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Things of Middle-earth

Shire-reckoning

Type: Calendars & Measurements

Description:

The calendar of the Shire; Third Age dates may be converted to the Shire-reckoning by subtracting 1600:
The Shire Reckoning and dates are the only ones of importance for the narrative of the War of the Ring. All the days, months, and dates are in the Red Book translated into Shire terms, or equated with them in notes. The months and days, therefore, throughout the Lord of the Rings refer to the Shire Calendar.

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix D, The Calendars

All dates are given according to the Shire-reckoning, calculated from the crossing of the Brandywine by the brothers Marcho and Blanco in the Year 1 of the Shire (Third Age 1601).

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix C, Family Trees

For it was in the one thousand six hundred and first year of the Third Age that the Fallohide brothers, Marcho and Blanco, set out from Bree; and... crossed the brown river Baranduin with a great following of Hobbits....

Thus began the Shire-reckoning, for the year of the crossing of the Brandywine (as the Hobbits turned the name) became Year One of the Shire, and all later dates were reckoned from it.

The Lord of the Rings, Prologue, Concerning Hobbits

In the west-lands of Eriador, when [the Hobbits] had begun to settle down, they adopted the King's Reckoning of the DĂșnedain, which was ultimately of Eldarin origin; but the Hobbits of the Shire introduced several minor alterations. This calendar, or 'Shire Reckoning' as it was called, was eventually adopted also in Bree, except for the Shire usage of counting as Year 1 the year of the colonization of the Shire.

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix D, The Calendars

Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 31Oct05, 14Mar10

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