The City of Dale

INTRODUCTION:
The city of Dale is the capital city of the First, Second and Third Kingdoms of Dale. Originally a trading station facilitating the businesses of merchants travelling between Erebor, the Long Lake and the Woodland Realm, it grew rich quickly, and to this day is a cultured and urban city. The city holds many of Dale's more famous historical sites, as Dale for a long time could be considered a city-state, rather than a Kingdom. These include the Royal Palace - being the residence of the King - the Old University, the Old Market and Girion's Tower.

The city of Dale has been the site of many battles and major events in the Kingdom of Dale's history, infamously being attacked and looted by the dragon Smaug.

Location:
The city is located a few Dalish miles directly south of the Lonely Mountain, in the Royal Earldom of Dale-Gilnea in north-western Dale. It is built near the River Running, on top of a large rocky hill. Conditions in the area are mild for most of the year, although in winter the temperatures can drop sharply, and in the summer it can become rather warm. Rain is common all year-round.

Places in the City:
Old Market Square: The largest market in the city, both historically and presently.

The Royal Palace: The Royal Palace is the official residence of the King of Dale and the Dalish Royal Family.

East Gate: The main gate through which most traffic goes. Situated on the north-eastern side of Dale, directly linked to the Great East Road and the Dale Road, the majority of travellers and armies enter through it.

Old University:

West Gate Lane:

Cowgate and Cowmarket:

New Market:

New University:

Old Market Square Watch House:

Early History:
The city of Dale was founded around the year TA 2590, although it is almost certain that smaller human settlements, such as villages, existed in the area beforehand. These villages would have been small dwellings, usually supporting a clan or tribe, made up largely of either wooden cabins or some stone huts.

When the dwarf king Thror returned to Erebor and established his realm inside the Lonely Mountain, the people of Dale took this opportunity and approached the dwarves, offering furs, honey, bells and the famous cram, in exchange for weapons, gold and silver. What started as a small town quickly grew into a large city, perhaps one of the largest cities in all of Middle-Earth east of the Misty Mountains. As news spread of the countless riches inside Erebor, more people travelled to the Lonely Mountain, and almost always passed by Dale along the way. As the dwarves of Erebor seldom allowed outsiders to enter their fortress-city, most of their business was done in the Old Market of Dale. During this period of prosperity, a nobleman named Girion became the lord of the city, and according to some sources, became the first King of Dale. Under his reign, dwarves from Erebor, elves from the Woodland Realm and Northmen all met inside the city.

However, the riches of Dale and Erebor would attract other powers as well. In TA 2770, the a fire-drake from the north, called Smaug, attacked the city. The dragon overwhelmed the city guards, before entering the Lonely Mountain and slaughtering the dwarves inside, claiming the gold inside. Although he spent most of his time sitting on his hoard of treasure inside Erebor, Smaug would frequently leave the mountain and go to Dale, terrorising the population and demanding tribute in the form of treasure and food (usually virgins). If the people of Dale refused, then entire sections of the city would be destroyed with his fire. Eventually, the people of Dale were forced to flee to the town of Esgaroth, and left their homes, turning Dale into a deserted ruin.

Thorins' Company and the Battle of the Five Armies
In the year TA 2941, the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield, who was the prince of Erebor and grandson of King Thror, embarked on a quest to defeat Smaug and reclaim the Lonely Mountain. With him travelled a company of twelve other dwarves, the wizard Gandalf and a hobbit from the Shire named Bilbo Baggins. They were successful in their task, driving Smaug out from the Lonely Mountain, where the dragon would be killed over Esgaroth by Bard the Bowman, a descendant of Girion. When the Dalesmen living in Esgaroth realised that Smaug was dead, they returned to the city of Dale, hoping to rebuild it. However, they were starving and had lost many of their possessions, for Smaug had destroyed much of Esgaroth when he was killed, and Thorin refused to help them. Help came from the Wood-Elves however, who delivered much needed food and drink to the people of Dale. In return however, the Wood-Elves demanded that the Dalesmen help them retrieve the treasure inside Erebor, promising them a fair share of the loot. Impoverished, the Dalish put together a militia to help the elven warriors in their attempt to get the treasure.

After their requests were denied, the people of Dale and the Wood-Elves prepared for an assault on Erebor. However, dwarves from the Iron Hills had arrived, threatening to fight the Dalish and the elves. Before the battle could begin however, an enormous force of orcs, wargs and trolls from Gundabad arrived at Erebor, seeking to seize the treasure for themselves as well. The Dalish, elves and dwarves allied together to fight against the orcs of Gundabad, and so the Battle of the Five Armies began. In this battle, the city of Dale was turned into a war zone, with thousands of Gundabad Uruks attacking it, hoping to flush out the Dalish militia who used it as a base of operations. However, despite all the odds, Bard, who had become somewhat of a leader to the Dalish, managed to repel the orcs. When Bolg, who was the chieftain of the orcs, was killed, the Gundabad Uruks lost cohesion, and became lost in the streets of Dale, where they were ambushed and eventually defeated by Bard's militia. The city of Dale was reclaimed, and the dwarves, elves and Dalesmen lived in peace, helping each other recover from the losses they suffered. While the dwarves and elves had lost many brave warriors, the Dalesmen had lost over half of their population during the battle, and the cities of Dale and Esgaroth were almost completely ruined. But under Bard's command, Dale became a fully fledged Kingdom, its territories stretching as far east as Redwater Ford, and the city of Dale was rebuilt.

THE CITY IN-GAME
The city of Dale was built by 2 different builders throughout its history on the AncarNetwork modded 1.7.10 Minecraft server. These 2 builders had very different ideas of what the city should look like; and at times they argued, resulting in Dale being a somewhat strange build, a weird emalgamation of 2 styles. However around mid 2020, mrquiver3000, the main builder working on Dale, after refining his interpretation of the city and a plan of it, set to work rebuilding the entire city in his vision.

Inspiration From The Real World:
The following locations in the "real world" provided heavy inspiration for the city of Dale's construction: Inspiration was also supplemented by a wide variety of paintings and drawings of medieval-style towns or cities made by numerous artists.
 * Prague, Czechia
 * Krákow, Poland
 * Warsaw, Poland
 * Nuremberg, Germany
 * London, United Kingdom
 * Budapest, Hungary
 * Tallinn, Estonia
 * The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia
 * Sofia, Bulgaria
 * Rome, Italy
 * Oxford, United Kingdom
 * Edinburgh, United Kingdom
 * Vienna, Austria
 * Sopron, Hungary
 * St Émillons, France
 * Melbourne, Australia
 * Quebec City, Quebec, Canada