Estolad
the Camp of the Edain; the first settlement of Men in Beleriand
Name and Position
Estolad — “the Encampment” — is the broad plain (in the early geographies, “east of the mountains”) — the country where the first Men of the Edain settled in Beleriand: after Bëor’s company (and then the Haladin and the people of Hador’s kin in turn) came into the land, they, the “camp” of the Elf-friends, under Finrod’s (and later other lords’) welcome and watch — the Quenta: — it was the “first home” of Men in the West.
The First Days of Men
- The three houses’ gathering: At Estolad the three houses (the people of Bëor, of Hador, of Haleth) camped side by side in the early age of friendship with the Elves (Finrod’s protection; the Dwarves’ way), before their later wanderings and the granting of the northern lordships (Ladros, Dor-lómin, Brethil) in the years of the Long Peace.
- The shadow: With the coming of the wars (and the Enemy’s corruption of some of Men), Estolad’s time passed; the plain became a “marches” country and was overrun/abandoned in the disasters on the eastern front.
Significance
Estolad is the “founding camp of Men in the Free World” — the place where the Eldain’s alliance with the Elves was first made firm and the Three Houses first dwelt as neighbors; its memory is the Bronze-age — the “first home” that the wanderings of the Edain later left for the great lordships.