There are many fans of J.R.R. Tolkien who understand his writings to have been an attempt to create a mythology for England, but they don’t really know much more about this aspect of his writing.
A lover of stories, Tolkien recognized that England lacked its own mythological tradition. As a lover of language, he viewed it as central to a mythology that would be unique to the specific people who read, wrote, and spoke their own language.
Arthurian legends may be closely related to England, but they are also a part of Welsh and French traditions. Many folk tales in England had Norse or Germanic origins.
When writing, Tolkien was influenced by many writings, including Christian theology and Finnish mythology, including Kalevala, which heavily influenced the Children of Hurin, Anglo-Saxon literature, of which Beowulf is most well-known, as well as Norse mythology and Celtic legends. His academic works and translations support this notion of influence.
Tolkien’s challenge was if he was the recipient of these stories of Elvish History, how did he get them, and further how was he able to translate them into modern English?
To make this history “real,” the people he would write about required a history, and to have this history told and translated, it needed to have its own language to make it unique to them.
Feanor created a completed alphabetic system and brought it to Beleriand. Feanor did not work on this system any longer and took no more active part in linguistic lore and inquiry. He is credited by tradition with the foundation of a school of Lambengolmor or “Loremasters of Tongues’ to carry on this work.
Rumil wrote many texts and Pengolod the Wise expanded upon them. Quannar i Onotimo was a student of Rumil’s who learned and borrowed much from him. The Annals of Aman were written by Rumil in the Elder Days and held in memory by the Exiles. They were set down in writing in Numenor in the Second Age.
Pengolod the Wise, Eriol who is Aelfwine, and Dirhavel who either bases his text on or writes with Aelfwine are significant writers of the events of the First Age.
Eltas lived around the time of Gondolin and his only known work is Turin and the foaloke.
Eriol is Anglo-Saxon. He sails, seeks, and eventually reaches the Lonely Isle, Tol Eressea and meets Elves who live there. He listens to their stories of the history of the world.
The “Annals” were written before the fall of Beleriand and afterward at Sirion’s Haven, and at Tavrobel in Toleressea after his return from the West. It was there that it was seen and translated by Eriol of Leithien, that is Aelfwine of the Angelcyn. Aelfwine would translate the Annals of Beleriand into Old English.
Aelfwine and Dirhaval author a version of this story of the Children of Hurin. The Hurinien by Aelfwine is the longest of all the Lays of Beleriand.
The translation to Anglo-Saxon and old English allowed for Tolkien to translate the stories to modern English.
The remaining question, how do these texts get from Tol Eressea to England to Tolkien?
For this there appears to be no answer. There is a belief that Elves that fled from Tol Eressea went further east to England where they lived until being driven out/returning to Tol Eressea. These Elves spoke English as a result of their time in England and met Eriol. Eriol recorded their stories in Anglo-Saxon. He must have sailed back to England, some say along the straight road before the world was bent following the Fall of Numenor.
Once returned with the manuscripts, how they reached Tolkien is not addressed.
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