Cardolan
Quick Facts
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| Dates: | III 861 to III 14091 (endured 548 years) | ||||||||||||||
| Location: | The lands between the Rivers Baranduin and Gwathló | ||||||||||||||
| Origins: | One of three realms created by the division of Arnor | ||||||||||||||
| Race: | Men | ||||||||||||||
| Division: | Dúnedain | ||||||||||||||
| Settlements: | Possibly Tharbad and even Lond Daer2 | ||||||||||||||
| Pronunciation: | car'dolan | ||||||||||||||
| Meaning: | Probably 'red hill land'3 | ||||||||||||||
Most southerly of the realms of the Northern Dúnedain
The name given to the southerly regions of Arnor, between the rivers Baranduin and Gwathló. Cardolan was a roughly rectangular land, running southwestwards from Amon Sûl to the shores of the Great Sea. Its shoreward parts were known by the name Minhiriath, the land 'between two rivers'.
The name Cardolan seems to have been used from early in Arnor's history, but after the death of King Eärendur of Arnor in III 861, it became a kingdom in its own right. At that time, Eärendur's sons divided the North-kingdom between them, and Cardolan's first king appears to have been Eärendur's second4 son, whose name history does not record.
During the early part of Cardolan's history, it vied with the neighbouring lands of Arthedain and Rhudaur over the control of the Tower of Amon Sûl and its palantír. At this time, at least part of Cardolan's northern border with Arthedain was fortified by a hedged dike and wall, the remains of which survived to the time of the War of the Ring.
As the centuries passed, the threat of the Witch-king's realm of Angmar turned Cardolan and Arthedain from rivals into allies, and they fought together against Angmar and Rhudaur (which had become a client state of the Witch-king). Together they maintained a joint defence that ran along the Weather Hills and the upper River Mitheithel.
In the year III 1409, the Witch-king mounted a decisive assualt against these defences, crossing the Mitheithel into northeastern Cardolan. The Tower of Amon Sûl was destroyed, though its palantír was saved. The armies of Angmar and Rhudaur went on to ravage Cardolan's lands, and slew the last prince of its royal line. The surviving Dúnedain retreated into the Barrow-downs and the Old Forest, which lay on their northern borders.
After this time, with the loss of its royal lineage, Cardolan was no longer properly a kingdom. Nonetheless a band of Dúnedain endured in the downs and the forest for more than two centuries, until the coming of the Dark Plague. The last of the Dúnedain, and most of the land's other inhabitants, were lost to the Plague, and as a final blow the Witch-king sent evil beings to infest the Barrow-downs. After these events, Cardolan was left a desolate and deserted land.
Footnotes
| 1 | It is difficult to pin down the end of Cardolan to an exact date, but III 1409 was the year in which Angmar launched its great assault on Amon Sûl, in which Cardolan lost its last prince, and was laid waste by the Witch-king's armies. After that disaster, a remnant of its people survived among the Barrow-downs and in the Old Forest until III 1636, when most of the remaining population was lost to the Great Plague. |
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| 2 | Both Tharbad and Lond Daer lay on the River Gwathló, and were thus on Cardolan's southern border, though it is unclear whether Cardolan made any formal claim to either of them. Tharbad was still a living city at this date, though the status of Lond Daer is unclear, and it may already have fallen into ruins; at the very least, the Men of Cardolan would have been a common sight on Tharbad's streets. |
| 3 | The reference to red hills in Cardolan's name probably relates to the red rock that was common in this area (for instance, near the Ford of Rivendell some miles to the east of this region, the East-West Road 'plunged into a deep cutting with steep moist walls of red stone'; The Fellowship of the Ring I 12, Flight to the Ford). Perhaps this rock came to the surface in places as outcrops or tors (most likely among the South Downs) creating the red hills that gave Cardolan its name. |
| 4 | Of the three kingdoms formed by the break-up of Arnor, we know that Arthedain was taken by Eärendur's eldest son, Amlaith of Fornost. The assignment of the other kingdoms is not discussed in detail, but the fact that Cardolan is almost universally listed second of the three strongly suggests that it was the kingdom acquired by the second of Eärendur's sons. |
