Q: How Large was the Kingdom of Dale’s Army?
ANSWER: I don’t know if anyone has actually asked this question but a comment left by Cole on yesterday’s “Were Bard and His Descendants Also Kings Over Lake-town?” question led me to wonder what Tolkien might have considered for Dale’s army after Bard’s time.
In an earlier article written in response to the question “How Many Soldiers Fought in the Battle of Five Armies?” I estimated that perhaps 4-6,000 Elves, Men, and Dwarves fought in the battle. We only have a few references to numbers, such as Dain’s 500 Dwarves and a body of 1,000 Elven spearmen.
Bard’s army was hastily assembled from among the survivors of Esgaroth and doubtless included many men who were probably not professional soldiers, although Bard himself had been a captain of guards in Esgaroth and therefore had some military experience. Esgaroth may have had a substantial body of men trained for war, even if most were not actively serving in the army.
Let us assume, therefore, that Bard could have assembled about 2,000 men for his march on Erebor but that perhaps no more than 1-200 of these men were professional, full-time soldiers. How many of these men could have formed the new Army of Dale when Bard established his kingdom? He might have been able to recruit a few hundred freemen just to rebuild the city.
Tolkien writes that “Bard had rebuilt the town of Dale and men had gathered to him from the Lake and from South and West”, so his kingdom would have grown more quickly than if it were just a colony established solely by men from Esgaroth.
In order to establish control over the extensive region that Dale eventually claimed (all the lands between the Carnen and Celduin rivers, according to The Lord of the Rings) Bard and his successors would have needed at least some if not all of the following:
- A road between Dale and Esgaroth (perhaps the river would have served)
- A road between Dale/Erebor and the Iron Hills (and it may already have been there)
- A road or path on the eastern shore of the Carnen
- One or more forts or fortified landings along both rivers
- One or more settlements eastward of Esgaroth
If Bard were able to assemble a body of horsemen, even only a few hundred, he could have maintained patrols across open lands. Cavalry don’t do so well in heavily wooded landscapes, however.
The people of Esgaroth had an ancient boat/ship-making tradition and Bard would have been able to use them to build ships to patrol the rivers. But how large could the ships have been and how many would he have needed?
The angle of land where the Carnen and Celduin rivers came together would be an ideal position for a fortified landing or town but Tolkien never says anything developed there. It was far enough from Erebor that a settlement could have been established there long before Bard rebuilt Dale. Still, we have absolutely no evidence of such a town so we will have to assume that at least Bard’s patrols would have traveled to that area.
Assuming Dale was no more powerful than Rohan, Brand (Bard I’s grandson) might conceivably have been able to call upon at most 15-20,000 men in a time of great need. Based on numbers Tolkien provides in “The Battles of the Fords of Isen” and his commentary on the Muster of Rohan, it seems Rohan probably could have put 15-20,000 men in arms. Theoden told the messengers from Gondor he had originally intended to lead 10,000 spears to Minas Tirith, but the lack of time forced him to take no more than 6,000 Riders.
I think, however, that by the time of the War of the Ring Brand may have been able to support an army of maybe 4,000 and at most 12,000 soldiers. Presumably most of them would have been concentrated in Dale and any major towns. I think Tolkien would have considered placing a fort or settlement of men near the Iron Hills, if only because it would have made strategic sense.
So let us toss caution to the winds and postulate four towns for the Kingdom of Dale:
- Dale itself, the capital
- Esgaroth, or perhaps a nearby settlement or fort if Esgaroth remained independent
- A town near the Iron Hills (call it IronFoot for easy reference)
- A town at the confluence of the Celduin and Carnen (call it Samløpet for easy reference)
The easiest way to keep watch on the borders of the kingdom would be to concentrate most soldiers in the north at Dale and Ironfoot. Ironfoot, Esgaroth, and Samløpet could have served as bases for small fleets of ships (technically, the Esgaroth fleet would have to be based south of the Long Lake, which flowed into the southern Celduin by a waterfall).
I say “fleet” but Brand would probably have needed relatively few craft, perhaps no more than 15-20, to ward the rivers. His forces were unable to prevent the Easterlings who attacked in the War of the Ring from crossing the river and marching on Dale. So even if Bard’s riverboats/ships held up to 50 men they would have been too few in number to withstand an army of several thousand Easterlings.
Let’s assume that the garrison at Ironfoot was either besieged or driven west.
Let’s assume that any garrison at Samløpet was too small to be of help to the northern forces.
Hence, Brand might have gathered between 2,000 and 3,000 men in Dale; and he led those men (and the rest of Dale’s population) to refuge in Erebor.
My estimates favor an army of around 4,000 soldiers but one can easily allow for larger forces by either assuming that other garrisons were scattered across Dale’s territory, thus diluting Brand’s main force, or else the Easterlings numbered even more than just a few thousand. Let’s assume that there were about 20,000 Easterlings. That is probably smaller than the assault on Minas Tirith and certainly is smaller than the number of forces Sauron assembled for the Battle of the Morannon.
Even if Brand had 10,000 warriors — and assuming some of them were capable horsemen — he would not have had sufficient troops to withstand an assault by 20,000+ Easterlings. And Tolkien seems to feel that Sauron’s forces probably outnumbered his enemies by more than 2-to-1.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that Dale could not have fielded as many soldiers as Gondor. Based on a few comments in the narrative of The Lord of the Rings people usually estimate that Gondor’s army had between 30,000 and 50,000 men (although opinions vary on how many of them would have been either professional or semi-professional soldiers). I just don’t see Dale mustering 30,000 men.
If Theoden could have scraped together no more than 15,000 to 20,000 Riders and other warriors from among the Rohirrim then I think Dale’s forces were probably no greater than 10,000 men and even that, I think, seems a bit high. I would feel comfortable estimating 4,000 to 6,000 men. And that allows for maybe 2,000 to 3,000 Dwarves in Erebor (and perhaps the Iron Hills). Dain’s people had increased over time, but Balin’s disastrous attempt to recolonize Moria would have diminished the population of Dwarves significantly.
6,000 men would be comparable to the number of men Marach commanded when he led his people into Beleriand. It would be a somewhat smaller force than Eorl had led to Gondor’s aid in Third Age year 2510. But I doubt that Marhwini (the prince of Rhovanion who was the ancestor of the Lords of the Eotheod) had very many men, maybe only a couple thousand at most.
These guesses have no canonical value, of course. If J.R.R. Tolkien never bothered to write down any numbers for Dale’s forces then they remain a numberless army, undefined and beyond calculation. These numbers might be useful for people developing games or writing fan fiction; and perhaps they may provide food for thought in some future debate.
See also:
- Did the Kingdom of Dale Conquer Other Cities?
- How Many Tribes of Northmen Were There?
- How Was the Kingdom of Dale Governed?
- When Was the Kingdom of Dale Founded?
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Have you read our other Tolkien and Middle-earth Questions and Answers articles?
I hope that, while remaining in hailing distance of the topic, what follows will solve the “mystery” I raised in a previous commentary: King of Dale, or King in Dale? This could turn out to be more important than anyone thought (that is, if they thought of it at all).
Leaving aside the numbers, let’s consider Dale’s strategic situation in 3019. Rivers are convenient boundary markers, but they aren’t much use as defences. The Easterlings could probably cross the Carnen at many points, and King Brand is unlikely to have enough forces to defend them all. Lake-town is a refuge, not a fortress. No, the keys to the kingdom, the twin hinges of the defensive-offensive strategy Brand will follow, are Erebor and the Iron Hills. The Iron Hills provide a flanking threat, an opportunity to cut supply lines, but the enemy can neutralise them at the cost of diverting a portion of his forces. Dale will stand – or fall – with Erebor. But Erebor, like the Iron Hills, is Dwarf territory.
I see Brand as a farsighted, ultimately heroic King with a political touch inherited from his grandfather Bard – who might have told him a few tales of his dealings with the King Under the Mountain. Brand’s first move, and it’s a shrewd one, is to relinquish the vainglorious title “King of Dale” which was claimed by his father Bain [1], against Bard’s deathbed advice it is said. For Bard has seen Thror’s map. What, you may ask, did he see on it? This: against a ruined town is set
Here was Girion lord in Dale
It is more than a treasure-map. It is a history and beyond that, a title-deed, simple and graphic in the manner of the times. Thror’s own claim is set forth at large:
Here of old was Thrain King under the Mountain
in reference to the ancestor who led the Dwarves from the wreck of Moria, as Thror has from the dragon-beset Ered Mithrin: to the Lonely Mountain, to Erebor.
Now of even older old, it is written [2], the Longbeard Dwarves “regarded the Iron Hills, the Ered Mithrin, and the east dales of the Misty Mountains as their own land.” We may be sure they regarded Erebor as just as much their own land, including its “dales”. The largest and most fertile of these, through which the young Celduin flowed at the beginning of its long journey South, was known simply as “the Dale”, or Dale. Here it was the “merry town” was built, and here that Girion’s line began.
To other Men, and in memory (even the memory of Dragons), they were Lords of Dale; but Thror, jealous as all Dwarves are in matters of right and property, insists on the title in the form in which he recognises it, “lord in Dale”. Lord of his people Girion may be, but the true Lord of Dale is himself, Thror. The precise terms of the tenancy are lost, but we may be sure they were honoured, for it was an advantageous one for both sides: providing as it did incomparable weapons as well as abundant trading opportunities for the Men and added warrior-cover, not to mention a supply of food, for the Dwarves.
So Brand has himself crowned “King in Dale” [3]. The concrete result of his schmoozing campaign, sorry charm offensive, which has evidently worked on Gloin and many another influential, elderly Dwarf, possibly at the cost of enduring numberless re-tellings of the Fili-in-the-apple-tub story which is the nearest they know to a joke – “d’ye see young chap – but not an apple – that’s what he said – but not an apple!” – is that the Bardings get refugee rights, should and when the need arise. Or to put it less cynically, the defensive preparations are coordinated, food reserves long stored and war materiel stashed, to enable the population to survive more or less indefinitely in Erebor and the warriors to engage in counteroffensive operations at will.
And so it unfolds. The Battle of Dale (March 17, T.A.3019) is a heroic delaying action, a defence of as much as possible with as little as possible, conducted by picked older warriors, volunteers all, to enable the younger warriors, women and children to escape with their lives – they need bring no more – to the safety of the Mountain. It will only be ten days until Dale is theirs again but it could have been a year, or five.
But – some will say – is not Brand a coward? Did not Gloin report of him, at the Council of Elrond, that “he is afraid”? Yes – but no. To almost any reader, including myself, “afraid” has the connotation of “fear” – surely it is from “afeared”, or something like that? The dictionary [4] tells a different story. “Afraid” is in fact a variant spelling of “affrayed”, having the sense of “alarmed”. The ultimate derivation, via Old French “afrayer”, is from a Low Latin word incorporating the O.H.G.root “fridu”, peace: exfridare, to break the king’s peace. From this comes modern English “affray”, a breach of the peace. For a King whom the Dwarves know to be a brave and worthy man to be “affrayed”, alarmed, is no report of cowardice but a warning in vivid, direct language that peace is under threat.
Let us end with the memory of Dain, who also perishes and is last seen
standing over the body of King Brand before the gate of Erebor until the darkness fell [5]
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[1] Tale of Years, Third Age 2977
[2] in PoME, ‘Of Dwarves and Men’
[3] Tale of Years, Third Age 3007
[4] Chambers
[5] UT, ‘The Quest of Erebor’
Hm. Actually, I meant to reply to your other comment but was sidetracked. Theoden (whose name means “king, ruler”) is called both “Theoden King” and “Lord of the Mark”. I think Tolkien was simply using the word “lord” interchangeably with whatever title the ruler or leader of a people was formally given.
Oh well – I thought it explained a couple of things. Legitimacy was very important to JRRT, like in the implied reservations about Vidugavia who “called kimself King of Rhovanion” (Appendix A). The Master is very clear that Girion was a lord, not a king. Bard II again is “King in Dale” (Tale of Years) and it’s clear that is how the Dwarves are prepared to recognise the title.
Tolkien did play around with the language. I never quite know what to make of it, since the narrative voice does not (for any reason of which I am aware) need to change idiomatic styles — unless he was trying to represent changes in “voice” among the supposed sources recorded in the Red Book.
I don’t know if it can be found in all versions of The Lord of the Rings but I see this entry for Third Age year 2944 in one copy:
2944 Bard rebuilds Dale and becomes King. Gollum leaves the Mountains and begins his search for the ‘thief of the Ring.
Shippey’s quite good about the narrative voice. It’s an example of Northrop Frye’s literary modes i.e. myth, romance, high mimesis (e.g. tragedy), low mimesis (the realistic novel), satire. As Shippey says, Tolkien employs all of them at will with writing styles to match (Author of the Century, toward the end of Chapter 4). E.g. the “Eagle’s Psalm” is myth, Sam is usually satire.
Re Bard, yes one would think he is King of Dale, I expect people call him that, but it doesn’t quite spell it out. I’m suggesting it’s like the Kings of Prussia who weren’t quite that either – in nitpicking constitutional theory anyway, which is where I was at!
I think I understand what your trying to say. A little like how the Bavarian Royal Family (the House of Wittlesbach); has both a
Duke of Bavaria, and a Duke in Bavaria.
Yes like that. Maybe King of Prussia / King in Prussia was an odd fact JRRT stored up and recycled. There was a King of Prussia public house not too far from his school in Birmingham (on Newton St to be precise). It is (or was) a fairly common pub name, like the place in Pennsylvania.