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As a professor of literature at Oxford University, Tolkien specialized in Old and Middle English and loved ancient pagan mythology. His first fantasy novel, The Hobbit, appeared in 1937, and The Lord of the Rings, in 1954-55. Several others were published later, some posthumously.

In a biography that I saw about how Tolkein came up with Middle Earth, they spoke of his feelings that the English people had been cheated out of their own mythology. It seemed that every other european country had it's own mythos, but with the Norman conquest of England, "their own" mythology was lost, with the exception of Beowulf.

Because of that, it's said that Tolkein decided to come up with a new mythology for England, and that's where middle earth came from.

Mark

with the Norman conquest of England, "their own" mythology was lost, with the exception of Beowulf.

Beowulf is actually a Scandinavian legend. Beowulf was a Geat, from a tribe in southern Sweden. King Hrothgar was Danish.

The original poem was written in Old English, but it probably was an adaptation of an older oral legend that had nothing to do with England..

-ccm

It seemed that every other european country had it's own mythos, but with the Norman conquest of England, "their own" mythology was lost, with the exception of Beowulf.

LOTR has always seemed to me very similar to the old German epic, Nibelungenlied ("Song of the Nibelungs") which was also the basis for the series of operas by Wagner.