Settle an argument — whether the maesters' chain has held back more than it has held up

My maester tells me I raise this too often. My maester is welcome to raise something better.

The question, put plainly: whether the maesters' chain has held back more than it has held up. The songs flatter one answer, and I distrust whatever the songs flatter.

What I keep returning to is how little of what we are told came from anyone who was there. It is all copies of copies, and each copy had a lord paying for the ink.

It matters less than the harvest, and I will still be arguing about it at midwinter.