Calenhad

Calenhad is a small feudal county nestled in the northeastern reaches of Anórien, situated between the steep slopes of the Emyn Thobar massif and the venerable Kingsroad. Calenhad in known for its production of salt, dating back to prehistoric times, and lent its name to the Calenhad culture, an early Second Age settlement linked to the Folk of Haleth by Gondorian antiquarians. The discovery of a vast pre-Númenorean cemetery in the Calenhad salt mines in 1646 added further historical depth. Though many graves had been previously plundered, a trove of bronze vessels and textile fragments, meticulously preserved by the salt, found their way to the House of Curiosities in Obel Rimmon. Governed by the venerable House Harnastin, who boast descent from pre-Númenorean nobility, the County of Calenhad stands as a bastion of tradition and heritage.

Calenhad has warm, rainy summers and chilly to cold, snowy winters. Precipitation is plentiful year round. The populace largely comprises the Freemen of the Mountains, who maintain their own laws and customs and only descend to the market town of Harnastin twice a year to trade their hides for iron, salt and spices. Others inhabitants are Rimmonese-speaking Gondorians and immigrant Northmen from Rhovanion settled in Harnastin after Kin-Strife.

Parishes

Harnastin, a bustling market town and noble estate nestled along the Kingsroad at the foothills of the Emyn Thobar massif, shares its name with the illustrious House of Harnastin. The etymology of Harnastin has long perplexed antiquarians, with conjectures ranging from Sindarin roots to pre-Númenorean origins. While Harnas (S. “wounded”) and tin (S. “spark, star”) are plausible Sindarin components, it remains equally plausible that Harnastin is either homonymous or a Sindarinized pre-Númenorean appellation.

Calenhad is a lofty, verdant treeless summit with long history of human habitation, know for its ancient salt mines. Antiquarians have been unsure if Calenhad is of pre-Númenorean or Sindarin origin. Calen means “green” and “sad” (lenited to had) “place, spot” in Sindarin; in his learned treatise “The Rivers and Beacon-Hills of Gondor“, the erudite antiquarian Findegil of Minas Anor suggested that the second element may be sâdh (“sward, turf”).

Niben (S. “Small”) is a noble estate and a hamlet mere five miles west of Obel Rimmon. It is most probably named after nearby Niben-legrin (“Small rapids”).

County of Calenhad in 1685

TypeLordCitizens*Subjects**
HarnastinMunicipalityCurvegil Harnastin4,00023,000
CalenhadLeasehold estateNestor Harnastin1,0005,800
NibenLeasehold estateIngared Harnastin-Eilenaer5002,900
*) Citizens of Gondor, who are eligible to own land, and serve as an officer of the state.
**) Subjects either rent their lands or, more commonly, work as day labourers.

Location of Calenhad.
House Harnastin
House Harnastin-Eilenaer

County of Calenhad

CapitalHarnastin
TypeFeudal county
Population37,853 (1685)
LanguagesWestron (Rimmonese), Donael, Sindarin
RulersCount Curvegil Harnastin
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