestowed upon it ever since the death of Renly Baratheon
They would remember, however, of an age when there was a Rose Queen next to a Stag King in the Red Keep. If not, perhaps a friendlier monarch could be arranged.
Their seat, Highgarden, is an ancient castle long named to be the most beautiful in all the Seven Kingdoms, a claim disputed by both the Tullys of Riverrun and the Arryns of the Eyerie. Its gardens, groves, as well as the briar maze, can be heard in songs across Westeros.
Their sigil is a golden rose head amongst a field of earthen green below. Their words are "Growing Strong".
History[]
The War of the Seven Kings[]
Lord Mace Tyrell actively supported Renly Baratheon's claim to the throne, with his daughter as Renly's queen and a third son as the Captain-Commander of the Stag King's newly formed Rainbow Guard.
A few thousand Reachmen and former Stannis supporters were sent south to fight and defeat the dornish enemy led by Oberyn Martell. Yet none of them ever came back.
When Renly turned against his dornish enemy himself, achieving a very costly victory after weeks of figuring, Loras Tyrell got mortally wounded by the Red Viper himself.
Mace Tyrell heard of Joffrey’s march on the Parchments and decides to meet him in the field. On the border of the Crownlands and Stormlands they met. The battle was hard fought but Joffrey lacked command. What’s more, Tywin Lannister failed to arrive in time and thus the battle was fought without a Rearguard on Joffrey's side. The boy king got killed screaming on the field.
Renly and his men soon after regrouped with Mace's. When Tywin finally came then, Renly’s and Tyrell's forces crushed Tywin’s killing the lion.
Renly and Mace arrived at King’s Landing and a sellsword company Tywin had sent to protect the city betrayed the remaining Lannister soldiers, opening the gates.
Mace Tyrell heavily criticized Renly's mercy towards Aegon Blackfyre, when Renly defeated Aegon and let him live, because of his begging for mercy.
War of the Exiles[]
Once news Daenerys' coming reached King's Landing, the Hand of the King, Mace Tyrell, suggested calling upon the Young Wolf, King Robb Stark for help but Renly refused, not wanting to be shamed by needed the Wolf’s help to defeat his enemies again.
Mace Tyrell withdrew from King’s Landing to personally raise the armies of the Reach. He and Randyll Tarly, the Master of Laws, sent ravens to all Keeps in the Reach order the largest army ever amassed.
Mace and Randyll were ordered by their King to search and destroy a large force of cavalry led by Barristan Selmy, which was hiding at first before suddenly carving into the Reach and leaving a bloody trail of burned crops, dead soldiers, and pillaged towns. They had been moving nonstop as a large insurgent group ripping apart the biggest kingdom of Renly’s. As Barristan and his Cavalry looped around, they came across Mace's group.
Barristan elected to attack in the night, but Mace and his men surprised them by being prepared for this battle and not sleeping, while Randyll Tarly and two thousand archers appeared at the top of the hills. The Reachmen won the battle, yet this decisive victory was costly. When morning came, Randyll Tarly and his archers descended the hill to find Mace Tyrell dead in his camp.
Though costly, Renly defended his throne. Maesters often mark this is a sudden and stark end to the Tyrell and Reach influence over the throne.
First War of Reclamation[]
After the Battle for the Stepstones, Loras I Baratheon called his banners. Lord Matthos Tyrell was granted the command of parts of his armies. Tyrell was marching north into the Riverlands.
Lord Tyrell and nearly ten thousand men began to harry the southern edges of the Riverlands, dipping their toes in the proverbial pond that was the Riverlands. For several days, Tyrell sent raiding parties across the border to pick and plunder at the villages of the Trident. Lord Mallister and an army of nearly six thousand arrived to counter Lord Tyrell’s archaic attacks. They began to establish defenses for the farms and towns that were being attacked. Within a moon, Tyrell’s success rate dropped from near one-hundred percent to five percent. Tyrell ordered the raidings to cease and decided it was time to commit to a hardline campaign. His first target was Pinkmaiden, where Mallister was holding his camp.
Mallister had not forgotten to fortify his own lands, however. Pinkmaiden had been turned into a fortress and would take more than just a quick assault to capture. Lord Tyrell began a slow march towards Pinkmaiden, all the way he was harried by Mallister’s counter-raiding forces. They were too small to do real damage to the army but were enough to slow him down every day, picking off a dozen or so soldiers for every one defender killed along the way. By the time Tyrell reached Pinkmaiden his forces had dwindled from ten thousand to eight thousand two hundred. Mallister, meanwhile, had only lost three hundred men. Pinkmaiden was more than ready for a siege. If Tyrell wanted his prize he would need to claim it. Tyrell began construction of siege equipment in preparation to take the castle. Mallister all the while stayed inside Lord Piper’s castle. His ravens were shot down, isolating him in his keep. After nearly two moons of siege, Tyrell was ready to attack.
The Dornish Rebellion[]
When Houses of the Reach and Stormlands sided with the Dornish rebels, Lord Matthos Tyrell was ordered to extinguish any and all houses found directly assisting the rebels in Dorne.
The Reach Rebels were lead by Red Apple Fossoway’s and the Balls. As his men marshalled at Highgarden, Matthos dispatched his son Mace to deal with House Ball before they could unite with their rebellious allies. The battle was bloody but short, Lord Ball fell to Mace's blade and his army was broken.
Meanwhile, in order to ensure the other rebels could not attack the exposed Crownlands as they marched south with Edric and Steffon, Lord Tyrell encircled the Fossoways from the North, sweeping down on the Rebel’s camp with heavy cavalry. It was a costly victory, but a victory all the same. The surviving Reach Rebels retreated down the Prince’s Pass. Tyrell would follow them, leading his forces down the Pass as well, but a host of Dornishmen led by Lords Dayne and Blackmont forced him to halt his advance.
Eventually, Lord Tyrell would force his way through the pass and lay siege to Blackmont. With ill news coming from the other fronts, the rebels surrendered to him just as a Royal army arrived. Justice would be dispensed quickly and ruthlessly; House Ball - reduced to only an infant Lord - was forced to give much of it's land to House Varner, whilst the Red Apple Fossoway's were stripped of much of their land and forcibly sworn to the Green Apple Fossoway's - the traitor lord Fossoway was executed by Matthos' own hand as vengeance for all the Reachmen that his treachery had killed.