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Tolkien’s Tale and the Siege of Vienna
A minor observation in a recent essay began a series of connections that will please Catholics, conservatives, history hounds, and J.R.R. Tolkien fans. Carrie Gress was interviewing biographer Miltiades Varvounis for the National Catholic Register. Mr. Varvounis is the author of Jan Sobieski: The King Who Saved Europe. In the interview, he comments:
Jan Sobieski was one of the most illustrious rulers ever to command an army. He gained glory and fame in his thirties through his exceptional military skills and he was acknowledged as the greatest warrior-king of his time throughout the rest of his turbulent life. His patriotism, his strong faith and hope in God, his military reputation, his taste for arts and letters, and his talents — all these were legendary in his lifetime. Since World War II, no English work has been published about the king who saved Europe from the warriors of Islam at the Battle of Vienna (1683); a battle which was the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic cavalry charge of the Rohirrim that lifted the Siege of Minas Tirith in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
For those who are unaware, the Battle of Vienna is on par with the Battle of Lepanto in Christian Europe’s centuries-long struggle to stem the advance of militant Islam. The battle took place on September 11–12, 1683. (Note the 9–11 date.) From July, the forces of the Ottoman…