Editing Rohan, Middle-earth (section)

=== Capital ===
{{anchor|Eorl the Young}}

The capital of Rohan is the fortified town of '''Edoras''', on a hill in a valley of the [[White Mountains (Middle-earth)|White Mountains]].<ref name="King of the Golden Hall" group=T>{{harvnb|Two Towers|loc=book III ch. 6 "The King of the Golden Hall"|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1954}}}}</ref> "Edoras" is Old English for "enclosures".<ref>{{harvnb|Bosworth|Toller|1898}}: [http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/009456 eodor]</ref> The town of Edoras was built by Rohan's second King, Brego son of Eorl the Young. The hill on which Edoras is built stands in the mouth of the valley of Harrowdale. The river Snowbourn flows past the town on its way east towards the Entwash. The town is protected by a high wall of timber.

{{anchor|Meduseld}}

[[File:Viking longhouse - Borg 01.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mead hall]] at [[Borg, Norway]]]]

'''Meduseld''', the Golden Hall of the Kings of Rohan, is in the centre of the town at the top of the hill.<ref name="King of the Golden Hall" group=T/> "Meduseld", Old English for "[[mead hall]]",<ref>{{harvnb|Bosworth|Toller|1898}}: [http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/022577 medu-seld]</ref> is meant to be a translation of an unknown Rohirric word with the same meaning. Meduseld is based on the mead hall [[Heorot]] in ''[[Beowulf]]''; it is a large hall with a thatched roof that appears golden from far off. The walls are richly decorated with tapestries depicting the history and legends of the Rohirrim, and it serves as a house for the King and his kin, a meeting hall for the King and his advisors, and a gathering hall for ceremonies and festivities. It is at Meduseld that [[Aragorn]], [[Gimli (Middle-earth)|Gimli]], [[Legolas]], and [[Gandalf]] meet with King [[Théoden]].<ref name="King of the Golden Hall" group=T/> Legolas describes Meduseld in a line that [[Beowulf and Middle-earth|directly translates a line of ''Beowulf'']], "The light of it shines far over the land", representing ''líxte se léoma ofer landa fela''.<ref>{{harvnb|Shippey|2005|p=141}}: it is line 311 of ''[[Beowulf]]''.</ref> The hall is [[Anachronism in Middle-earth|anachronistically]] described as having [[Louver|louvres]] to remove the smoke, derived from [[William Morris]]'s 1889 ''[[The House of the Wolfings]]''.{{sfn|Wynne|2006|p=575}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Morris |first=William |author-link=William Morris |title=The House of the Wolfings |date=1904 |orig-year=1889 |publisher=[[Longmans, Green, and Co.]] |chapter=Chapter 1 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2885/2885-h/2885-h.htm |quote=In the aisles were the sleeping-places of the Folk, and down the nave under the crown of the roof were three hearths for the fires, and above each hearth a luffer or smoke-bearer to draw the smoke up when the fires were lighted.}}</ref>{{Clear}}