Things of Middle-earth
Masters of Buckland
Type: Offices & Ranks
Other Names:
Masters of the Hall
Description:
The title of honor given to the head of the numerous and powerful Brandybuck family. The Masters are based in their ancestral home in Brandy Hall, and wield authority over Buckland and also the nearby Marish.
Long ago Gorhendad Oldbuck, head of the Oldbuck family, one of the oldest in the Marish or indeed in the Shire, had crossed the river, which was the original boundary of the land eastwards. He built (and excavated) Brandy Hall, changed his name to Brandybuck, and settled down to become master of what was virtually a small independent country 1.... That was the origin of Buckland..., a sort of colony from the Shire....
The people in the Marish were friendly with the Bucklanders, and the authority of the Master of the Hall (as the head of the Brandybuck family was called) was still acknowledged by the farmers between Stock and Rushey.
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 5, A Conspiracy Unmasked
Even in Bilbo's time the strong Fallohidish strain could still be noted among the greater families, such as the Tooks and the Masters of Buckland.
The Lord of the Rings, Prologue, Concerning Hobbits
Meriadoc... becomes Master of Buckland. Great gifts are sent to him by King Éomer and the Lady Éowyn of Ithilien.
The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, The Tale of Years: Later Events Concerning the Members of the Fellowship of the Ring
Notes
1 '... Brandy Hall [was a] regular warren, by all accounts. Old Master Gorbadoc never had fewer than a couple of hundred relations in the place.
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 1, A Long-expected Party
Contributors: Elena Tiriel 7Nov07