BUTTERBURS OF BREE

Hildigrim

The heart of Eriador has always held an attraction for men. The Elves loved Beleriand, and the Dwarves longed always for Moria, but Men have ever been drawn to the Breeland of Eriador. When the first Men wandered westward from Hildórien, they tarried there, and delved deep in Tyrn Gorthad. During the First Age it was the traditional resting place of the tribesmen as they moved from lake to river during the seasons. And in the second age it became a neutral ground for meeting and trading among the farmers of Brandywine and Midgewater, and the Tribesmen of the Downs. It did not have the richest pasture or the most fertile fields, but men were always drawn there.

It is fitting that the Dúnadan - the highest of men - never settled there. They were always concerned with what they had lost and what they might achieve, but they were never satisfied with where or what they were. Clearly, they - among all Men - must leave the world utterly after they die, because they are never truly a part of it when they are living.

The Butterburs were far more deserving of Bree than the Dúnadan. Even their name is appropriate. "Butterbur" is a small plant with yellow flowers that bloom in Spring in the meadows near Midgewater. It is not considered beautiful, nor is it listed in the herbals, and in summer it forms hooked seeds that cling to fur and fabric. But, it is found no where else in Middle Earth.

The Butterbur Family of Men took that name soon after returning to the low hills west of Midgewater. During the devistation of Eriador by Sauron in the middle of the second age, the Men of Eriador hid themselves in the valleys the Brandywine and the Lune. Those few who returned were a mixture of the Men who had once inhabited the region. Their exodus had transformed their customs and melded their lineages, but had not dimmed their longing for Eriador.

The Butterburs were descended from farmers of Midgewater and tribesmen of the South Downs. Three or four families of "Butterburs" settled around the Hill that later became Bree, and they were as much a part of that land as the flowers of Midgewater. Their lives were short, but happy; difficult, but exciting.

The Hill became "Bree" after the Kingly Men arrived from across the sea (II 3319), clothed in bright armor and riding great horses. Most of the Men of Eriador fled before the soldiers, but the Butterburs stayed. It was their land and the Kingly Men did not come to claim it. But, the soldiers said that protection by the King depended on loyalty to him. So the Butterburs swore fealty to the King. They became citizens of Arnor.

In a library in Annúminus there once was a scroll written by the officer who first visited the Hill. On it was written (II 3326), "Few Men live south of the woods (Chetwood). About 2 miles south of the wood there lives a common Man named Brandywine Butterbur. His shack is built at the foot of a prominent hill. The area around his house is cleared of trees and a good spring flows from the center of the clearing. In his one-room shack, he lives with his aged father, his wife, and 4 children. There are two other structures on the property, and a small garden, but no other improvements of any kind. For his flocks, he claims all of the hill, and a strip of land eastward to the wood. "

"Butterbur has no metal weapons, and he must defends his flocks with stone arrows. He greatly fears the wolves and that are common in this area. His son is too young and his father too old to help him defend his simple home. My men were so moved by his plight and by his friendly welcome, that they gave him a long bow and three dozen iron-tipped arrows. In exchange, he offered to us nine of his sheep. We took two to enrich our meals during our march, and agreed to return some day for the rest - to satisfy his honor. If all these simple Men were so gracious, my journeys in this savage land would be easier."

For generations the Butterbur clan prospered under the reign of the King from beyond the sea. The family grew to fill twelve houses around the mountain, and their herds grazed in all the pastures that had been abandoned by those who had fled from the tall men from across the sea. Those who left Bree became roving herdsmen who only returned in the winter when the snows in the Weather Hills became too deep for sheep to reach the grass. They would tarry near the Midgewater until Spring when the lambs were born, and then they would depart.

Some of their young maids married Butterbur lads, and built houses at the foot of the hill and there raised families. Some Butterbur maids married nomad lads, and returned when the snow fell to tell their kin of the wonders to the North. There they had seen cities that glistened in the sun and at night were as bright as midday. Their fountains were filled with gold for the taking, they clamed.

As the Butterbur family grew, it accepted the ways of the men of the West, and the Butterburs and the land of Eriador were transformed. The most lasting change came when the Great Roads were built. The Elves had always traveled east and west through Chetwood, from Rivendell to Lindon. They traveled in peace and never spoke to the Butterburs, but sometimes they could be heard singing in the Chetwood at night. But with the coming of the Kings, the movement of Men became unceasing East and West, and North and South. A new road soon formed from the town of Fornost southward to Tharbad. At times, soldiers in strange garb came up that path from the south. These two roads crossed at the foot of the hill. The fate of the Butterbur was set by that crossroad.

Most of the travelers were courteous, but some were not. Beginning in the day of Braxton Butterbur (c. III 70), the Butterbur family began to keep ever closer watch over its flocks by night. Their young men learned to carry arrows and iron swords. But, not all travelers were dangerous to the Butterburs, some simply asked for food and a place to sleep, and they repaid this hospitality with coins.

The Hill became "Bree" as the great tower on Weathertop was built (III 37-103). The flow of travelers on the East Road had become a flood. In winter, the road was little more than a muddy ditch filled with stuck carts and cursing men. Even though the Butterburs charged more and more for their hospitality, there was not enough food or beds to satisfy all the travelers on the road. Some of the travelers were evil, and a Butterbur lad was killed in his own home. The King's soldiers punished the thug. He was hung from a tree at the crossroads.

As construction of Amon Sûl continued, more evil Men and more violence came to the Hill. To the Butterbur's relief, the soldiers built a stone guard house at the crossroads to keep watch over the travelers on the road. The soldiers came from Annúminus, and they named the Hill "Bree" in their own tongue. They called the Men from Chetwood to the South Downs, and from the Old Forest to Midgewater "Breelanders."

The East-West road continued to deteriorate, so the King ordered that its deep ruts should be filled, and a wide road should be built, paved with stones (III 49-89). West of Bree, where the road crossed the Brandywine River a high stone bridge with wide arches was built and far to the east another was made across the Hoarwell River (completed III 134).

The construction of the great tower on Weathertop by Men and Dwarves spanned generations of Butterburs. Men from Bree found work there, carrying stones quarried by the grim Dwarves. When at last the tower of Amon Sûl was finished, the King himself came from Annúminus, bearing a relic from across the sea. Its power was beyond the understanding of lesser men, and the tower on Weathertop had been built to hold this relic. The passing of the King's retinue took hours.

Not long after the tower was finished (III 105), the King declared that another great road should be built from Fornost to Bree and beyond. The Breelanders who had worked at Weathertop then worked to build this even greater road. It stretched from Fornost to Tharbad on the Grayflood, from there to Osgiliath, the greatest city in Middle Earth, and thence to Harad and the unknown South. The road was paved southward to the pass over the Downs, and a bridge was build across the Grayflood at Tharbad. When the North Road was finished, the Breelanders who had helped build it did not return to Bree. Instead, they went to Fornost to build more roads and houses and high towers. As the prosperity of Arnor grew, more Butterburs left Bree. Eventually only five of their houses were filled, and there were many abandoned shacks.

It was Brondon Butterbur (c. III 220) who joined two of the abandoned houses together. One house he filled with chairs and tables and the other with beds, and the roof between covered the kitchen. Thus, the first Inn of Bree was made. The beds and the tables were always filled, and the Butterbur's pockets were never empty. The first Inn burned in an unfortunate fire, and Bonwain, the son of Brondon Butterbur built a larger, more comfortable one. The Hill became a haven for travelers on the Kings roads.

Butterburs spread throughout Breeland. Some of them tended flocks as the first Butterburs had done. Others lived in fine cities. But the name "Butterbur" meant "Innkeeper," throughout Arnor. The Inn was known throught Arnor as a place of comfort and welcome. "There are no strangers in Bree," the saying went. And so the houses of Bree became filled with men from throughout Arnor.

One family of newcomers in particular left a lasting impression. In Fornost the "Steens" had been brewmasters. Under their direction, a cellar was dug beneath the Inn, and before long it was serving legendary Breeland brew. The Inn grew from a comfortable stopping place to a renowned destination.

The prosperity of Bree soon spread to the surrounding area. Fields became farmsteads and farms became villages. The village of Combe lay in the rich bottomlands a few miles northeast of Bree. It was the agricultural center of the region. Farther north was Archet, home to huntsmen and woodsmen.

At its zenith, Bree was an important town. During the reign of King Elendur (III 652-777) its population surpassed 5000 Men. The Bree Inn was at one end of a street filled with inns and pubs. The name Butterbur remained associated with innkeeping, but the Butterburs traveled to the great cities of the north, and often served as the mayors of Bree.

Beginning with the reign of King Amlaith (III 861-946), the Great East Road became the boundary between the northern kingdom if Arthedain (map), and the southern kingdom of Cardolan. Commerce of all kinds flowed up and down the North Road, and at Bree, tariffs were paid. A wall stretched for miles east and west of along the Great Road. At Bree, a gate gave passage through the wall, and it was kept open even at night.

Soldiers of Arthedain were garrisoned in a compound that covered much of the lower slopes of Bree hill, and another garrison stood south of the Road, filled with men of Cardolan. The Captain of the garrison of Arthedain was a member of the royal family. He know few of the Butterburs by thier first names, and spent much of his time away from Bree or in the grand house on the crest of the Hill.

During this high period (III 1200-1250), Dwarves were often in Bree building first the wall, then fine houses and other structures. It is said that the Dwarves delved halls and tunnels beneath the Hill in holes made by orcs long ago in the Second Age. And it is said that the halls of the Dwarves were protected by spells, and that they have never been found. It was Bree's Golden Age.

The first Hobbits came to Bree at about this time (III 1320) - five young, starving Hobbits from Rhudaur, the eastern kingdom. For a time they stood staring at Bellar Butterburr, expecting to be thrown out. Bellar stood staring back, confounded by the sight so completely foreign to Bree. At last he came to his senses, and welcomed the hungry Hobbits to a table by the fireplace. And the Hobbits stayed in Bree long past the end of the Third Age, eventually founding the village of Staddle just east of Bree.

Because Bree became such an important part of Arnor, its shared the kingdom's downfall. The army of the Angmar arrived with unimaginable fury (III 1330). Dark rumors of the Witch King's deeds came from the east, and an endless stream of soldiers began moving eastward along the Great Road. Then the tide came back to Bree in wagons of wounded and dead.

One day a troop of orcs were spotted north of the Midgewater. A band of Breemen set off before the Captain of the Guard learned of their folly, and the first Battle of Bree was fought. A force of 200 men was nearly overcome by fewer than 50 orcs. If the Captain had not arrived with 20 soldiers, the outcome would have been grim. As it was, the mayor's son was killed. Thereafter, the Bree militia trained regularly.

The First Battle of Bree was closely followed by a second, and by many others. The Militia of Bree came under the command of the Captain of the garrison. But even though peace became a distant memory, the prosperity of Bree continued for a time. More travelers were on the road than ever before, and caravans of produce continued to come from Cardolan. The Weather Hills, to the east were fortified as a defense against Angmar and Rhudaur (III 1350), and Bree seemed safe to the travelers on the road.

Ancient Bree was destroyed in III 1409 during the Witch King's conquest of Cardolan. An attack by the army of Angmar destroyed the tower Amon Súl, and King Arveleg I was killed during the battle. Prince Araphor saved the relics of the tower, but his losses were so great that he was forced to retreat towards Bree. The army of Angmar then swept southward like a storm, pillaging and burning first the farms along the Hoarwell and the Grayflood. They sacked the capital at Tharbad, and then turned northward toward Fornost.

Prince Araphor finally defeated the army of Angmar in the Battle of Chetwood III 1410, but the orcs and barbarians occupied Bree during the battle. They looted and burned all the buildings and killed and ate every animal and Man they found, and the surrounding communities were likewise destroyed. The Garrison of Bree and the mansion atop the Hill were thrown down, and the Inn was burned. Bree never after rose to the glory it had known.

King Araphor did not rebuild Amon Sûl, but instead replaced the garrison of Bree with a fortress atop The Hill. There, guards watched ceaselessly to the east and south. The few Bree Butterburs who had survived the sacking of Bree moved to the safety of Fornost, and Backot Butterbur, whose father had owned the Inn in Combe, moved to Bree and built an Inn over the ashes of the one that had been destroyed. But the kernel of Bree's prosperity was lost. Commerce no longer flowed northward along the Road, because crops were no longer grown in Cardolan.

There followed a lingering twilight for Bree, in which the Butterbur family prospered and the villages of Combe and Archet were rebuilt. Strangly, Elves became common on the Great East Road for the only time (III 1413) of the Third Age. But thier singing was not heard in Chetwood. A terrible light was in their eyes, and they carried fell swords at their sides. The Witch King had attacked the Elves at Rivendell, to his great and lasting regret.

The wizard Gandalf visited Bree for the first time, then. Subtle he was, and quick to anger. Bannal Butterbur was the first to welcome the wizard. Like the Butterburs after him, Bannal treated Gandalf with a mixture of courtesy and fear. The wizard stayed at the Inn only seldom and briefly, but his visits stretched on for generations of Butterburs. Bannal Butterbur served food and drinks (proper Bree brew!) long into the night when Gandalf returned with news of the defeat of the Witch Lord at Carn Dûm by the Elves (III 1415). All who gathered that night, and for many nights thereafter heard of the flight of the Witch Lord before Glorfindel.

"Bright shone the Elf Knight as he entered the Dark Halls of Carn Dûm. It was filled with his radiance even though the place had become like a part of the nether world. For Glorfindel had been to the nether world, and he had come back into the world of light through a rent that could never be closed. And the Witch Lord perceived that Glorfindel was neither Elf nor Man, but one who had returned, and over whom darkness had no power. And the Witch Lord knew that for him Glorindel held devastation and death forever, and the Dark Lord fled from Carn Dûm."

Gandalf remained in Bree until the Elves returned to Lindon and Lórien, and then he vanished into myth and was not seen in Bree by many generations of Butterburs. Many Hobbits came to Bree and Staddle at this time, fleeing famine in Rhudaur. Under the good sense and leadership of Birander Butterbur, they were welcomed and prospered. The Hobbits agricultural successes were welcomed in Fornost, and King Argeleb II ceded The Shire to Marcho and Blanco Fallohide in III 1601.

Bree was abandoned when Arthedain fell to Angmar in III 1974. Horseman began streaming southward past Bree in the early dawn, and by midday the last panicked families had fled toward the South Downs. The main retreat from Fornost had been westward, and it had drawn the army of the Witch Lord in that direction. But, by nightfall, mounted soldiers of Rhudaur and Angmar had cleared the road to Bree, stopping briefly to murder anyone they encountered.

When the soldiers of Angmar reached Bree, it was already abandoned. But they did not burn it. They had been sent from Fornost to hold the crossroads for the Witch King, and they were Men rather than Orcs, so none of the buildings were destroyed. Berthrir Butterbur and his family had fled to the South Downs, where he was hidden in the barrows by the Men of Cardolan.

All winter long, Berthrir Butterbur lay hidden in terror in the borrows. There were fewer than 100 people huddled together, and there was little food. Butterbur seldom spoke to his family and spent most of his time deep in the borrows, away from the light. Their host was one of the last of the Royal Family of Cardolan. He was old and feeble, but his son stood tall and proud. The young prince led Berthrir and other men of the Barrows on sorties against the merchants bringing goods northward to Fornost, which The Witch King had taken as his throne. They turned the narrow pass between the Barrow Downs and South Downs into a dangerous place, and by Fall the renegades had become a serious threat to the Witch King. The garrison in Bree was strengthened and troops patroled the North-South road against them, but the renegades fled into the Downs. Many renegades were killed, but the Prince and Berthrir not among them.

On one raid the renegades spied a solitary figure on the road, wearing a faded cape. The renegades surrounded him, but he seemed to take little notice. When Butterbur approached him, he removed his hood. He was an old man, much like an elf, but bearded. "I am Gandalf," he said.

That night the stronghold in the Barrow Downs was filled with armed men. Gandalf stood on a table in the midst of them and spoke. "The wind has changed," he said, "and the Witch Lord will fall before another Spring has come. He has stuck out his neck too far, and Eriador will soon be free of him."

A cheer went up, but Gandalf raised his hand for silence. "I do not come to offer you comfort, for comfort will not soon return to Bree. Bitter times are before you, because the King is dead, and Arnor has fallen forever. But if you will fight to overthrow the Witch Lord, you can be free of him."

Shouts went up and many men wept at the news of the King's death, and again Gandalf raised his hand. "In the time to come, the Men of the Bree and elsewhere will determine their own destiny for good or evil. You will not be alone. A might force has come from Gondor, and they will be joined by Elves and the remnants of Arthedain. The King is dead, but if the Bree remains free, then a King may return one day."

"What must we do," asked Butterbur? "You must take back your home in Bree," Gandalf said. Butterbur shook his head in disbelief. "Soon the Witch King will call the men in Bree back to Fornost," Gandalf said. "When the troops begin to leave, you must capture the garrison before its walls can be thrown down. Then you must strengthen it against their return."

It happened as Gandalf had said. Rumor came from the east of a vast army of Gondor that had landed at the Grey Havens, and was marching to Fornost (III 1975). And when the Witch King saw the army of Men and Elves, he was glad because his army was far greater. So, he left the battlements of Fornost and attacked the army of Elves and Men on the Plains of Fornost.

But in his pride, the Witch King had misjudged the power of the Gondor and wrath of the Elves, and they withstood his attack. Then, from the north, unlooked for, came the cavalry of Gondor, and they fell upon the flank of the army of Angmar, and all were slain except the Witch King and his Kinghts, who fled back toward his haven in Carn Dûm.

But west of the North Downs, he was overtaken by the cavalry, lead by the Prince of Gondor, and from the east came a force of Elves from Rivendale and Lórien. And the elves were lead by Glorfindel, who the Witch Lord feared above all others. And all of the Witch Lord's retinue perished, and Glorfindel came upon the Witch Lord and would have destroyed him, but the Witch Lord departed his physical form and fled in darkness, and he did not come north again until the end of the third age.

Those who escaped the slaughter of the army of Angmar were driven to despair by their defeat, and they burned Fornost and fled southward. When they came to Bree they were yet a mighty force, but the Breelanders defended their home and slew many on the walls of the tower atop Bree, which they had prepared as Gandalf had directed. But in the end, its gates were broken and the walls breached.

Then, a mighty shout and the sound of trumpets was heard from the road from the north, and the cavalry of Gondor swept into Bree. And Gandalf was at their head. The remnant of Angmar was destroyed, and when the last enemy fell to his death, Angmar was no more. When the cavalry departed, the Breelanders were left alone in the ruins.

Gandalf stayed in Bree that winter and well into the next Spring. Although the wall and tower of Bree had been destroyed most of its buildings - and the Inn - were not hurt. With Berthrir Butterbur Gandalf welcomed the Hobbits back into Bree. They had not taken part in the Last Battle of Bree, but their courage and brave actions during the resistance were remembered. Their gentle presence did much to heal the damage wrote by the Witch Lord's army. They cleaned their Hobbit holes, which none had bothered, and when Spring came, they planted cheery gardens. Peas and carrots were on the tables of Bree before Gandalf departed.

An uneasy peace then settled over Bree. Men and Hobbits kept watch by day and night against the evil that filled the land in the absence of the King. None in Bree had the skill to repair the wall, so gaps were filled with a thorny hedge. As time passed, traffic on the roads tentatively resumed, but there was never again news from the north. The splendor and magnificence that had come over the ocean from the West was only a memory. There was no King and no Arnor. Bree was once again simply a land where men liked to live.

History of Bree