Strange as news from Bree... - Page 2
© Michael Martinez
Bree's location at the crossroads of the great highways of Eriador probably ensured its survival throughout the Third Age more than any other factor. The highways ran from Fornost Erain in the north to Tharbad in the south, and from the Grey Havens in the west all the way to the Misty Mountains and beyond. The east-west road was (apparently) originally built by Dwarves, but the Numenoreans appear to have taken it over when they founded Arnor.
Bree's heyday probably occurred from the years 1300-1600 in the Third Age, This was the period when the Hobbits migrated westward from Rhudaur to Arthedain and many of them settled at Bree. Arthedain was the strongest of the three Dunadan kingdoms in Eriador, and its Dunedain were the ancestors of Aragorn's people. Other folk lived in Arthedain during these years as well, some partially of Dunadan descent, some descended of the Edain who settled in Eriador (mostly Beorians), and some descended of the Gwathuirim, the mysterious woodland folk of Enedwaith and Minhiriath who fought for Sauron in the War of the Elves and Sauron. The men of Bree were descended of this latter group, and they appear to have been the only large group of men (besides the Dunedain) to survive the fall of Arnor.
Arthedain's kings claimed sovereignty over all of former Arnor from 1356 onward, and after the war of 1409 Arthedain became Arnor again. But its people were diminished in number. Many had been lost to the various wars. Whole families, villages must have been wiped out in the great invasion of 1409.
Bree must have assumed a strategic role in the war of 1409. Cardolan, the southernmost kingdom in Eriador, was overrun. Most of the Dunedain of Cardolan had lived in the South Downs, a range of hills southeast of Bree. Angmar invaded and overran these hills, killing many of the people there and driving the survivors westward. Some of the Dunedain took refuge in Tyrn Gorthad, the hills to the southwest of Bree. At that time there were no barrow-wights in the hills, and the land was had long been home to Dunedain and Edain alike. But Angmar's army attacked Tyrn Gorthad as well, and the last prince of Cardolan died there.
Arthedain gained help from Lindon. Cirdan sent an army of Elves east to help the Dunedain. That army may have joined forces with the army of Arthedain as it came past or from Bree. Such a rendezvous would help explain why the army of Angmar didn't push north into Arthedain. The Witch-king's soldiers were at the end of a long supply line, they had been practicing a scorched Earth policy, and the Elves were coming in fresh. Elrond, who had been besieged in Rivendell, brought an army out of Lorien and helped defeat the Witch-king's army.
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