Lives of Four Kings

Lives of Four Kings is a history book about kings of the Targaryen dynasty of Westeros. It begins with the reign of King Aegon III, and continues until the end of the reign of King Aegon IV. It is considered a classic, and a book which every good ruler should read.

King Joffrey Baratheon is presented with the book as a present during his wedding to Margaery Tyrell.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Lives of Four Kings was written by Grand Maester Kaeth, and is considered a classic on the art of good rulership. The four kings of the title are Aegon III the Dragonbane, Daeron I, Baelor the Blessed, and Aegon IV the Unworthy. It therefore covers a period of roughly fifty years, from 131 years after the Targaryen Conquest to 184 After Conquest (thus ending about 120 years before the events of the War of the Five Kings).

Aegon III was a good ruler who helped to reunify and rebuild the Seven Kingdoms after the civil war between his mother Rhaenyra and half-uncle Aegon II, known as the Dance of the Dragons, tore the realm apart.

Daeron I, known as the Young Dragon, was a great general who conquered Dorne, which had managed to resist even the original Targaryen Conquest through guerrilla warfare. Occupying Dorne, however, proved far more difficult than conquering it: a few years later Dorne rebelled and all of the Young Dragon's conquests came to nothing.

Daeron I died childless, so he was succeeded by his younger brother Baelor the Blessed - a religious zealot and pacifistic fool, who quite probably had inherited the Targaryen propensity for insanity. Baelor also died childless, and the throne passed to Aegon III's younger brother Viserys II (skipping ahead of Aegon III's three surviving daughters, due to the new royal inheritance laws).

Viserys II was king for barely a year before he died and was succeeded by his son, Aegon IV. He was known as "Aegon the Unworthy" and was one of the worst kings of the Targaryen dynasty, a selfish and incompetent glutton, whose pervasive sexual affairs produced many bastard children who tore the realm apart upon his death.

Tyrion points out that the title should more properly have been "Lives of Five Kings", but Kaeth barely considered the brief reign of Viserys II, because he reigned for only a year. Some say that even what content Kaeth devoted to Viserys II was too much. The counterargument is that even Viserys II served as Hand of the King under both of his nephews, and was functionally the real ruler of the Seven Kingdoms during both of their reigns. Daeron was a good general but ignored matters of governance, and Baelor was a religious fool who ignored any practical considerations, leaving Viserys II to hold the Seven Kingdoms together.

Lives of Four Kings is considered a classic, not only for its content but for Kaeth's illustrations and textual illuminations, which are considered artistic masterpieces. By the time of the War of the Five Kings, only four rare original copies still exist which were drawn by Kaeth's own hand.