[Tuor of Gondolin]

I think portraying the western polities as
"absolutist" monarchies goes too far. there
were at a minimum councils which the
kings found it necessary to consult and seek
their advice, with apparently an influence at least
that of the nobility in post-1066 England (not sure
of Anglo-Saxon politics). And if the peoples in
Northwestern middle-earth were "free" how could
they be ruled by absolutist leaders? + what is to be
made by the (apparently) pro forma acclamation of
Aragorn? It would seem to include an at least inferred
right of all the people, not only the nobility, to consent
to be the governed. And if in the course of human events
the king became abusive of their rights to (say) life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness wouldn't it be their
right to dissolve the political bands which connected them.....hmm.



Also, while Beorn's descendants were leaders were
they nobility, or chosen by the woodsmen?