The Shire

by Aeneas2

The Shire was the land that was home of the Hobbits. It was a lush, kind land that was well suited for agriculture. The Shire stretched some 40 leagues from the Brandywine (Baraduin) river to the Far Downs. Its other boundaries were the marshes in the South, to the moors in the North.

The Shire was first inhabited by Hobbits in 1601 of the Third Age. A large number of Hobbits followed the Fallonhide brothers, Marcho and Blanco, across the Brandywine (Baraduin) River to settle in the area that is now called the Shire. All that the King of Arnor, at the time Argeleb II, demanded was that the Hobbits acknowledge his lordship, that they keep the Great Bridge (the Brandywine Bridge) in good condition, and that they speed the King’s messengers. Even as the Hobbits quickly grew to love the Shire, they also quickly faded from the history of the Elves as well as that of Men. The Shire was largely unaffected by the fall of the kingdom of Arnor. A Thain was simply granted the powers that were once held by the King.

The Shire was divided into four main sections, called Farthings. The Farthings were North Farthing, South Farthing, East Farthing, and (you guessed it) West Farthing. Each Farthing was then further divided into smaller sections called folklands. Each folkland bore the name of an old leading family (e.g. Tookland). Though they made up most of it, the Shire was not entirely included in the Farthings. The other areas are: the East Marches, the West Marches, and Buckland.

There was very little government in the Shire. The only essential laws had come from the Shire’s time under the King of Arnor. These laws (called “The Rules” by Hobbits) were almost always kept of free will. The fore-mentioned office of Thain had few duties. These included: Master of the Shire-moot, Captain of the Shire muster, and Master of the Hobbitry in arms. However, the office was almost exclusively an honor (one that was usually awarded to a member of the Took family) for the moot and muster were held only in emergencies (which rarely occurred), and the Shire had no standing army.

In fact, the only office that had any real authority was the office of Mayor of Michael Delving (also called Mayor of the Shire). The Mayor was elected every seventh year at Midsummer. The titles of Postmaster and First Sheriff usually went along with the office of Mayor. The holder of these titles was head of the only government services in the Shire: the mail service and the Sheriff force.

The peace in which the inhabitants of the Shire lived was due only to the efforts of the Guardians of the Shire. Among these Guardians were the Dunedain and the wizard, Gandalf.

References
Tolkien, J.R.R The Lord of the Rings