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Tolkien's Middle-earth doesn't look like Medieval Europe - Page 9

© Michael Martinez

These conditions are not found in Middle-earth, especially Arnor and Gondor. We know little about the actual structure of these kingdoms, but we do know there were princes who were not direct descendants of Elendil and who had some autonomy. In Unfinished Tales a note to "Cirion and Eorl" says Elendil gave the title of "prince" to Imrahil's family because they were related. This anecdote implies that Elendil was active within the governance of Gondor, and that his title of High King was not merely cermonial. Hence, the dual crowns of Isildur and Anarion were subject to Elendil's, and yet there is no indication of a feudal obligation. When Sauron attacked Gondor, Elendil did not move immediately to defend his sons' realm, but rather formed an alliance with Gil-galad which went on the offensive. Yet some medievalists point out that Pippin pledged his personal service to Denethor. Hence, his seems to be a feudal contract. Well, yes and no. First of all, Pippin's pledge was to "Gondor and to the Lord and Steward of the realm". His oath was thus not to Denethor alone, but also to Gondor. On the other hand, Pippin offered his service to Denethor in partial payment for the sacrifice of Boromir, who died defending Merry and Pippin. It is not possible to fully refute the feudalist on this point. Nonetheless, Pippin was eventually arrayed in the armor of the Guards of the Citadel, whose emblems were royal, not those of the House of the Stewards. Was this a matter of convenience? Perhaps. Denethor, when he went to his funeral pyre, released Pippin from his service. And yet Pippin marched with the Army of the West to Mordor as a soldier of Gondor, and later Aragorn made him a knight of Gondor. Did the knighthood confer some personal obligation on Pippin? If so, why was he a knight of Gondor instead of one of Aragorn's vassals? Dol Amroth's cavalry were called knights. But though the word "knight" itself is derived from an ancient German word for "rider", it is often used to translate words in ancient Greek and Latin which were applied to special classes of warriors. The Internet Classics Archive provides a search utility which locates such uses in the translated texts (including the adjective "knightly"). If Tolkien pretending to be a translator used the word "knight", was he specifically using it to refer to a soldier in a feudal hierarchy? There is no indication of this in the texts, and his unconventional use of "fief" implies "knight" may have been used in the more classical sense. In fact, in the same passage where he discusses the meaning of the word suza (translated as "Shire" and "fief"), he goes on to discuss the money of Gondor. So Gondor apparently had a monied economy -- and though Europe never fully lost the use of money, the presence of money in Middle-earth leaves serious room for doubt on the feudalism issue.

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