Preface: The following work is what I have personally compiled from trawling through the Lord of the Rings and Unfinished Tales books. With great help from the Tolkien's Gateway wiki (well worth looking at!). I have done my upmost to keep the information which follows entirely canon. Its purpose is to be purely educational for anyone wishing to roleplay or know more about the Rohirrim, and is something I wrote specifically to help out my kin, the Riders of the Riddermark.

This is also the second of two chronicles or essays which deal with the history of the people of Rohan.

http://laurelinarchives.org/node/31961 Part one, "RoR-Resource: History of the Éothéod."

Please enjoy.

History of the Eorlingas.

The Kingdom of Rohan came into being in T.A. 2510. When Cirion Steward of Gondor offered the province of Calenardhon to Eorl the Young and the Éothéod peoples in thanks for their aid at the Battle of Celebrant Fields.

After the swearing of oaths on hill of Amon Anwar which is now known to the Rohirrim as Halifirien, Eorl the Young as the new king of Calenardhon had many hard tasks ahead of him.

First line of kings, of the House Eorl

First, Eorl dispatched three brave and skilled riders north ahead of his host to bring tidings of the events of the Battle of Celebrant Fields and of Calenardhon back to Framsburg and the Éothéod who had not ridden with the Great Éoherë.

Eorl then divided his forces, leaving roughly half of his riders along with all the horse archers in the north-east of Calenardhon to defend the lands there and defeat any roving bands of Orcs or Balchoth whioch remained. These men, were left under the leadership of Éomund, his chief captain.

Eorl and the rest of the Éoherë rode north to their lands just south of the Grey Mountains, where upon he organised his people and they began to journey south. They travelled along the western borders of Mirkwood, past the evil hill of Dol Guldur and the Golden Wood, well guarded by their warriors and Eorl the Young.

It was thus that the Éothéod came to Calenardhon.

In the following years Eorl and his people settled across Calenardhon and began organising themselves. It appears that they did not all travel down from Framsburg to Calernardhon at once and it took many years for the entirety of the Éothéod people complete their migration into their new kingdom.

Calenardhon was divided into two sections by the Entwash River. All to the east to the banks of the Anduin was the Eastemnet and all to the west of the Entwash to the Isen, the Westemnet.

In the north-west, the regions which would later be called the Westfold they came across a dark and swarthy men known as the Dunlendings.

These people proved to be hostile to the Eorlingas as the Éothéod had become known to the men of Gondor, as they saw them to be competitors and usurpers. The Dunlendings had slowly begun to move into Calenardhon from the hill country of Enedwaith and beyond.

Eorl died in 2545 and was succeeded by his son Brego who drove the last of the orcs and Balchoth from The Wold. He also began the task of driving the Dunlendings from the Westfold when they continued to prove to be hostile towards the Eorlingas who were slowly filtering into the region.

It was Brego who oversaw the building of the Rohirric capital Edoras and the beginning of the construction of the Golden Hall of Meduseld, the seat of the Rohirric Kings for generations to come.

Brego had three sons. His eldest son Baldor, sought to prove himself and in his pride entered the Paths of the Dead, never to be found again. The loss of his first born son weighed heavily upon Brego and  the following year he died from grief. The rule of Rohan as the Gondorians had begun to call it or The Mark as it was known to the Eorlingas, passed to the second son, Aldor in 2570.

Aldor saw to the completion of the Golden Hall of Meduseld before driving the final Dunlendings from the Westfold. Aldor ruled for seventy five years, the longest in Rohirric history and became known as Aldor the Old.

He was succeeded by his son Fréa who by this time was already seventy-five himself.

King Fréa ruled for fourteen years which was recorded to have been a time of peace and prosperity.

The rule of Rohan followed a similar pattern passing to Fréawine son of Fréa in 2659, and then to Goldwine son of Fréawine in 2680 and then finally to Déor son of Goldwine in 2699.

Here the time of peace and prosperity for the people of Rohan came to an end after 129 years as

Dunlendings began to raid across the Isen into the Westfold.

In 2710, when It became clear that the raiders were coming from near Isengard, Déor led an expeditionary force to the Westfold. Here he succeeded in driving the Dunlendings back from the Westfold only to find that they had overrun Isengard. The defensive walls of Isengard were beyond the ability of Déor's riders to overcome and so he sent to the Steward of Gondor for aid.

The Steward at this time was Egalmoth, however Gondor was unable to send any aid to their allies as they were themselves embroiled in conflict with Orcs and Easterlings.

With no hope of Gondorian reinforcement, Déor stationed a strong force of riders close to the Isen in an attempt to stop any further raiding by the Dunlendings into the Westfold.

In 2718 Déor was succeeded by his son Gram to the throne of Rohan. Throughout his reign the Dunlendings continued to attack the lands of the Eorlingas. This developed into a period of open warfare between the Dunlendings and the Eorlingas.

Gram died and his son, the legendary Helm Hammerhand became king in 2741. Helm continued to fight the Dunlendings much as he had during the reign of his father.

In 2754 a Dunlending with Rohirric blood by the name of Freca rode to Edoras with a great force of men. Freca intended to marry his son Wulf, to the daughter of Helm and threaten the king to get his way.

King Helm heard  the demands of Freca, before smiting the man in the face with his bare fist. Freca died soon after and his men along with his son Wulf fled Edoras.

In 2758 Freca's men returned with a great host of Dunlendings and Easterlings, who under the leadership of Wulf fought Helm who was now known as the Hammerhand at the Crossings of the Isen. Helm and the Rohirrim lost the battle and withdrew to the ancient Gondorian fortress of Súthberg, where they endured a long siege. During the battle Haleth the oldest of Helm's son's died.

The Dunlendings and their Easterling allies under Wulf occupied the rest of Rohan just as winter arrived.

The Winter of 2758-9 was known as The Long Winter due to it arriving far earlier than anticipated and lasting well into late spring before the first thaw's showed. As such most of the winter provisions were decimated before they could be harvested, leading to a long and lean winter in which famine stalked the land and both the Rohirrim and the occupying Dunlendings and Easterlings knew hunger.

During the siege of Súthberg Helm's younger son Háma, against his father's wishes led a sortie out in search of food around the time of Yule. However they soon became lost and perished in the snow.

Helm Hammerhand, had survived both of his sons. He grew gaunt from grief and famine.

Helm himself often blew his great war-horn, before stalking out of the fortress into the night, clad in white. He would move amongst the Dunlending camps, killing many with his bare hands. It was not long till the sounding of Helm's war-horn filled the Dunlendings with dread each time it was heard.

On one of his night sorties Helm died from famine and cold. His body was found frozen upright amidst the snows, standing ready to fight.

In 2759, as the snows began to thaw Fréaláf came from Dunharrow and in a surprise attack recaptured Edoras, putting "King Wulf" to the sword.

Second line of kings, of the House Eorl

With Helm and both of his sons dead Fréaláf who was a nephew of Helm took the throne.

With the aid of Gondor who had by now become aware of their allies plight, Fréaláf was able to drive the Dunlendings and Easterlings from the rest of Rohan over the course of the year.

When they came to Isengard, the combined forces of Rohan and Gondor starved out the Dunlendings who held its walls, forcing them to capitulate and leave.

At the coronation of Fréaláf, the Wizard Saruman appeared after years of absence. Saruman offered Fréaláf his support and friendship. Rohan was only just recovering from war and the Long Winter and the advise and aid of a wizard would be of great benefit.

On the advice of Fréaláf, Beren the Steward of Gondor lent Saruman the keys to Orthanc to dwell in on the condition that he must protect it from conquest by the Dunlendings.

King Fréaláf's reign continued for thirty-nine years till his death in 2798 whereby he was succeeded by his son Brytta.

During his reign Brytta continued his father's works of helping those in need, earning him the name Léofa (The beloved). The Dunlendings continued to harass from across the Isen, however this was not the only threat the Rohirrim faced.

In 2799 in the aftermath of the final battle of the "War of the Dwarves and Orcs" many of the Orcs began to flee the Misty Mountains and attempted to cross the plains of Rohan to colonise the White Mountains, which lay between Rohan and Gondor. Brytta led many sorties against Orc warbands, destroying many.

Brytta died in 2842, with the belief that all Orc's had been driven from Rohan. He was succeeded by his son, Walda.

Walda ruled in relative peace for nine years until he was killed by an Orc arrow in Dunharrow, dispelling the widely held belief that his father had rid Rohan of Orcs.

Folca, son of Walda succeeded his father and avenged him by hunting the last of the Orcs from Rohan.

Folca was known to be a great hunter, though when he rode to hunt the monstrous boar of Everholt he took a mortal wound from the beasts tusks even as he killed it, dying soon after.

Folca was in turn succeeded by his son Folcwine in 2864.

Folcwine led the Rohirrim in driving the Dunlendings from the land between the Adorn and Isen rivers, an area known as the West-march. This was the western most extent of the domains of Rohan, as the Adorn flowed down from the White Mountains to join the Isen as it turned south into the Angren Vale.

In 2885 Gondor called for the aid of the Rohirrim, as it was involved in a war with Harad. Folcwine fulfilled the Oath of Eorl and sent his two eldest sons, Folcred and Fastred to the aid of Gondor. Both Folcred and Fastred died in the fighting having won much renown. When Folcwine died in 2903 he was succeeded by his youngest son, Fengel.

Fengel had lived a spoiled childhood, as the third son it was never expected he would come to rule. As such he had been allowed to grow greedy.

His son, Thengel who was married to a lady of Gondor left Rohan after many disagreements with his father. For the duration of his father's reign Thengel lived with his wife's family in Gondor. Thengel had a son named Théoden followed shortly by a daughter, Théodwyn. Thengel's wife Morwen Steelsheen gave him three more daughters. During their time in Gondor all of Thengel's family spoke either Sindarin or Westron on a daily basis, not the Rohirric of his fathers people.

In 2953 with the death of Fengel, Thengel along with his family returned reluctantly to rule Rohan.

During his reign Thengel took a northerner into his service named Thorongil who rode with him for some time.

Thengel was succeeded by his son Théoden in 2980.

Théoden had a single son Théodred with his wife Elfhild who died in childbirth. His sister Théodwyn was married to Éomund of the line of Eofor, the second son of King Brego. They had two children Éomer and Éowyn.

Éomund, was slain battling Orcs in Emyn Muil in 3002, his wife Théodwyn did not long survive her husband, dying soon after from illness.

Théoden who loved his sister much and was close with her adopted the two children, Éomer and Éowyn  and raised them alongside Théodred within Meduseld.

Théodred went on to become the Second Marshal of the Riddermark, whilst Éomer became the Third Marshal of the Riddermak.