Posted by Martin Read on June 25, 1999 at 06:35:25
In Reply to: Re: Gildor Inglorion posted by Michael Martinez on June 25, 1999 at 03:17:50:
: Tolkien's usage in this matter is not clear, and he sometimes uses words or idioms in non-standard ways. He used the word "fief" to refer to specific areas of Gondor, for instance, and many people have argued this means Gondor is somehow feudal. But in the material prepared for the Appendices Tolkien said the Gondorian regions were called by suza in Westron, the same word used as the name for the Shire, and he defined its meaning as "a sphere of occupation (as of the land claimed by a family or clan), of office, or business." (See page 45 in THE PEOPLES OF MIDDLE-EARTH). "Fief" is not defined that way in the feudal sense. Tolkein seems to have had the non-feudal meaning of the word in mind when he referred to the "fiefs" of Gondor.
Fief is a linguistic variant of feudum. The connection is a strong one. Whatever the internal linguistic derivation, Tolkien's use of the word fief in the text of LOTR is a telling one.
Shire is a more loose term probably derived in most cases from the territory controlled by a tribe or dynastic leader in the early Anglo-Saxon period. Later used as an administrative unit. When England was feudalised (either before or after 1066) the shire was brought into that system. The Sherrif or Shire-reeve was the crown's administrator in the shire, but he had to work within the feudal society which existed there. In the fiefs of Gondor there isn't even the hint of a royal officer of such a type, only hereditary lords. Hereditary lords who furnish troops to the state in time of war - sounds rather feudal to me.
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