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Gondorian Military Organisation and Government: some thoughts
by Tanaqui
Chapter Three: The Ruling Steward's Council
In Book V Ch4 The Siege of Gondor RoTK, Denethor holds a council with the Lords and Captains. This is clearly a full War Council, but there would be a need for regular Council meetings to discuss management of the realm and gain input from people with specialist knowledge and Lords whose territories would be affected by particular decisions. Of course, evidence of Denethor’s growing madness and the influence of the palantir could manifest itself in increasingly autocratic and paranoid behaviour at these meetings (as mentioned in Book V Ch4 The Siege of Gondor RoTK: “But the Lord of the City was master of his Council, and he was in no mood that day to bow to others.”).Tolkien did provide a little further information about the Council in Letters, specifically in Letter 244: “I did not, naturally, go into details about the way in which Aragorn, as King of Gondor, would govern the realm. But it was made clear that there was much fighting, and in the earlier years of A.’s reign expeditions against the enemies in the East. The chief commanders, under the King, would be Faramir and Imrahil; and one of these would normally remain a military commander at home in the King’s absence. A Numenorean King was a monarch, with the power of unquestioned decision in debate; but he governed the realm with the frame of ancient law, of which he was administrator (and interpreter) but not the maker. In all debatable matters of importance domestic, or external, however, even Denethor had a Council, and at least listened to what the Lords of the Fiefs and the Captains of the Forces had to say. Aragorn immediately re-established the Great Council of Gondor, and in that Faramir, who remained by inheritance the Steward (or representative of the King during his absence abroad, or sickness, or between his death and the accession of his heir) would [be] the chief counselor.”
What follows are entirely my own speculations about the Council in Denethor’s time, based on discussions with Gwynnyd and information she obtained from friends of hers in high places in the US military who kindly responded to requests for suggestions as to who might be present at these more regular meetings.
Firstly, I see there being a full Council involving all the Lords, military commanders and so on taking place on a regular but infrequent basis (annual or bi-annual) which would probably last several days and deal with high level policies such as foreign affairs, taxes and defence.
There would then be regular, frequent meetings (monthly or bi-monthly) of smaller sub-Councils to discuss current military issues, finance and resources and so on. For the military council, I would suggest the following likely participants:
* The Ruling Steward and Commander in Chief (Denethor)
* The Steward’s Esquire, who would run errands, ensure the Steward had the right paperwork etc.
* A Council Secretary from the professional Citadel secretariat who takes the minutes
* The Captain-General (Boromir), Captain of the Ithilien Rangers (Faramir) and head of the Navy (Imrahil) as head of the respective military services. If they were unable to be present (Imrahil in particular would find it difficult to attend every meeting), they would send a Lieutenant to represent them and make their report.
* A finance person (this role might be assigned to Hurin, Warden of the Keys, since there is a suggestion in his title that he has the keys to the strongbox there. However, at Aragorn’s coronation in Book VI Ch 5 The Steward and the King RoTK, he is the person who ceremoniously pushes back the temporary barrier replacing the broken City Gate, suggesting he may instead hold the (metaphorical?) keys to the City.)
* A logistics person who knows the status, location and quantity of resources – such as food and water, weapons, ammunition (rocks for the catapults as well as arrows!), armor, first aid supplies, animal feed and horses – and looks after the plans for collection and distribution of all these resources
* A representative of the crafts guilds in the City (blacksmiths, farriers, armorors, fletchers, boyers, carpenters, stone cutters, etc) to report on how they are fulfilling their various tasks for the defence of the realm and relay instructions about what needs to be done. Perhaps one of the guildmasters
* A public liaison person who would manage and disseminate information to be given to the general population about current defence arrangements. Possibly a civilian civic leader if the City has its own tier of government.
* An intelligence chief – my personal view is that Denethor would assume this role himself because, if he has an intelligence person who is offering an assessment and Denethor knows, from looking in the palantir, that things are different, how does he correct him without giving away his use of the palantir? If Denethor personally controls all the intelligence, he can just pretend it came from one of his many "legitimate" sources.
I also think any Lords visiting Minas Tirith would be invited as a courtesy to these general meetings. In addition, each of the participants would probably bring at least one assistant or lieutenant to the meeting, to provide relevant papers as necessary or to deliver specialist reports. I envisage these people sitting or standing around the edge of the room while the main participants are seated at a table.
I think the meetings would follow a standard agenda, with reports from the Captain-General, the Captain of the Ithilien Rangers and the head of the Navy, summarising what has happened in their commands, and then discussion of other specific issues and any other business.
It is likely Denethor would hold private councils with just one or two commanders to discuss particularly sensitive issues. In my stories, I have shown him preferring to receive private reports in advance from commanders returning from the field – although making such reports is not mandatory – to allow him to reflect and formulate plans before issues are debated in open council.
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