Edith Tolkien

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edith Tolkien (born January 21, 1889 in Gloucester as Edith Mary Bratt , † November 29, 1971 in Bournemouth ) was the wife of the British writer John Ronald Reuel Tolkien .

Life

Born out of wedlock to Frances Bratt in January 1889, Edith Bratt was raised by her mother and cousin. Her musical and dancing talents were recognized early on, so that after the early death of her mother, she attended a music boarding school for girls. Some time later she was placed in a pension through her guardian. There, at the age of nineteen, she first met John Ronald Reuel Tolkien , then sixteen , who was also an orphan . Over the course of the following months, the two fell in love. Tolkien's guardian, however, the Catholic Father Morgan, disapproved of John's relationship with Bratt, who was brought up in the Anglican faith, and forbade the sixteen-year-old from any contact with Edith until he reached the age of majority - then 21.

Edith moved to Cheltenham , Gloucestershire , to live with a family of lawyers called Jessop , where she became engaged to the brother of a school friend. In 1913 she received a letter from Tolkien, now of legal age, asking her to resume their childhood relationship. She agreed and, at Tolkien's insistence, converted to the Catholic faith on January 8, 1914. Since this was refused by her Anglican guardian, the Jessops, she was forced to look for a new place of residence. Eventually she found accommodation with her cousin in Warwick .

On March 22, 1916, she married John Ronald Reuel Tolkien eight years after they first met. In the same year Tolkien was drafted to France , where he served as an officer in the First World War .

The grave of Edith and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien in Oxford

After John's return from mainland Europe due to illness, Edith Mary Tolkien became the mother of four children:

  • November 21, 1917: John Francis Reuel Tolkien
  • October 22, 1920: Michael Hilary Reuel Tolkien
  • November 21, 1924: Christopher John Reuel Tolkien
  • June 18, 1929: Priscilla Mary Reuel Tolkien

They spent most of their time together in the university city of Oxford , where John worked as a professor and writer . The Tolkien couple spent their twilight years in the English seaside resort of Bournemouth . After a short but serious illness, Edith Tolkien died at the age of 82 and was buried in Wolvercote cemetery near Oxford. According to witnesses, Edith's death was a severe shock for her husband from which he never recovered. He died barely two years later.

Significance for Tolkien's work

John and Edith often went for walks in a forest near Roos, where she is said to have sometimes sung and danced for him in a hemlock grove . This and earlier experiences inspired parts of the literary work The Silmarillion , which was only published after his death, especially the story of the love of the human being Beren and the Elven princess Lúthien Tinúviel, also briefly mentioned in The Lord of the Rings , overcoming all obstacles .

JRR Tolkien had the following inscription put on the tombstone:

  • Edith Mary Tolkien, Lúthien, 1889–1971
  • John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Beren, 1892–1973

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Tolkien, Edith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tolkien, Edith Mary; Bratt, Edith Mary
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of JRR Tolkien
DATE OF BIRTH January 21, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Gloucester
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1971
Place of death Bournemouth