Pippin, as Peregrin was universally known, was the youngest of Frodo's companions. He was only twenty-eight years old when he set out with Frodo and Sam from Bag End on the first part of their great journey, which was considered very young for a Hobbit. At first, he seemed to be rather unsuited to a long journey - through the early part of their travels, we see him regularly calling for rests or meals. As befitted the son of the Shire's Thain, though, he had a good general knowledge of that land and its people.
Peregrin inherited the title Thain of the Shire in the year IV 13 (1434 by the Shire-reckoning). During his Thainship, he remained in close contact with Gondor, and built a library of great historical importance at Great Smials. The works he collected were mainly concerned with the history of Númenor and the Exiles after its Downfall, and so were of little interest to the Hobbits of the Shire, but were of great significance to the larger world. The Tale of Years was probably prepared at Great Smials, with help from Meriadoc Brandybuck.
Notes
1
Peregrin said that his father Paladin 'farms the lands round Whitwell' (The Return of the King V 1, Minas Tirith), which seems to imply some kind of connection, without being very specific about the arrangement. One reading would be that Peregrin grew up on his father's farm at Whitwell, but this isn't the only possible interpretation. Alternatively, it may be that Peregrin and his father grew up among their extended family at Great Smials, and Paladin merely managed the Whitwell farm from there. Regardless of these questions, after Paladin became Thain, the family would unquestionably have dwelt at the Thain's residence of Great Smials.
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