‘Reckoning of Years’

In the years after his return from the War of the Ring, Meriadoc Brandybuck became something of a scholar among the Hobbits, producing several works across a wide range of subject topics. As well as his Herblore of the Shire and Old Words and Names in the Shire, he also made a study of the calendars of Middle-earth, which he titled the Reckoning of Years.

As well as discussing the workings and history of the Shire Calendar in detail, the Reckoning of Years also delved into the calendars of other peoples. An obvious point of comparison was the calendar used in Bree, which had close ties to the Shire Calendar, but Meriadoc also investigated calendars from further afield, including the Reckoning of Rivendell and the calendars used in Gondor and Rohan.

Appendix D to The Lord of the Rings also discusses the calendars of Middle-earth in detail, beginning with a focus on the Shire Calendar. It is tempting to imagine that Tolkien saw this appendix as being adapted from Meriadoc Brandybuck's Reckoning of Years (though he never states this outright). One evident difference is that Meriadoc's work was said to discuss the calendar of Rohan, and indeed we're told that Meriadoc had a special interest in the links between the cultures of the Shire and of Rohan. Appendix D, however, barely mentions the Rohirrim, except for a passing comment that their month-names were similar to those of the Shire-hobbits. If the appendix does derive from the Reckoning of Years, then, it must represent an edited and reduced version of the original.