Q: How Much Land Did the Beornings Control?
ANSWER: J.R.R. Tolkien does not offer precise measurements for the extent of the Beornings’ lands; nor does he provide many landmarks. In The Hobbit he writes that the Goblins would not enter Beorn’s lands up to about 100 miles north of Beorn’s house. Depending on which map you use to estimate the location of Beorn’s house and a distance of 100 miles north of there he seems to have controlled all the land between the Anduin and Mirkwood about as far north as the forest extended.
Beorn’s knowledge of the Old Forest Road is somewhat limited and he says he does not use it — rather, the road was used by Goblins at the time of Thorin’s quest (Third Age year 2941). Hence I would be reluctant to say that Beorn’s influence extended fully that far south; but his son Grimbeorn may have controlled that much land since Gloin credited the Beornings with keeping the High Pass open for the passage from Wilderland (Rhovanion) into Eriador (toward Rivendell).
One must ask why there was a road or path leading from Beorn’s land into northern Mirkwood. The book really offers very little information despite using several paragraphs to describe the journey of Gandalf, Bilbo, and the Dwarves to the gate:
All that morning they were busy with preparations. Soon after midday they ate with Beorn for the last time, and after the meal they mounted the steeds he was lending them, and bidding him many farewells they rode off through his gate at a good pace.
As soon as they left his high hedges at the east of his fenced lands they turned north and then bore to the north-west. By his advice they were no longer making for the main forest-road to the south of his land. Had they followed the pass, their path would have led them down the stream from the mountains that joined the great river miles south of the Carrock. At that point there was a deep ford which they might have passed, if they had still had their ponies, and beyond that a track led to the skirts of the wood and to the entrance of the old forest road. But Beorn had warned them that that way was now often used by the goblins, while the forest-road itself, he had heard, was overgrown and disused at the eastern end and led to impassable marshes where the paths had long been lost. Its eastern opening had also always been far to the south of the Lonely Mountain, and would have left them still with a long and difficult northward march when they got to the other side.
North of the Carrock the edge of Mirkwood drew closer to the borders of the Great River, and though here the Mountains too drew down nearer, Beorn advised them to take this way; for at a place a few days’ ride due north of the Carrock was the gate of a little-known pathway through Mirkwood that led almost straight towards the Lonely Mountain.
“The goblins,” Beorn had said, “will not dare to cross the Great River for a hundred miles north of the Carrock nor to come near my house — it is well protected at night!– but I should ride fast; for if they make their raid soon they will cross the river to the south and scour all the edge of the forest so as to cut you off, and Wargs run swifter than ponies. Still you are safer going north, even though you seem to be going back nearer to their strongholds; for that is what they will least expect, and they will have the longer ride to catch you. Be off now as quick as you may!”
That is why they were now riding in silence, galloping wherever the ground was grassy and smooth, with the mountains dark on their left, and in the distance the line of the river with its trees drawing ever closer. The sun had only just turned west when they started, and till evening it lay golden on the land about them. It was difficult to think of pursuing goblins behind, and when they had put many miles between them and Beorn’s house they began to talk and to sing again and to forget the dark forest-path that lay in front. But in the evening when the dusk came on and the peaks of the mountains glowered against the sunset they made a camp and set a guard, and most of them slept uneasily with dreams in which there came the howl of hunting wolves and the cries of goblins. Still the next morning dawned bright and fair again.
There was an autumn-like mist white upon the ground and the air was chill, but soon the sun rose red in the East and the mists vanished, and while the shadows were still long they were off again. So they rode now for two more days, and all the while they saw nothing save grass and flowers and birds and scattered trees, and occasionally small herds of red deer browsing or sitting at noon in the shade. Sometimes Bilbo saw the horns of the harts sticking up out of the long grass, and at first he thought they were the dead branches of trees. That third evening they were so eager to press on, for Beorn had said that they should reach the forest-gate early on the fourth day, that they rode still forward after dusk and into the night beneath the moon. As the light faded Bilbo thought he saw away to the right, or to the left, the shadowy form of a great bear prowling along in the same direction. But if he dared to mention it to Gandalf, the wizard only said: “Hush! Take no notice!”
Next day they started before dawn, though their night had been short. As soon as it was light they could see the forest coming as it were to meet them, or waiting for them like a black and frowning wall before them. The land began to slope up and up, and it seemed to the hobbit that a silence began to draw in upon them. Birds began to sing less. There were no more deer; not even rabbits were to be seen. By the afternoon they had reached the eaves of Mirkwood, and were resting almost beneath the great overhanging boughs of its outer trees. Their trunks were huge and gnarled, their branches twisted, their leaves were dark and long. Ivy grew on them and trailed along the ground.
The journey through Mirkwood provides no hint about who made the path or what its purpose was, although Beorn’s knowledge of the path and the enchanted stream implies he ventured into the forest from time to time. It is reasonable to ask if he had a claim to the western reaches of northern Mirkwood, or if he was at least related to or friendly with men who dwelt there.
There Were Villages South of Beorn’s House
The Eagles of the Misty Mountains occasionally raided the sheep farms mentioned in The Hobbit. And the Orcs and Wargs who cornered Thorin and Company in the fir trees had originally gathered to raid the villages that were encroaching on their lands. The book says these men had been migrating northward from more southerly lands.
Tolkien never made it clear if the Beornings were closely related to those unnamed villagers, or if they became part of Beorn’s people. Aragorn menhtions the “Beornings of the Wood” at one point, and the narrative in “The Tale of Years” says that eventually Celeborn and Thranduil gave central Mirkwood (renamed Eryn Lasgalen) to “the Beornings and the Woodmen”.
So it seems likely that there were separate groups of men living in the Vales of Anduin and in the forest, and though related to each other and probably friendly with each other, they were not all considered Beornings. But we can never be completely sure of that.
See also
Did Grimbeorn the Old Have any Sons?
What Were the Honey-cakes of the Beornings?
Was Beorn in the Hobbit a Were-bear?
Beorning Questions (Classic Essay)
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