Chronicled in Tuckborough of i Drann in Eriador,
On this the 44th day of Firith in the Year 3018 of the Third Age.
This morning I bade farewell to the Goodbodys and the Mathom-house, and took the Great Road east from Michel Delving towards Buckland. By my reckoning, this is a journey of well-nigh twenty-eight leagues, but I have chosen to walk on foot for I would prolong my pleasure of the Shire and mingle with those Hobbits I meet along my journey.
In Michel Delving I took my leave of its mayor, Mr Will Whitfoot, who is considered also the Condir i-Drann. Alas, this poor Hobbit is famously the fattest of all the Westfarthing, and is unkindly called "Old Flourdumpling" by his folk, for nigh five years ago the Town Hole collapsed upon him and he came forth from the ruins covered in white chalk dust. But though he is oft seen as a comical figure by the Shire-folk, I wager that he would be as bold as his fellows when roused!
Nonetheless, his is a position of considerable prestige among the Hobbits of the Shire and he is the only official in the Shire to be elected, unlike the hereditary title of the Thain. For every seven years the Mayor is chosen at the Free Fair on the White Downs at Lithe (or Forelithe on the Shire Calendar). His primary role is to preside over banquets during Shire-holidays and other various events, though he is also the Postmaster and First Shirriff.
Of the founding of the Shire, I learned from Mistress Rue Goodbody that in the year III 1601 (Year 1 in Shire Reckoning, the calendar of the Shire), it came to pass that the Fallohide brothers Marcho and Blanco crossed the Baranduin and founded on its west bank a new land, which they named the Shire. Thereupon the Dúnedain King Argeleb II of Arthedain gifted it to them and their followers, and many were the Hobbits that settled in the Shire thereafter and who thus considered themselves to be nominal subjects of the King. But after nigh four hundred years, the last realm of Arnor fell to the Witch-king of Angmar in III 1974, and King Arvedui perished in the Icebay of Forochel the year after, but the Shire endured as a sovereign province of the Kingdom of Gondor and established the office of Thain (which signifies "Chief" in the Hobbit tongue) to represent the Crown.
The present Thain is Paladin Took II, and having gotten directions from a friendly Hobbit matron in Waymeet, I followed a well-travelled path through fallow farm fields to Tuckborough so to pay my respects. Though it was long after nightfall when I came at last to the ancestral home of the Thains, the Great Smials, in Tookland, the Thain bade me welcome with customary Shire hospitality. And after a late supper (his second, he cheerfully admitted) he told me much of his important position in Hobbit society, and I learned that it is in origin a military office and thus he is master of the Shire-moot, and captain of the Shire-muster and Hobbitry-in-arms. However, he conceded that it is mostly an honorary title, for there has been no call to arms in the Shire since the Battle of Greenfields in the year 1147 by Shire-reckoning or when White Wolves entered the Shire during the Fell Winter in S.R. 1311.
Over time, the Thainship became a hereditary position, and passes strictly through the male line. For twelve generations it was held by the family Oldbuck of the Marish, until Gorhendad Oldbuck removed from the Shire and crossed the Baranduin to found Buckland. Thus the Thainship passed to a new line, the powerful Took clan, and thenceforth the Thain is oft called simply 'the Took', for always is he the head of the Took family also. Now Master Paladin was born the fourth child, but only son, of Adalgrim Took, and he was a farmer in the lands around Whitwell when the thirtieth Thain died three years ago. Never did he think to become Thain, as the title had passed to the descendants of the Old Took's second son, Isumbras. But his grandson died without an heir, and thus the Thainship passed to Paladin, his nearest male-line relative, who was the grandson of the Old Took's third son.
Now during my sojourn in Michel Delving and along my journey to Tuckborough, oft did I see burly Hobbits patrolling road and field, and had wondered much about their incongruence with the carefree quietude of the Shire. Quoth the Thain, they are the Watch, who are charged with maintaining the peace; and they answer not to the Thain, but to the Mayor of the Shire. The Watch consists of twelve 'Shirriffs' (three in each Farthing) and a larger group of 'Bounders': the former keep order within the Shire, while the latter guard its borders (which is called "beating the bounds"), mostly from trespassing Outsiders. In times of threat more Bounders are deputised at need as "Special Constabulary".
Law in the Shire is based wholly on common sense and ancient tradition, and thus rarely is it broken, for it is intrinsic to a Hobbit's nature. It is deemed an honour to serve in the Watch, and all members are volunteers; they wear no uniform save a feathered cap, and bear no arms save in extreme peril. However, of late there have been frequent reports of ruffians skulking about the Shire's outskirts, and thus the company of Bounders has swelled in number and has prudently been armed with weapons of Dwarf-make from Ered Luin and whatever else that remains in the Shire as trophies hanging on walls of Hobbit homes, or on display in the Mathom-house at Michel Delving.
Thain Paladin has most generously offered me lodging and the opportunity to examine the Year-book of Tuckborough (also called 'Yellowskin') which is held within the library of the Great Smials. This, says he, being the ancient annals of the Took family that contains details of births, deaths, marriages and historical events dating back to nigh five hundred years after the foundation of the Shire. It is therefore the most important historical resource in the Shire, and I am of a mind to tarry here tomorrow in the Green Hill Country.
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