Brienne of Tarth has Targaryen blood.

[Lord Varys]

I'm already in the holidays, so I can't check the section on Egg's match, but if I remember correctly, the phrase goes like 'back then the match did not raise objection because Aegon was at the far end of the line of succession'. Nothing suggests that it was Maekar who would have objected but other members of the royal family (i.e. the king, Aerys I), the Small Council, or the lords. We see what happens when Duncan, the Prince of Dragonstone, chooses a bride who is (reputedly) beneath him. Aegon V did not have the power or authority to keep Duncan as his heir against the will of his court and council.

And I think Egg could have forced Daeron to marry Olenna. Duncan/Jenny and Jaehaerys/Shaera effectively outmaneuvered him, but Daeron could not possible marry Jeremy.

I'd not say/assume without further evidence that a father can make the matches for his son if he is not the head of the house/king at the same time. Daeron II sent Aemon to the Citadel, not Maekar. The king did decide what his grandson had to do.

It also seems as if Jaehaerys I had brokered the Rhea-Daemon match, and Baelor I (as head of House Targaryen) arranged the marriage of Daeron. Thus I'd not say that Aegon V did not have the right/power to forbid his son to force his grandchildren to marry each other. In fact, the sidebar states that Egg let Jaehaerys have his way. That means he could have objected and prevented the match.

I'm not saying that the Jena-Baelor match had no political meanings. In fact, my take on that is that I believe/find it possible that Jena had Targaryen blood but was chosen as the future queen consort because she was of House Dondarrion and Daeron wanted an alliance with a Marcher Lord rather than with another house with Targaryen blood (descended from the children of Baela and Rhaena).

The fact that no one complains about Baelor's marriage could be a sign that she had Targaryen blood and was thus considered worthy of Baelor, as he had no sisters.

Hightowers:

I guess I chose the wrong words. My point was that the Hightowers were the only non-Valyrian house that was de facto able to marry a Targaryen king (or prince at top of the line of succession) more than once. Alicent married a king, and Ceryse married Maegor when only Rhaena was between Maegor and Aenys in the line of succession.

I daresay that the Hightowers are perhaps the most prestigious house in Westeros besides the royal dynasty - especially back when the High Septon still resided in Oldtown. They are former royalty, one of the oldest lines, nearly the wealthiest house, and they control the Citadel.

Daemon/Rohanne:

What makes you believe that Rohanne of Tyrosh was not of an old Valyrian line? She was most likely kin to the Archon of that time, and, as Tyrosh is a former Valyrian colony, it would surprise if the men who are elected Archon are necessarily not of Valyrian nobility. I'd not say I'm sure she was Valyrian, but I'm inclined to believe it.

And we should keep in mind that the Blackfyre loyalists spread the tale that Daemon actually wanted to marry Daenerys, which could be a general hint that Daemon wanted a better match.

[The Red Widow of Coldmoat]

The Duncan/Jenny marriage had a lot more to it than Duncan simply marrying "below him". It's not as if Duncan married lesser nobility, Jenny was a commoner who claimed descent from kings who had been dead for thousands of years. There's a pretty good chance that any commoner from that area could claim similar descent and in all of those cases, it doesn't really matter what's claimed as it's completely unverifiable.

Aside from that, Duncan broke a betrothal to the daughter of a great lord. That would've caused problems if Duncan had married Jenny or if Duncan had married someone like a Hightower or a Lannister. In Egg's case, he probably broke a betrothal to his sister, although we don't know when it happened or who initiated it or if it was mutual. It might've been years before his marriage. Still, breaking a betrothal to his sister would be significantly simpler since in his case the spurned father would be his own father. Maekar wasn't going to rise in rebellion against himself because Egg broke a betrothal to his daughter.

[Lord Varys]

In essence, it was a marriage 'below Duncan'. That's why the people forced him to abdicate as Prince of Dragonstone. Whether Jenny had certain proofs corroborating her heritage remains to be seen. The fact that Yandel repeats that story rather stating that Jenny was a commoner suggests that there is more to this story, although I agree that it would have been difficult for Duncan/Aegon to prove her heritage, even if she had convinced them.

In the real world, royalty tends to marry only royalty. I agree, that this is not the case in Westeros, but there is a hierarchy of nobility in Westeros, and the royals should only marry down to a certain point before, well, their children are no longer worthy of the Iron Throne.

[RumHam]

Other than Duncan do we ever hear of any lord marrying a commoner? I wonder if Tytos wanted to marry his mistress but felt people wouldn't stand for it.

[The Red Widow of Coldmoat]

Right, but the Duncan/Jenny affair is such an extreme example of a prince marrying below his station that it isn't good for comparison. While it's noted that Aegon's marriage didn't draw opposition because of how far removed he was from the throne when he wed, I'm not sure that indicates that the status of Betha's nobility was what would have drawn opposition. I think it's quite possible that any opposition would've been more politically oriented. The Blackwoods were pretty strong loyalists at the time, especially considering that Bloodraven was Hand of the King. So, a Blackwood match could be far less advantageous than other more politically oriented matches. Furthermore, Egg and Betha's wedding was the year after the Third Blackfyre Rebellion. If Egg had been closer to the throne, marrying a Blackwood could have drawn objections for further stoking the flames of the Blackfyre Rebellions. The Bracken/Blackwood feud does seem to have played a decent sized role in the Blackfyre Rebellions, so the possibility of a Blackwood queen, and half-Blackwoods becoming king, could have antagonized the Brackens

I suppose there might be one other aspect of marrying a Blackwood that could've drawn opposition that that would be the Blackwoods keeping the old gods. That might have drawn opposition from the Faith, again if Egg hadn't been so far removed from the throne.

RumHam: Lord Lyonel Corbray marries a commoner in A Feast for Crows. Maegor's third wife Tyanna doesn't seem to be of fine noble pedigree either, rumored to be the natural daughter of a magister, who worked her way up from a tavern dancer to a courtesan.

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

Other than Duncan do we ever hear of any lord marrying a commoner? I wonder if Tytos wanted to marry his mistress but felt people wouldn't stand for it.

Taena of Myr?

[Lord Varys]

Taena could have been noble stock, for a family from Myr. Do we have reason to believe that she does not have any noble blood?

Nothing suggests that Tytos intended to marry his mistress. In fact, the one topic in which Tytos had stones was the whole marital sector. He forced Jason into the marriage with the Stackspear girl and then later married him to Marla Prester, and he went through with the Genna-Emmon match despite that it was opposed by pretty much everyone in the West.

Maegor's later marriages do not really count as dynastic or royal marriages, as they were essentially desperate attempts by Maegor to father an heir and to secure his position (Rhaena). Tyanna was a magister's bastard.

[serdog]

Also it consitered a mark agiast Robb's marriage that Jenye had a commer for a Great-Grandfather and her family had married Maegor

[RumHam]

I forgot about Corbray. I might be wrong but I don't really consider foreigners to be commoners/peasants. I guess most of the ones with the means to travel to Westeros are on the wealthier side. But it seems like they deal with the lesser stigma of being foreigners instead of being considered peasants. I'm trying to think of an example other than Varys. Is Tobho Mott from Qohor?

[Ramsay's Penguins]

I forgot about Corbray. I might be wrong but I don't really consider foreigners to be commoners/peasants. I guess most of the ones with the means to travel to Westeros are on the wealthier side. But it seems like they deal with the lesser stigma of being foreigners instead of being considered peasants. I'm trying to think of an example other than Varys. Is Tobho Mott from Qohor?

Gulltown girl is rich as hell. Not really marrying down when you're poor as hell

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

I figured Taena because house Merryweather lost practically everything when exiled... Why would a richer family marry a daughter to a man from a family where he has almost nothing?

[Ibbison from Ibben]

And I think Egg could have forced Daeron to marry Olenna. Duncan/Jenny and Jaehaerys/Shaera effectively outmaneuvered him, but Daeron could not possible marry Jeremy.

I agree Egg could have forced the issue, but dissolving the betrothal worked out better for everyone, especially once Luthor Tyrell became available for Olenna.

Hightowers:

I guess I chose the wrong words. My point was that the Hightowers were the only non-Valyrian house that was de facto able to marry a Targaryen king (or prince at top of the line of succession) more than once. Alicent married a king, and Ceryse married Maegor when only Rhaena was between Maegor and Aenys in the line of succession.

I daresay that the Hightowers are perhaps the most prestigious house in Westeros besides the royal dynasty - especially back when the High Septon still resided in Oldtown. They are former royalty, one of the oldest lines, nearly the wealthiest house, and they control the Citadel.

I don't see the Hightowers as being more prestigious than the Arryns, Starks, Lannisters, etc. I think the Targs valued the fact that they were effectively independent. They were nominally bannermen of the Gardeners, but often were able to steer their own course. The Tyrells have even less power over them. Marrying a Hightower didn't engage the Targs in any messy arguments the Tyrells might have with their neighbors.

More later. Happy Holidays.

[Lord Varys]

I'm right now not remembering what your take is on Olenna-Daeron, but I believe Yandel that he dissolved the betrothal, and Olenna subsequently rewrote history to fit her self-image better. The 'Queen of Thorns' moniker - a name Olenna does not really likes to hear, if we can trust Loras on that one - could also be a hint in that direction. The thorns clearly refer to Olenna's bluntness, but the queen thing could go back to original betrothal to Daeron. For all we know the couple Luthor-Olenna got a combined moniker referring to them being 'the dumped ones' back in the day, which has since fallen out of use, as Luthor has been dead for decades.

Considering that Olenna and Daeron remained betrothed for quite a while after Shaera and Luthor were history, we should also consider the possibility that Olenna and Luthor (or rather, their parents) only realized that they could marry each other after Daeron had released Olenna from her betrothal.

Hightowers:

The other former royal houses of high standing (i.e. the Arryns, the Starks, and the Lannisters) would have equal rank as the Hightowers of course (and I'd agree that this apparent with the Daella-Rodrik match), but it really seems that the early Targaryens were not very keen in marrying into the former royal houses, nor were they necessarily very keen to marry into House Targaryen. This is explicitly confirmed for House Lannister, which had no interest to go to great lengths to gain royal favors. And the relationship between House Stark and the Iron Throne was pretty much strained until the Dance. It may even be possible that Jaehaerys tried to gain more direct control over the North with Viserra's planned Manderly match.

But I think there is a clear tendency to be seen that the Hightowers used their enormous prestige (and the control they had over the High Septon and the Faith) to marry into House Targaryen, and effectively take control of the Crown. With the Gardeners gone, the Hightowers would essentially have been the most powerful and prestigious house in the Reach (at least in the first one and a half century after the Conquest, until the High Septon moved to KL), as the Tyrells clearly had first to be fully accepted as overlords. I'm not sure the Hightowers had survived the Dance, if they had not been as powerful as they were, as any other paramount house - infant lord or not - would have not looked kindly at the amount of devastation they brought about great portions of their domains. I don't see the Boltons, Reynes, Royces having the power to bring war to their kingdoms and then getting away with it with essentially no real scratches...

Sure, the Arryns and Lannisters had also had the opportunity to try to pull a Hightower on the Targaryens. But they did not (the Starks not so much, as their First Men ways would have made it rather difficult for them to be accepted as the rulers of the Realm). That's difference. The Hightowers did.

[Daemon Blackfyre IV]

If that was the case, why did they keep the name Tarth? I think its more likely that its a female Targaryen marrying into the Tarths.

It's called a matrilineal marriage, this is common for a family with no male line to carry on the Stark's may have done this in a way with the Bard's bastard, i think Bronn's marriage to Lady Stokeworth may be the same kind of deal.