Q: What was Estolad Like?
ANSWER: Estolad (Sindarin word translated as “the encampment”) was a fortified plain in the March of Maedhros near the eastern border of Doriath. The woods of Nan Elmoth bordered Estolad on the north and the river Celon formed a border between Doriath and Estolad.
Although Tolkien translated the word as “the encampment” it is clear that its roots are esto + lad, which would be rendered as “(fortified) plain”. The Bëorians were the first of the Edain to settle in Estolad, after the Green-elves of Ossiriand objected to their presence in that land. Finrod arranged for Bëor’s people to settle in the western part of Amrod (and Amras)’s lands in the March of Maedhros, just south of Nan Elmoth. The next year Marach led his people into Beleriand and they joined the Bëorians in Estolad.
Over the course of the next 50 years many thousands of men left Estolad to settle in lands farther west, mainly the Vale of Sirion between Hithlum and Dorthonion (for the Marachians) or in eastern Dorthonion (in the region of Ladros, for the Bëorians). But a substantial population of Edain remained in Estolad for over 140 years, until the Dagor Bragollach (“Battle of Sudden Flame”), at which time the last of the Edain living in Estolad fled over the Ered Luin back into Eriador.
Although Tolkien translated the name as “the encampment” there can be no doubt that there was a permanent settlement located there. According to notes by J.R.R. Tolkien, about 2,000 Bëorian families and 6,000 Marachian families originally settled in Estolad. Even by modern standards that many people (45-55,000) living closely together would have formed a city, and I feel it would be inaccurate to say that Estolad was a city. I think it more likely that Tolkien would have envisioned the Edain living in many smaller groups, probably in fortified villages or stockades, or around central defensible stockades. Perhaps there were 40-100 such communities. In fact, in The Silmarillion Tolkien writes:
…Marach, hearing that the people of Bëor were dwelling in a green and fertile land, came down the Dwarf-road, and settled in the country south and east of the dwellings of Baran son of Bëor; and there was great friendship between those peoples.
So, clearly, they lived separately but close together
Furthermore, when Bëor left Estolad to settle permanently in Nargothrond with Finrod, he “committed to Baran his elder son [the rule of his people]”. This transition in leadership suggests there was a strong sense of community among the Bëorians (we could call them a tribe at this point); such a close-knit group of clans and families would not have scattered across the countryside the way the Haladin (later known as the Folk of Haleth or the Men of Brethil) did when they settled in Thargelion to the east.
In the First Age Year of the Sun 365, about 55 years after the Edain entered Beleriand, the men of Estolad held a great council (which through the years I have referred to as “the Council of Estolad”). They debated whether they should remain in Beleriand. Bereg, son of Baranor, son of Baran, led about a thousand of his people away south (and eventually back into Eriador). Another group of Marachians also fled back into Eriador. That these groups came together for a large moot was notable but also implies that there were still many thousands of Edain living in the region.
The fact this large community was overrun and/or driven away about 100 years later by Morgoth’s armies seems to imply that they had insufficient fortifications. That is, they were not dwelling in one or more walled cities and thus could not really withstand great assaults or sieges.
Hence, I think one should simply imagine the area as a collection of villages and semi-isolated farms, built mostly of wood, with unpaved roads between the communities. There was probably one significant road leading north since so many Edain had taken that pathway on their migrations to Dorthonion, the Vales of Sirion, and Hithlum.
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