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Bree is a fictional town in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, east of the Shire and south of Fornost Erain. It is sometimes said to have been inspired by the Buckinghamshire village of Brill, which Tolkien visited regularly in his early years at Oxford (supposedly Tolkien also lived in Brill for a short while).
Bree was a very ancient settlement of men in Eriador, long established by the time of the Third Age of Middle-earth. After the collapse of the kingdom of Arthedain, Bree continued to thrive without any central authority or government for many centuries. As Bree lies at the meeting of two large roadways, the Great East Road and the (now disused) Greenway, it had for centuries been a centre of trade and a stopping place for travellers, though as Arnor in the north waned its prosperity and size declined.
Bree was said to have been founded and populated by men who did not reach Beleriand in the first age, remaining east of the mountains in Eriador. The men of...
