What this is
In brief
Origins
The Shire was granted to the hobbits in T.A. 1601 by King Argeleb II of Arthedain, when Marcho and Blanco led a migration from Bree across the Brandywine. The hobbits had drifted west for generations, and the Shire was the land where they settled and prospered.
Culture
A peaceful, insular and agrarian realm of gentry and farmers, governed by a Thain, a Mayor and the Master of Buckland, with the Watch making the borders. Its people value comfort, food and good-neighbourliness above glory.
Language
Westron with a hobbit dialect; the Shire Reckoning counts years from its founding.
History
The Shire flourished for centuries under the distant protection of the Dúnedain, largely forgotten by the great powers but remembered by Gandalf. In T.A. 3018 Frodo left it with the Ring, and in 3019 it was overrun by Saruman’s ruffians and then liberated at the Battle of Bywater. It was made a free land under the King’s protection in the Reunited Kingdom, and Samwise Gamgee served as Mayor.
Leaders
Thain
Mayor Of Michel Delving
Aragorn
Settlements
- hobbiton
- michel-delving
- tuckborough
- bree
Alliances
- arnor
- dunedain
- the-fellowship-of-the-ring
Conflicts
- scouring-of-the-shire
- battle-of-bywater
- war-of-the-ring
Sources
The Lord of the Rings · 1954–55
Three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.
The Hobbit · 1937
Published in Tolkien’s lifetime. The primary narrative of Bilbo’s journey.
The Silmarillion · 1977
Posthumously edited. Contains the Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion, Akallabêth and Of the Rings of Power.
Related entries
PeopleHobbits
A small, quietly hardy people of the Shire, fond of food, comfort and peace, whose unobtrusive courage repeatedly decided the fate of the Ring.
Arnor
The northern Dúnedain kingdom founded by Elendil, long divided and finally destroyed by Angmar, leaving only Rangers and ruins behind.
Bree
A village of Men and Hobbits at the crossing of the great roads of Eriador, home of the Prancing Pony.