Editing Minas Tirith (section)

=== The White Tree ===

{{anchor|Dry Tree|White Tree}}
[[File:Trees of Sun and Moon and Dry Tree Rouen 1444.jpg|thumb|The lifeless White Tree of Gondor has been compared to the [[Dry Tree]] (pictured) of medieval legend.<ref name="Garth 2020"/> Manuscript illustration dated 1444 of the Dry Tree (centre) with the [[Phoenix (mythology)|Phoenix]], flanked by the [[Trees of Sun and Moon|Trees of the Sun and the Moon]]. Both the Dry Tree and the Phoenix are symbols of [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]] and new life. [[Rouen]] 1444-1445<ref name="British Library 2020"/>]]

Tolkien stated that within the Court of the Fountain at the heart of Minas Tirith stood the White Tree, the symbol of Gondor. It was dry and dead throughout the centuries that Gondor was ruled by the Stewards; Aragorn brought a young living sapling of the White Tree into the city on his return as King, symbolising the rebirth of the monarchy.<ref name="Vaccaro 2004">{{cite journal |last=Vaccaro |first=Christopher T. |title='And one white tree': the cosmological cross and the arbor vitae in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion" |journal=[[Mallorn (journal)|Mallorn]] |date=August 2004 |issue=42 |pages=23–28 |jstor=45320503}}</ref> 

Tolkien's biographer [[John Garth (author)|John Garth]] writes that the White Tree has been likened to the [[Dry Tree]] of the 14th century ''[[Travels of Sir John Mandeville]]''.<ref name="Garth 2020"/> The tale runs that the Dry Tree has been dry since the [[crucifixion of Christ]], but that it will flower afresh when "a prince of the west side of the world should sing a mass beneath it".<ref name="Garth 2020">{{harvnb|Garth|2020|p=41}}</ref><ref name="Gusick2013">{{cite book |last=Gasse |first=Rosanne |chapter=The Dry Tree Legend in Medieval Literature |editor-last=Gusick |editor-first=Barbara I. |title=Fifteenth-Century Studies 38 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KNZGXEfXIOEC&pg=PA73 |year=2013 |publisher=[[Camden House Publishing|Camden House]] |isbn=978-1-57113-558-2 |pages=65–96}}</ref><ref name="British Library 2020">{{cite web |last=Drieshen |first=Clark |title=The Trees of the Sun and the Moon |url=https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2020/01/the-trees-of-the-sun-and-the-moon.html |publisher=[[British Library]] |access-date=24 February 2021 |date=31 January 2020}}</ref>