The Men of Bree were mostly of Dunlendish stock who were probably in the area from as far back as the Second Age by those escaping the influence of Sauron. The early Third Age seems to be when the village was properly founded and the townfolk became more civilised, unlike their wild kin-folk living in Dunland. When the Dúnedain exiled from Númenor came to Middle-earth in the latter-half of the Second Age, the Men of Bree became part of Arnor, and after it became divided, the Kings of Cardolan claimed it; however, from the early 15th century onward it retained a certain degree of independence.