John Tolkien - The Return of the King

The chief days from the fall of the Barad-dûr to the end of the Third Age 56 56 Months and days are given according to the Shire Calendar.

3019.

S.R. 1419.

March 27. Bard II and Thorin III Stonehelm drive the enemy from Dale. 28 Celeborn crosses Anduin; destruction of Dol Guldur begun.

April 6. Meeting of Celeborn and Thranduil. 8 The Ring-bearers are honoured on the Field of Cormallen.

May 1. Crowning of King Elessar; Elrond and Arwen set out from Rivendell. 8 Éomer and Éowyn depart for Rohan with the sons of Elrond. 20 Elrond and Arwen come to Lórien. 27 The escort of Arwen leaves Lórien .

June 14. The sons of Elrond meet the escort and bring Arwen to Edoras. 16 They set out for Gondor. 25 King Elessar finds the sapling of the WhiteTree.

1 Lithe. Arwen comes to the City.

Mid-year's Day. Wedding of Elessar and Arwen.

July 18. Éomer returns to Minas Tirith. 19 The funeral escort of King Théoden sets out.

August 7. The escort comes to Edoras. 10 Funeral of King Théoden. 14 The guests take leave of King Éomer. 18 They come to Helm's Deep. 22 They come to Isengard; they take leave of the King of the West at sunset. 28 They overtake Saruman; Saruman turns towards the Shire.

September 6. They halt in sight of the Mountains of Moria. 13 Celeborn and Galadriel depart, the others set out for Rivendell. 21 They return to Rivendell. 22 The hundred and twenty-ninth birthday of Bilbo. Saruman comes to the Shire.

October 5. Gandalf and the Hobbits leave Rivendell. 6 They cross the Ford of Bruinen; Frodo feels the first return of pain. 28 They reach Bree at nightfall. 30 They leave Bree. The Travellers' come to the Brandywine Bridge at dark.

November 1. They are arrested at Frogmorton. 2 They come to Bywater and rouse the Shire-folk. 3 Battle of Bywater, and Passing of Saruman. End of the War of the Ring.

3020.

S.R. 1420: The Great Year of Plenty

March 13. Frodo is taken ill (on the anniversary of his poisoning by Shelob).

April 6. The mallorn flowers in the Party Field.

May 1. Samwise marries Rose.

Mid-year's Day. Frodo resigns office of mayor, and Will Whitfoot is restored.

September 22. Bilbo's hundred and thirtieth birthday.

October 6. Frodo is again ill.

3021.

S.R. 1421 The Last of the Third Age

March 13. Frodo is again ill 25 Birth of Elanor the Fair, 57 57 She became known as 'the Fair' because of her beauty; many said that she looked more like an elf-maid than a hobbit. She had golden hair, which had been very rare in the Shire; but two others of Samwise's daughters were also golden-haired, and so were many of the children born at this time. daughter of Samwise. On this day the Fourth Age began in the reckoning of Gondor.

September 21. Frodo and Samwise set out from Hobbiton. 22 They meet the Last Riding of the Keepers of the Rings in Woody End. 29 They come to the Grey Havens. Frodo and Bilbo depart over Sea with the Three Keepers. The end of the Third Age.

October 6. Samwise returns to Bag End.

Later events concerning

the members of the Fellowship of the Ring

S.R.

1422. With the beginning of this year the Fourth Age began in the count of years in the Shire; but the numbers of the years of Shire Reckoning were continued.

1427. Will Whitfoot resigns. Samwise is elected Mayor of the Shire. Peregrin Took marries Diamond of Long Cleeve. King Elessar issues an edict that Men are not to enter the Shire, and he makes it a Free Land under the protection of the Northern Sceptre.

1430. Faramir, son of Peregrin, born.

1431. Goldilocks, daughter of Samwise, born.

1432. Meriadoc, called the Magnificent, becomes Master of Buckland. Great gifts are sent to him by King Éomer and the Lady Éowyn of Ithilien.

1434. Peregrin becomes the Took and Thain. King Elessar makes the Thain, the Master, and the Mayor Counsellors of the North-kingdom. Master Samwise is elected Mayor for the second time.

1436. King Elessar rides north, and dwells for a while by Lake Evendim. He comes to the Brandywine Bridge, and there greets his friends. He gives the Star of the Dúnedain to Master Samwise, and Elanor is made a maid of honour to Queen Arwen.

1441. Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the third time.

1442. Master Samwise and his wife and Elanor ride to Gondor and stay there for a year. Master Tolman Cotton acts as deputy Mayor.

1448. Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the fourth time.

1451. Elanor the Fair marries Fastred of Greenholm on the Far Downs.

1452. The Westmarch, from the Far Downs to the Tower Hills ( Emyn Beraid ), 58 58 I, 11; III, 54, note 24. is added to the Shire by the gift of the King. Many hobbits remove to it.

1454. Elfstan Fairbairn, son of Fastred and Elanor, is born.

1455. Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the fifth time. At his request the Thain makes Fastred Warden of Westmarch. Fastred and Elanor make their dwelling at Undertowers on the Tower Hills, where their descendants, the Fairbairns of the Towers, dwelt for many generations.

1463. Faramir Took marries Goldilocks, daughter of Samwise.

1469. Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the seventh and last time, being in 1476, at the end of his office, ninety-six years old.

1482. Death of Mistress Rose, wife of Master Samwise, on Mid-year's Day. On September 22 Master Sam-wise rides out from Bag End. He comes to the Tower Hills, and is last seen by Elanor, to whom he gives the Red Book afterwards kept by the Fairbairns. Among them the tradition is handed down from Elanor that Samwise passed the Towers, and went to the Grey Havens, and passed over Sea, last of the Ring-bearers.

1484. In the spring of the year a message came from Rohan to Buckland that King Éomer wished to see Master Holdwine once again. Meriadoc was then old (102) but still hale. He took counsel with his friend the Thain, and soon after they handed over their goods and offices to their sons and rode away over the Sam Ford, and they were not seen again in the Shire. It was heard after that Master Meriadoc came to Edoras and was with King Éomer before he died in that autumn. Then he and Thain Peregrin went to Gondor and passed what short years were left to them in that realm, until they died and were laid in Rath Dínen among the great of Gondor.

1541. In this year 59 59 Fourth Age (Gondor) 120 on March 1st came at last the Passing of King Elessar. It is said that the beds of Meriadoc and Peregrin were set beside the bed of the great king. Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea; and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf. And when that ship passed an end was come in the Middle-earth of the Fellowship of the Ring.

Every year began on the first day of the week, Saturday, and ended on the last day of the week. Friday. The Mid-year's Day, and in Leap-years the Overlithe, had no week-day name. The Lithe before Mid-year's Day was called 1 Lithe, and the one after was called 2 Lithe. The Yule at the end of the year was 1 Yule, and that at the beginning was 2 Yule. The Overlithe was a day of special holiday, but it did not occur in any of the years important to the history of the Great Ring. It occurred in 1420, the year of the famous harvest and wonderful summer, and the merry-making in that year is said to have been the greatest in memory or record.