Thain is a variant spelling of Thane or Thegn, an Anglo-Saxon term for a minor noble, probably best known from Shakespeare's Macbeth. A thegn or thane was an attendant servant retainer or official in Early Medieval Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon culture. William Shakespeare ( baptised Macbeth is among the best-known of William Shakespeare 's plays, and is his shortest tragedy, believed to have been written some time between (Thane is the usual spelling in modern English. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States ) The Oxford English Dictionary explains why the modern spelling has diverged from what would have been expected had the word continued in common use:
The regular modern repr. of OE. {th}e6n, if the word had lived on in spoken use, would have been thain (cf. fain, main, rain), as it actually appears in some writers, chiefly northern, from 1300 to near 1600. But thain was in 15-16th c. Sc. [Scottish] written thane (in L. thanus), and this form, being used by Boece, Holinshed, and Shakespeare (in Macbeth), was adopted by Selden, Spelman, and the legal antiquaries and historians of the 17th c. to represent the Anglo-Saxon {th}e6n, and became the usual form in Eng. history. Recent historians, as Stubbs, Freeman, and Green, in order to distinguish the Anglo-Saxon use from the Sc. in sense 4, have revived the OE. en as THEGN, q. v.
– The Oxford English Dictionary
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Thain was the traditional military leader of the Hobbits of the Shire. Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes. Middle-earth refers to the fictional lands where most of the stories of author J In J R R Tolkien 's legendarium, Hobbits are a diminutive race that inhabit the lands of Middle-earth. The Shire is a region of J R R Tolkien 's fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works The Hobbits first chose a Thain to "hold the authority of the king" when Arvedui, last King of Arnor, was lost and the kingship in the North discontinued. Arvedui is a fictional character from J R R Tolkien 's Middle-earth Legendarium. In the fictional Legendarium of J R R Tolkien, Arnor, or the Northern Kingdom, was a kingdom of the Dúnedain in the land of Eriador The Thainship was originally held by the Oldbuck Clan. In J R R Tolkien 's Fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Brandybuck clan was a powerful Hobbit family In 1740 SR, it passed to the Tooks, and has remained a hereditary position in their clan ever since. In J R R Tolkien 's Middle-earth Legendarium, the Took clan was one of the most famous Hobbit families Though a viceregal position, the Thain never wielded significant political authority, as the Shire remained a very loosely organized society and rarely faced military threats from outside.
Other offices in the Shire include the Master of Buckland, the Mayor of Michel Delving in the White Downs, and (in the Fourth Age) the Warden of Westmarch created by King Elessar. In J R R Tolkien 's Fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Brandybuck clan was a powerful Hobbit family In the literary works of J R R Tolkien, the Mayor of the Shire, is the sole elected office of the Shire at the time of the War of the Ring. The Shire is a region of J R R Tolkien 's fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works The Shire is a region of J R R Tolkien 's fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works
List of Thains of the Shire
Third Age
- Bucca of the Marish (first Thain, elected in T.A. 1979 after Arvedui of Arnor died)
- Eleven additional Thains of the Oldbuck clan (the clan was probably named for Bucca)
- Gorhendad Oldbuck (possibly the 12th Thain), crossed over the Brandywine and became the first Master of Buckland
- Isumbras Took I (became 13th Thain and first of the Took line in 2340)
- Eight Took Thains (including Isengrim I, Isumbras II, Ferumbras I, and Paladin I)
- Isengrim Took II (22nd Thain and 10th of the Took line. The Third Age is a time period from J R R Tolkien 's Middle-earth fantasy writings In J R R Tolkien 's Fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Brandybuck clan was a powerful Hobbit family The Third Age is a time period from J R R Tolkien 's Middle-earth fantasy writings In J R R Tolkien 's Middle-earth Legendarium, the Took clan was one of the most famous Hobbit families Died 2672)
- Isumbras Took III (23rd Thain in 2672)
- Ferumbras Took II (24th Thain); older brother of Bullroarer Took.
- Fortinbras Took I (25th Thain)
- Gerontius Took, the Old Took (26th Thain in 2848)
- Isengrim Took III (27th Thain)
- Isumbras Took IV (28th Thain)
- Fortinbras Took II (29th Thain)
- Ferumbras III Took (30th Thain, died childless in 3015)
- Paladin II Took (31st Thain in 3015); cousin of Ferumbras III
Fourth Age
- Peregrin "Pippin" Took I (became 32nd Thain in 13 F.A., abdicated 63)
- Faramir Took I (became 33rd Thain after his father left for Gondor in 63 F. The Fourth Age and the later ages that followed it are time periods from J Biography Pippin was the only hobbit who had not yet reached his 'coming of age' when the Fellowship set out (being eight years younger than Merry while Frodo himself was 50 The Fourth Age and the later ages that followed it are time periods from J Abdication (from the Latin abdicatio, disowning renouncing from ab, away from and dicare, to declare to proclaim as not belonging to one In the literary works of J R R Tolkien, Faramir Took, later Thain Faramir I is the eldest son of Thain Peregrin I and Diamond Gondor is a fictional kingdom in J R R Tolkien 's writings described as the greatest realm of Men in the west of Middle-earth by the end of the A. )
The line of Thains continued in the Fourth Age of Arda until the end of the Shire. In J R R Tolkien 's Legendarium, Arda is the name given to the Earth in a period of prehistory wherein the places mentioned in The Lord of the Rings The Shire is a region of J R R Tolkien 's fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works
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