Sackville-Baggins Family
The Sackville-Baggins Family was a branch of the Baggins Family.
History[edit]
Camellia Sackville was the daughter of the head of the Sackville Family.[1] She married Longo Baggins, the son of Mungo Baggins.[2] Some time prior to the birth of their first son, Otho, Camelia's father died. As was the custom in the "younger" families when there was no male heir, the headship passed to the daughter's eldest son. He would then use his mother's name, and add his father's to it. Thus, the Sackville-Baggins branch was created.[1]
Otho married Lobelia Bracegirdle of Hardbottle, and the two had one child, Lotho.[2] Despite being the heir of the wealthy[3] Sackville Family, the Sackville-Bagginses yearned for the headship of the Baggins Family, and more specifically, their residence, Bag End, the residence of Bilbo Baggins. They became hopeful when Bilbo disappeared and were disappointed when he returned.[4][5] Their hopes were finally dashed in T.A. 2989 when Bilbo adopted an heir, Frodo.[5]
The Sackville-Bagginses were the only of Bilbo Baggins's relatives who didn't pay visits. However he did invite them to his birthday party and they decided to come, thanks to the luxurious invitation card (written with golden ink) and the reputation of Bilbo's tables. During his speech he made a special mention to them, thanking and welcoming them, but they scowled hearing that Frodo (whom they detested) came into Bilbo's inheritance; they also felt insulted when he revealed that the guests were supposed to fill a Gross, as if they had been invited only for this reason. When Bilbo said farewell and disappeared at the end of his speech, they left enraged.[5]
The next day they heard that Bilbo's household is giving out for free, and demanded to see Frodo and offensively offered him bad bargain-prices for various valuable things, but Frodo replied that the things given away were parting gifts directed by Bilbo, and only a case of silver spoons was for them. Otho accused Frodo for "doing exceedingly well out of it" and demanded to see Bilbo's will (without which Otho would be Bilbo's heir).[5]
After Frodo's departure, Bag End was sold to Lobelia, but Otho had died.[5]
Genealogy[edit]
The Sackville-Bagginses were descendants of Mungo Baggins, like Bilbo. They considered themselves the heir of the Baggins Family headship because Frodo Baggins was the descendant of Largo Baggins, Mungo's younger brother.[2]
| Mungo Baggins 1207-1300 | Laura Grubb 1214-1316 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Belladonna Took 1252-1334 | Bungo 1246-1326 | Belba 1256-1356 | Longo 1260-1350 | Camellia Sackville unknown | Linda 1262-1363 | Bingo 1264-1363 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bilbo 1290-1421+ | Otho Sackville-Baggins 1310-1412 | Lobelia Bracegirdle 1318-1420 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lotho 1364-1419 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Etymology[edit]
Sackville was the name of a relatively young Hobbit family.[1] Their name had an association with Baggins in that both contained an element for "bag/sack"; Sackville was a slightly more aristocratic version.[6] Tom Shippey argued that this "similarity" also provoked an antonymy: Bag End was used around England as a replacement of French cul-de-sac, "dead end street" - even Tolkien's own aunt Jane Neave lived in a house of that name. Tolkien did not like the Norman conquest of Britain, and made the Bagginses English. The name Sackville, however, is very Norman, as one of the few, if not the only, Hobbit family name.[7]
Other versions of the legendarium[edit]
In J.R.R. Tolkien's manuscript of The Hobbit the Sackville-Baggins were called the Allibone Baggins.[8] John D. Rateliff stated that the change to "Sackville" was penciled in about the time the story was being prepared for publication in 1936. The significance of "Allibone" is unknown although Mr. Rateliff thought it might relate to Alboin, a character in The Lost Road.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 214, (undated, written late 1958 or early 1959)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix C, "Baggins of Hobbiton"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 25, (dated February 1938)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "The Return Journey"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Long-expected Party"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Wayne G. Hammond, Christina Scull (eds.), Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings, published in: Wayne G. Hammond, Christina Scull, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, page 762
- ↑ Tom Shippey, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, page 10
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, John D. Rateliff (ed.), The History of The Hobbit, Return to Bag-End, The Third Phase, "The End of the Journey", p. 691
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, John D. Rateliff (ed.), The History of The Hobbit, Return to Bag-End, The Third Phase, "The End of the Journey", Text Note 14, p. 699
