Editing Rohan, Middle-earth (section)

=== Horses and warfare ===
[[File:91e6dd9c06a36603214fcbe787c1169b--anglo-saxon-chain-mail.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Anglo-Saxon arms and [[chainmail]] armour]]

The armies of Rohan were largely horsemen. The basic tactical unit was the ''éored'', Old English for "a unit of cavalry, a troop",<ref name="eored">{{harvnb|Bosworth|Toller|1898}}: [http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/009509 eóred], troop [of cavalry]</ref> which at the time of the [[War of the Ring]] had a nominal strength of 120 riders.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Unfinished Tales|loc=n. 26|p=326|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1980}}}}</ref>

{{anchor|Warning beacons of Gondor}}
In time of war, every able man was obliged to join the Muster of Rohan. Rohan was bound by the Oath of Éorl to help [[Gondor]] in times of peril, and the latter asked for their aid through the giving of the [[Red Arrow (Middle-earth)|Red Arrow]]. This has a historical antecedent in the Old English poem ''[[Elene (poem)|Elene]]'', in which [[Constantine the Great]] summoned an army of mounted [[Visigoths]] to his aid against the [[Huns]] by sending an arrow as a "token of war".<ref>{{cite web |last=Howard |first=Scott |title=Recreating Beowulf's 'Pregnant Moment of Poise': Pagan Doom and Christian Eucatastrophe Made Incarnate in the Dark Age Setting of The Lord of the Rings |publisher=University of Montana |url=https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1824&context=etd |date=21 March 2008}}</ref> Gondor could also call the Rohirrim in need by lighting the [[Beacon (signal fire)|warning beacons]] of Gondor<!--redirects here-->, seven  signal fires along the White Mountains from [[Minas Tirith]] to the Rohan border: ''Amon Dîn'', ''Eilenach'', ''Nardol'', ''Erelas'', ''Min-Rimmon'', ''Calenhad'' and ''Halifirien''.<ref name="Beacon-Hills" group=T>{{cite web |last1=Tolkien |first1=J. R. R. |last2=Hostetter |first2=Carl F. |author2-link=Carl F. Hostetter |last3=Tolkien |first3=Christopher |author3-link=Christopher Tolkien |title=The Rivers and Beacon - hills of Gondor |url=https://epdf.pub/the-rivers-and-beacon-hills-of-gondor105fd73767942352604c470bca4fe66679457.html |publisher=EPDF |date=2001}}<!--Part was published in ''[[Vinyar Tengwar]]'', No. 42, July 2001.--></ref>

[[File:Beacon Hill, Leicestershire.jpg|thumb|[[Beacon#For defensive communications|Signal beacons]] like those between Gondor and Rohan were once used in England, as at [[Beacon Hill, Leicestershire]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |chapter=Beacon |title=[[National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge|The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge]] |volume=III |year=1847 |publisher=[[Charles Knight (publisher)|Charles Knight]] |location=London |page=25}}</ref>]]

At the start of the [[War of the Ring]] a Full Muster would have been over 12,000 riders.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Unfinished Tales|p=315|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1980}}}}: "a Full Muster would probably have produced many more than twelve thousand riders"</ref> Among the horses of the Rohirrim were the famed ''mearas'', the noblest and fastest horses that ever roamed [[Arda (Middle-earth)|Arda]]. It was because of the close affiliation with horses, both in war and peace, that they received their name.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Unfinished Tales|loc=part 3 ch. 2(iii)|p=307|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1980}}}}</ref>