This is another one where I'd strongly disagree with tech level - _averages_ the Renaissance? I can't think of a single aspect of their tech that matches anything but the earliest end of that, and I wouldn't think anything meets the latter half of that - and certainly not 'half the setting is past that'.

Medieval, definitely. I think that there's an argument that the best places in the setting might start approaching beyond that - the hobbit dwellings are probably decorated in a renaissance level style, but that's about the high point of what we see - and that's got to be significantly pulled down by not just Mordor but even places like Rohan are below that (nice castle, but the people live in steppe huts.)