The Division of Arnor
In the succession dispute of 861 the Dunedain of Arnor were faced with a choice between the break-up of the kingdom or civil-war. Both the nature of the dispute and its consequences were unparalled in Numenorean history. Dispite the brevity of information about the crisis, it is possible to explore deeper into the matter and raise some speculation on the political and personal factors that influenced the division of Arnor.
The Known Facts
The sources contain several specific references to the political disintegration of the North Kingdom. ‘Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age’ is a work by someone living in the Fourth Age. It gives a broad overview of the previous age and is generally accurate, though there are slight distortions due to the author’s epic style. It gives this description of the event:
‘And it came to pass after the days of Earendur, the seventh king that followed Valandil, that the Men of Westernesse, the Dunedain of the North, became divided into petty realms and lordships.’
(Silmarillion, p.356)
The Tale of Years consists of annalistic entries, crisp factual notes in chronological order. It was drawn up in the Shire by Merry and his family, using lore from Rivendell and Gondor. It gives us the actual date of the division as 861 T.A, though its description of the event consists solely of
‘Death of Earendur, and division of Arnor’.
The Red Book of the Westmarch contains the authoritive guide to the War of the Rings and much else of interest to the scholar of Middle Earth. It was compiled at the end of the Third Age / early Fourth Age by Bilbo and Frodo of the Shire. Its famous authors had access to the knowledge of the Elves and Dunedain of Eriador. It gives a more detailed account of the events of 861:
‘After Elendil and Isildur there were eight High Kings of Arnor. After Earendur, owing to dissensions among his sons their realm was divided into three...’
(LOTR App. A (iii), p.1015)
The Red Book goes on to describe the boundaries of the new realms, Arthedain, Rhudaur, and Cardolan and their hostile relations.
Causes & Consequences
The last account raises alot of questions.What was the basis for the claims of Amlaith’s brothers? Had they taken a greedy look in a palantir and seen a future with themselves as kings, thus planting the seed of ambition? Did the Council settle the dispute? If Amlaith had the superior claim, how were his brother’s able to win separate crowns? Were there regional politics at play, with power-hungry lords backing their preferred candidate for the throne? These are questions we may never know the answer to, but here’s my guess...
Amlaith is described in the list of the royal line of Arnor as ‘the eldest son of Earendur’ (LOTR App.A (ii)). The grounds on which Amlaith, as eldest son, could be challenged is unclear. The eldest child succeeded under Numenorean law. The possibility that Amlaith was not Earendur’s son, i.e the result of an affair by his mother, is unlikely because the unbroken descent of the chieftains of the Northern Dunedain from Elendil is an important thread of Tolkien’s story. Another possible reason is that Amlaith had a physical handicap that cast doubt on his ability to rule. In our recent history, Celtic society demanded that a king be pure of body and without physical blemish. If a candidate suffered a physical injury, such as losing a hand, he was not judged fit to rule (see the fate of King Nuada in Lebor Gabala). It is plausable that Numenorean law had a similar stipulation and that Amlaith was either born with a handicap or else suffered some serious physical injury before his father’s death.
However, Professor Tolkien, in a footnote on the Palantiri, makes a passing reference to the later disputes over the high kingship of Arnor, in which he notes
‘The Kings of Arthedain...were plainly those with the just claim.’
(Unf. p.413, n.13)
This statement could imply that the Kings of Arthedain had the ‘just claim’ not only because of the waning of the Line of Isildur in the other two kingdoms, but because their ancestor in the original dispute, Amlaith, had the superior claim. This raises questions over the basis of support for the younger brothers and their claims. At the very least, if something cast doubt onto Amlaith’s fitness to rule, it evidently did not extend to his descendents.
Whatever the basis of the case his brothers brought against his fitness to rule, it is likely that the matter was judged by the Council of Arnor. With the King dead and the succession disputed, it would be the duty of the chief ministers, princes and lords of the realm to act on behalf of the crown. On such a council the regional and political differences of Arnor would be represented, but without the dominant voice of the king to determine the final say. A majority of the council seem to have supported Amlaith as heir, to judge by the larger share of the crown’s possessions which he inheirited. How then were the two other candidates able to win separate crowns ? They may have possessed personal resources (lands & warriors), but how could these match those of the crown-prince and the captains of the realm ? They must have had supporters on the Council who refused to accept Amlaith as their new king. The kingdom was therefore faced with civil war.
It is possible the dispute in the royal family only served as a focus for existing tensions within the realm between the crown and the fiefs. A look at the map shows that it was the lands furthest from the capital at Anuuminas that defied Amlaith (but also the area of Tyrn Gorthad). The fact that Amlaith retained the royal cities of Fornost and Annuminas, all three Palantiri, and the royal demesne between the Tower Hills and the Old Forest, would also suggest a division along the lines of crown / rebel lordships. The dispute between the sons allowed independent-minded lords to exercise their ambitions with a shield of legitamacy: they were not defying the High-kingship but acting on behalf of its rightful occupant. Such a defence was important in a society where rebellion was unheard of and oaths of fealty were sworn by lords to their king. Even when many lords of Gondor rebelled against the Crown in the15th century Kin-strife, the war was fought over who would be king and was not a rejection of the Crown.
A factor encouraging this internal conflict in Arnor may have been the absence of a dangerous external enemy. Gondor in the Third Age was stronger and more stable than the North Kingdom even though it was constantly menaced by peoples of Rhun, Harad and even Rhovanion. Arnor faced no such threat until its own division. The primary role of a Numenorean king was as war-leader. In the absence of conflict there was less scope for the crown to demonstrate its importance and to reward its vassals, or for a greater sense of unity in the face of an external threat. Note how the rise of Angmar at the beginning of Malvegil’s reign (1272-1349) was followed by the partial reunification of Arnor in the reign of his son Argeleb I (1349-1356).
Civil war was averted in 861 but the three new kingdoms of Arthedain, Rhudaur and Cardolan did not exist in peace with one and other.
"Kings of little kingdoms fought together, and the young Sun shone like fire on the red metal of their new and greedy swords."
(In the House of Tom Bombadil, LOTR B1 VII, p.128)
This passage evokes the image of a realm whose rulers have succumbed to struggles for power and glory. The Rings of Power and the Third Age tells us that Arnor was "...divided into petty realms and lordships". This suggests that after the division of 861, further disintegration occurred in Rhudaur and Cardolan, with lords reducing or totally defying royal authority. The passing of the Line of Isildur in the latter kingdoms was probably hastened by political marriages for the survival of the crown and by conflict with their vassals. This weakening of royal authority and growth of war was a sign of decline in Northern Dunedain society, of which the end of the High-Kingship was an early symptom.
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Reading the texts on Middle Earth history, we know that Annuminas was abandoned as the royal capital in favour of Fornost Erain. However, there is no precise date given for this and all we know for certain is that it happened between 249 (the year of King Valandil's death) and 1409 T.A [see LOTR Book Two II, p.238, where Elrond says "..and the heirs of Valandil removed and dwelt at Fornost on the high North Downs…", and Unf. Tales Part Four III, p.413 note 16, which specifically refers to the King of Arthedain dwelling at Fornost in 1409]. Therefore, I have chosen to create my own chronology: The royal capital is maintained at Annuminas until the split in 861 T.A. After this it is moved to Fornost Erain so that the king can be nearer at hand to deal with the new threat posed by the rival kings of Rhudaur and Cardolan. The fact that the first King of Arthedain's name in the Line of Kings is given as 'Amlaith of Fornost' adds colour to this invention: he is remembered by later generations as the king who moved the royal seat to Fornost.
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