Tolkien Encyclopedia > Events > Timeline beginsSecond Age > Third Age > Great Years > Fourth Age > End of Arda

The Fourth Age of the Children of Ilúvatar and of the Sun

begun by Varda-(Valar) January 8, 2017

Introduction
Arveleg-(V) was unable to complete the rest of his ambitious project, so the rest of the Valar Guild is pitching in.
Sources for the timeline must be from the books and mentioned here.

Key:
    H = Hobbit
    FotR = Fellowship of the Ring
    LotR= Lord of the Rings
    TT = Two Towers
    RotK = Return of the King
    UT = Unfinished Tales
    HOME wth a number refers to the numbered volumes of the Histories of Middle-earth.
    c. = circa. Latin for "around; approximately"
    {addition into the original text}

    SR = Shire Reckoning. It continues even after Men changed their years. S.R. Year 1 =1601, an even difference of 1600. S.R. 1419 = 3019. (RotK App B). Year 1 begins with the crossing of the Brandywine by brothers Marcho and Blanco of the Shire (Third Age 1601). (RotK App. C intro).
    4th age starts 3022; S.R. 1422

Years below currently come from Return of the King, Appendix B,  To be added to or amended from other books with mentions of source.

Year
Event
SR 1422 (3022)
"With the beginning of this year the Fourth Age began in the count of years in the Shire; but the numbers of the years of Shire Reckoning were continued."
SR 1427
"Will Whitfoot resigns. "Samwise is elected Mayor of the Shire."
"Peregrin Took marries Diamond of Long Cleeve."
"King Elessar issues an edict that Men are not to enter the Shire, and he makes it a Free Land under the protection of the Northern Sceptre."
SR 1430
"Faramir, son of Peregrin, born."
SR 1431
"Goldilocks, daughter of Samwise, born."
SR 1432
"Meriadoc, called the Magnificent, becomes Master of Buckland. Great gifts are sent to him by King Éomer {of Rohan} and the Lady Éowyn of Ithilien."
SR 1434
"Peregrin becomes the Took and Thain."
"King Elessar makes the Thain, the Master, and the Mayor Counsellors of the North-kingdom."
"Master Samwise is elected Mayor for the second time."
SR 1436
"King Elessar rides north, and dwells for a while by Lake Evendim. He comes to the Brandywine Bridge, and there greets his friends. He gives the Star of the Dúnedain to Master Samwise, and Elanor is made a maid of honor to Queen Arwen."
SR 1441
"Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the third time."
SR 1442
"Master Samwise and his wife {Rosie} and {daughter} Elanor ride to Gondor and and stay there for a year. Master Tolman Cotton acts as deputy Mayor."
SR 1448
"Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the fourth time."
SR 1451
"Elanor the Fair marries Fastred of Greenholm on the Far Downs."
SR 1452
"The Westmarch, from the Far Downs to the Tower Hills (Emyn Beraid), is added to the Shire by the gift of the King. Many hobbits remove to it."
SR 1454
"Elfstan Fairbairn, son of Fastred and Elanor, is born."
SR 1455
"Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the fifth time. At his request, the Thain makes Fastred Warden of Westmarch."
"Fastred and Elanor make their dwelling at Undertowers on the Tower Hills, where their descendents, the Fairbairns of the Towers, dwelt for many generations."
SR 1462
"Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the sixth time."
SR 1463
"Faramir Took {son of Peregrin} marries Goldilocks, daughter of Samwise."
SR 1469
"Master Samwise becomes Mayor for the seventh and last time, being in 1476, at the end of his office, ninety-six years old."
SR 1476
Master Samwise's last year as Mayor, his ninety-sixth birthday.
SR 1482
"Death of Mistress Rose, wife of Master Samwise, on Mid-year's Day"
"On September 22, Master Samwise rides out from Bag End. He comes to the Tower Hills, and is last seen by Elanor, to whom he gives the Red Book afterwards kept by the Fairbairns. Among them the tradition is handed down from Elanor that Samwise passed the Towers, and went to the Grey Havens, and passed over Sea, last of the Ring-bearers."
SR 1484
"In the spring of the year a message came from Rohan to Buckland that King Éomer wished to see Master Holdwine once again. Meriadoc was then old (102) but still hale. He took counsel with his friend the Thain, and soon after they handed over their goods and offices to their sons and rode away over the Sarn Ford, and they were not seen again in the Shire."
"It was heard after that Master Meriadoc came to Edoras and was with King Éomer before he died in that autumn."
"Then he and Thain Peregrin went to Gondor and passed what short years were left to them in that realm, until they died and were laid in Rath Dinen among the great of Gondor."
SR 1541
"In this year on March 1st came at last the Passing of King Elessar. It is said that the beds of Meriadoc and Peregrin were set beside the bed  of the great king."
"Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea, and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf. And when that ship passed an end was come in Middle-earth of the Fellowship of the Ring."



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