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appendix a 1369
the court of its King. Mordor was desolate, but was watched
over by great fortresses that guarded the passes.
So ended the line of the Ship-kings. Atanatar Alcarin son of
Hyarmendacil lived in great splendour, so that men said precious
stones are pebbles in Gondor for children to play with. But Atanatar
loved ease and did nothing to maintain the power that he had
inherited, and his two sons were of like temper. The waning of
Gondor had already begun before he died, and was doubtless
observed by its enemies. The watch upon Mordor was neglected.
Nonetheless it was not until the days of Valacar that the first
great evil came upon Gondor: the civil war of the Kin-strife, in
which great loss and ruin was caused and never fully repaired.
Minalcar, son of Calmacil, was a man of great vigour, and in
1240 Narmacil, to rid himself of all cares, made him Regent of
the realm. From that time onwards he governed Gondor in the
name of the kings until he succeeded his father. His chief concern
was with the Northmen.
These had increased greatly in the peace brought by the power
of Gondor. The kings showed them favour, since they were the
nearest in kin of lesser Men to the Dúnedain (being for the most
part descendants of those peoples from whom the Edain of old
had come); and they gave them wide lands beyond Anduin south
of Greenwood the Great, to be a defence against men of the East.
For in the past the attacks of the Easterlings had come mostly over
the plain between the Inland Sea and the Ash Mountains.
In the days of Narmacil I their attacks began again, though at
first with little force; but it was learned by the regent that the
Northmen did not always remain true to Gondor, and some
would join forces with the Easterlings, either out of greed for
spoil, or in the furtherance of feuds among their princes. Minalcar
therefore in 1248 led out a great force, and between Rhovanion
and the Inland Sea he defeated a large army of the
Easterlings and destroyed all their camps and settlements east of
the Sea. He then took the name of Rómendacil.
On his return Rómendacil fortified the west shore of Anduin
as far as the inflow of the Limlight, and forbade any stranger to
pass down the River beyond the Emyn Muil. He it was that built
the pillars of the Argonath at the entrance to Nen Hithoel. But