bloody borders part one

7/30/2019 Bloody Borders Part One

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The Anglo-Scottish Border follows a

line roughly south-west to north-east,

from the Solway Firth to Berwick-

upon-Tweed, roughly along the

Cheviot Hills. It is a land of bare,

bleak, and wildly beautiful moorland,

upland, wooded valley and peat bog.

It was this harsh land with its

inhospitable climate that bred and

nurtured a tough, hardy and villainous

people who warred ceaselessly andunremittingly upon their neighbours.

This is the land of the Border Reivers.

The Birth of the Borders

With the exception of Berwick-upon-

Tweed, which became part of England

following its capture by Richard III in

1482, the geographic position of the

Border remained broadly constant from

the 12th century. However, control of the

frontier was in constant dispute from1286 when Edward I had launched a

series of brutal and devastating invasions

over the Border in pursuit of his ambition

to annex Scotland. His armies laid waste

great tracks of the Borderland in his

attempt to subjugate Scotland. The Scots

retaliated and invading armies from both

sides over the next three centuries waged

"scorched-earth" warfare against each

other and the local populations of the

region. These wars of attrition continued,

even in times of 'peace', with both

Governments either encouraging their

Borderers to raid across the frontier or

turning a blind eye to it happening. As

the buffer zone between two belligerent

neighbours, the Borderland was abattleground. But it was also a

battleground for the local families in

their restless search for security and

profit in a hard land.

Both sides of the Border were divided

into three Marches, respectively the

Scottish and English West, Middle and

East Marches. Each was governed by a

warden. The warden's duty was to defend

the frontier against invasion from the

opposite side during wartime and tomaintain law and order in peace time. In

practice however, the Wardens often

were as lawless as the local inhabitants.

On the English side, men were appointed

as wardens from the southern counties of

England so there would be no obligation

on their part to side with one or the other

of the feuding families. The salary of a

Warden was not enough to keep him and

his family and, therefore, many times the

Warden had to supplement his income as

best he could, and often by illicit means.

On the Scottish side of the border, the

office of Warden usually fell to the

"heidmen" (headmen) of the powerful

border families. It was felt that the lairds

could exercise some restraint over theirown kin. Scottish wardens had the

advantage of knowing the families and

knowing the terrain, but they were

already involved in local feuds and

alliances.

By the beginning of the 16th century,

Borderers were caught up in a never

ending cycle of feuding, violence and

destruction. Both Governments

contributed to this through their policies

of installing a bulwark against the otherside, giving little in the way of general

military security or an effective legal

system, and encouraging settlement of

their Border regions by offering land and

low rents in exchange for some possible

military service. This led to

16th century Anglo-Scottish Border Reivering by Matthew Hartley

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overpopulation, which was aggravated

by Border inheritance laws called

"gavelkind', whereby a man's lands were

evenly divided amongst his (usually

numerous) sons on his death. This

resulted in many men and their families

having too little land to support

themselves. This, combined with a lack

of industry or other legitimate alternative

work, led to a growing population of

desperate poverty-stricken men whowould naturally turn to the protection of

influential families and to thievery to

support themselves.

Over the three and a half centuries of the

Border 'wars', the "Great Reiding"

families of the borders - whose family

connections often crossed over the

formal frontier - evolved a clannish type

of society, mutually supportive, meeting

each outrage against their members with

violent reprisals. Those not fortunateenough to belong to one of these

powerful Border families were subject to

extortion and blackmail. Such people

turned to theft and reiving as a means of

support and became the mercenaries or

"broken men" of the Borderland, selling

their reiving skills to the highest

family bidder when

independence became

impracticable.

Border Law

Because the frontier was such a unique

place, both Kingdoms agreed that it

should be governed under its own laws.

In November 1248 six English and sixScottish Knights met to correct,

according to ancient and approved

custom of the March, such matters as

required to be redressed. This

conference resulted in a written code of

thirteen articles agreed the following

year, which allowed for fugitives to be

captured and returned to their own

countries and also for accused persons to

be summonsed to appear before a special

Border court to answer for their crimes;

this last became the origin of the Day ofTruce. Truce days were when the

wardens of both sides met to redress

grievances. Truce Days provided an

opportunity for villagers on both sides of

the border to take part in trading and to

attend the markets. Not surprisingly,

these market days often degenerated into

drunken, bloody brawls, especially when

the justice available in Border law was

subject not merely to Anglo-Scottish

divisions but also the local feuds, and a

riot was proper protest at the lack of a

real justice system.

Border Religion

Observance of religion does not seem tohave played a large part in the life of a

Reiver. The Church and the monastic

establishments had disputes within and

between each other and were not

unwilling to have violence used on their

behalf. From the mid-16th century both

Part 1 - The History

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England and Scotland were protestant

states and religious influence on secular

matters was very weak. Quite often

Church services were interrupted byReiver families bringing their weapons

and feuds into the service and the

clergys attempts to subdue the Borders

by threatening hell and damnation were

ignored; the most famous being the

Archbishop Gavin Dunbar of Glasgow in

his Monition of Cursing which ran to

some 1500 words and was read from

every pulpit in the Borders to little effect.

The full Curse, it all its descriptive glory,

is repeated in full in Appendix One of

George MacDonald Frasers The Steel

Bonnets - an excellent account of theBorder Reivers.

Border Names

Some 77 surnames are associated with

raiding families from the Borders. Fraserlists a number of them, with notes on

famous family members, in his The Steel

Bonnets. An abridged version of Frasers

list is presented here with his comments

to give a flavour of the family names and

the sometimes exotic forenames and

nicknames of the period.

Armstrong (or Armstrang): The

Armstrongs held sway in the English

West March and the Scottish East March.

The Armstrongs were the most feared

riding clan on the frontier. By 1528 theycould put 3000 men into the saddle.

Some of the famous Armstrong reiving

names are Johnnie Armstrong, Kinmont

Willie Armstrong, Sim the Laird, Ill Will

Armstrong and Sandie his son, Dick of

Dryhope, Jock of the Side.

Bell: Scottish and English. A great

surname of the West March (Scottish),

particularly hostile to the Grahams.

Burn or Bourne: Scottish, EastTeviotdale. A most predatory and vicious

family of the Middle March whose raids

and murders reached a peak in the 1590s

when they were under the protection of

Robert Kerr of Cessford.

Kerr. They were the worst of the East

Teviotdale Reivers and are supposed to

have killed 17 Collingwoods in revenge

for the death of one of their own men.Notable name: Geordie Burn.

Charlton (Carleton): This was an

English family, although the name

appears in southwestern Scotland. The

Charltons were one of the hardiest and

most intractable families on the English

side and were alternately allied to and at

feud with the Scottish in the west. They

were engaged in a bitter vendetta with

the Scotts of Buccleuch.

Croser (Crosar, Crozier): MostlyScottish. A small but hard-riding family

often associated with Nixons and Elliots

and often allied with England. Some

notable names: Wild Will Croser,

Noseless Clemmie, Martins Clemmie.

Elliot: The Elliots were Scottish. Less

numerous than the Armstrongs with

whom they were frequently allied, but as

predatory as any clan on the border.

Occasionally under English protection,

they received a subsidy from QueenElizabeth during their feud with the

Scotts. Notable names: Martin Elliot of

Braidley, Little Jock of the Park, Robin

of Redheuch, Archie Fire the Braes,

William of Lariston, Martins Gibb.


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Fenwick: An English family of note,

described as gentlemen and often

found amongst Border officials. They

conducted a bitter feud with the Elliots of

Liddesdale.

Forster (Forrester, Foster): Mostly

English. The Scottish Forsters

intermarried with English. English

Forsters were allied with the Humes.

Notable names: Sir John Forster, Red

Rowry, Rowrys Will.

Graham: Mostly English, but ready to

be on either side. Originally Scottish.

Next to the Armstrongs, the Grahams

were probably the most troublesome

family on the frontier. Their dual

allegiances caused confusion. At one

time the most numerous family on the

West Border, with 500 riders in 13

towers in 1552, they were savagelypersecuted in the reign of James VI and I.

Notable names: Richie of Brackenhill,

Jock of the Peartree, Wills Jock and

many more.

Hall: English and Scottish. At one time

the most powerful family in Redesdale

they were hated and feared on both sides.

In 1598 in an incident the Scottish Halls

and the Rutherfords were allegedly

singled out by English officers as two

surnames to whom no quarter should begiven.

Hume (Home): Scottish. The Humes

achieved one extraordinary distinction as

the only frontier family who would claim

continuous domination in their own

March. They usually held the Scottish

East Wardenship, and although

frequently in trouble with the Crown they

never lost their eminence and influence.

Irvine: Scottish. Contributed much to

the general disorder despite their smallnumbers. Notable name: Willie Kang

Johnstone (Johnston, Johnstoun):

Scottish, but possibly of English origin.

Powerful reivers and also frequent

Wardens. Their feud with the Maxwells

was the longest and bloodiest in Border

history.

Kerr (Ker, Carr, Carre): Scottish. The

Kerrs were (with the Scotts) the leading

tribe of the Scottish Middle March andfrequently were Wardens of such. No

family was more active in reiving.

Maxwell: Scottish. The strongest family

in the Scottish West March until the

Johnstones reduced their power in the

16th century. Maxwells were often

wardens.

Musgrave: A powerful Cumberland

family with a long record of Border

service as March officials. Fraser

believes they used their official position

to cover their raiding activities. The

family kept up a three-century feud with

their fellow Cambrians, the Dacres.

Notable Musgraves include Thomas

Musgrave, Captain of Bewcastle.

Nixon: A family from both sides of the

Border, described as having many loose

men. Notable members included

Fingerless Will Nixon, Archie of the

Steile, and Ill-drowned Geordie.

Robson: A wight riding sirname, the

leading family in Tynedale and describedby Fraser as highly troublesome. In

alliance with the Charltons, Dodds, and

Milburns.

Scott: Scottish. One of the most

powerful families in the whole Border,

both as reivers and as officers. Notable

names: Walter Scott of Buccleuch, his

grandson known variously as the Bold

Buccleuch, Gods Curse, etc.), Walter

Scott (Auld Wat) of Haren.

Other lesser reiver family surnames, by

March:

East March:

Scotland: Trotter, Dixon, Bromfield,

Craw, Cranston.

England: Selby, Gray, Dunne

Middle March

Scotland: Young, Pringle, Davison,

Gilchrist, Tait, Oliver, Turnbull

(Trumble), Rutherford, Douglas,

Laidlaw, Turner, Henderson.England: Ogle, Heron, Witherington

(Woodrington), Medford, Collingwood,

Carnaby, Shaftoe, Ridley, Anderson,

Potts, Read, Hedley, Dodd, Milburn,

Yarrow, Stapleton, Stokoe, Stamper,

Wilkinson, Hunter, Thomson, Jamieson

West March

Scotland: Carlisle, Beattie (Baty,

Batisoun), Little Carruthers,

Glendenning, Moffat.

England: Lowther, Curwen, Salkeld,Dacre, Harden, Hodgson, Routledge,

Tailor, Noble.

The Reiver

The Border reivers evolved during 300

years of raiding and feuding, into expert

light horsemen, skilled in raiding,

scouting, ambush and skirmishing. They

were cursed in both countries as "evell

disposed personnes, Inclined to wildness

and disorder", but occasionally hailed

as "fine soldiers, able with horse and

harness, nimble, wile and always in

readiness for any service". Though

despised in peace time, the Reivers

were eagerly recruited by their

respective governments in time of war.

A reiver's choice of weapons, clothing

and horses allowed him to move with

speed as befitted his role. Great

importance was placed on a reiver's

mount. They chose horses for agility and

stamina. The horses were shaggy littleponies, but very sure footed and did not

have to be shod. In Scotland this pony

was called a galloway and in

Northumberland a nagg or a bog trotter.

Most reivers preferred a jack or 'jak' of

plate to heavy armour. This was

sleeveless and sometimes worn over a

shirt of mail and was two or three layers

of quilted cloth with small iron plates

overlapping each other stitched between

the layers of cloth. There was no legarmour but thigh-high thick leather

riding boots worn with spurs. In the early

1500s helmets were worn for protection

of the upper part of the face and neck. In

the 16th century, these were replaced

with light, open helmets called burgonets

-- the steel bonnets. These provided

protection without a loss of vision. They

were peaked on top with protective cheek

plates and a flared rim to protect the

neck. They were padded inside with

leather.


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The lance or the lang spear was the

most common weapon and was about 8

to 12 feet in length. Basket hilted broad

swords were predominantly used among

the less wealthy at the end of the 16th

century. The nobility wore rapiers and

parrying daggers. Dirks, which were

long narrow daggers, were carried by

everyone, including the clergy.

Longbows and arrows were used even as

late as 1580. The Scots also used the bowbut preferred a small light crossbow

known as the latch. Hand held firearms

were not unknown but the greater rate of

shooting kept the bow in use long after it

had become unfashionable elsewhere.

Pistols were carried by the Borderers but

they were heavy and not particularly

accurate unless at very close range.

The Raiding

Reiving, raiding for cattle and sheep, and

whatever else could be transported,

became an established way of life.

Reiving was not confined to cross border

targets. Indeed the borderers had a much

closer allegiance to their family than to

their country. Raids were made, not in

the name of Scotland or England, but in

the name of their family or clan.

Although reiving was carried on

throughout the year, most activity

occurred from Lammas (1st August) to

Candlemas (2nd February). The harvesthad been gathered and the beasts,

including the horses were well fed and in

their prime. Long hours of darkness

provided ample cover, and at this time

the courts were in recess giving the

raiders a good chance of escaping

detection and retribution until the courts

reconvened months later.

The size of the raid determined how

many men would ride. Some of the raids

would consist of a large group of menand could last for days. Smaller raids

might be a quick moonlight ride, a quick

plunder and disappear back to their

homes. The larger raids were called

'outragious forradging.' Whether the raid

was a full scale invasion for political

reasons or a raid against a single

farmhouse the principle was the same. A

raider plotted his time, route and

objective and was ready to fight or trick

his way out. The Reivers objective was

always to plunder, with destruction if

necessary, and to get home with his loot,

and skin, intact.

Walter Scott of Buccleuch was a Scottish

laird who was especially ruthless in his

raids. He is immortalized as the Bold

Buccleuch in border ballads and rescued

Kinmont Willie Armstrong from Carlisle

Castle. He was raised on the Border so

had grown up with the way of life of a

Borderer. An example of one of his raids

shows that he had 120 horsemen with

him when he raided the home of WillieRowtledge. He took 40 kye (cows) and

oxen, 20 horses and mares and also laid

an ambush to slay the soldiers and any

others who might follow him. They were

pursued and slew a Mr. Rowden, several

others, including soldiers, and maimed

many others. They drove off twelve more

horses and mares. This incident was

perfectly executed and combined all the

elements which were essential to a

successful raid: a carefully chosen target:

trusted companions who were wellarmed and in sufficient numbers,

surprise, and the sense to anticipate

pursuit and a plan to deal with it.

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Although a way of life, reiving was a

risky business The towns were secure

and well defended, local watches were

formed, and cattle and livestock were

brought in at night. Roads and passes

which were known to be escape routes

for the reivers were patrolled by wardens'

troopers and angry locals, often

themselves as skilled as the reivers.

Sometimes the troopers would chain

bridges against the Reivers who would

then be forced to ford rivers, which were

also guarded day and night.

The Reivers were most vulnerable when

returning home from a foray. They were

laden with booty and driving large

numbers of cattle and sheep. This

seriously slowed them down. The return

had to be as carefully planned as the raid

itself. They were reluctant to return the

way they had come. Since there were forexample over 40 passes through the

Cheviots into the English Middle March

alone this was practicable if they could

avoid a close pursuit.

Hot Trod

'Hot Trod' was the hot pursuit of reivers

heading for home after a raid, and was

allowed under the Border laws. It

allowed for the ones who had been

'spoyled' to mount a pursuit within sixdays of the raid and to cross the border, if

necessary, to follow the raiders for the

recovery of their goods. It was the duty

of all neighbours between the ages of 16

and 60 to join the Trod. A piece of

burning turf was held aloft on a spear

point to summon assistance and let

people know the pursuit was legal. The

group in pursuit had the right to recruit

help from the first town it came to. Often

a Hot Trod would be ably assisted by a

pack of hunting dogs, the marvellously

named sleuth hounds.

Strongholds & fortified houses

As a direct result of the constant threat of

attack, fortified stone dwellings appeared

across the Border region.

The tower house was the home to a

Border lord, whilst the bastle provided

secure shelter to less wealthy gentlemen

and richer farmers. Both types of

building were exceptionally strong -indeed many still stand today.

Tower houses were built of stone and

mortar, with often only a single entrance

door and narrow shot hole windows.

Access to the house was via a series of

two doors on the ground floor. The first

door would be stout, studded oak and the

second an iron grill, known as a yett.

Bastles were two storey rectangular

stone buildings with steep pitched roofs.Entrance was via a removable ladder

which led to a door high up on the bastle

wall.

As reivers did not posses artillery pieces,

towers and bastles were largely secure

against raids. When they did fall it was

due to reivers either climbing up upon

the roof and breaking in or by

scumfishing - breaking into the ground

floor, heaping sodden straw into the

doorway, setting it alight and smoking

out the defenders.

The End of the Reivers

When James VI became James I of

England in 1603 he wanted to make the

two countries one united Kingdom. The

border thus had to be pacified. In the first

few weeks after Elizabeth's death, the

border was the scene of raiding, looting,

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burning and taking revenge. James sent a

strong military force to the borders to

deal with the havoc so that his entry into

England would not be marred. The

raiders were chased back to their

strongholds, some of which were

destroyed. He renamed the Borders the

Middle Shires. To further accomplish his

goal, he disbanded the warden system

and the March laws.

James set up a commission of ten men,

five from each side of the border to

administer his policies for pacification of

the borders. They were given unlimited

powers. The Border laws were abolished

and it was proclaimed that "if any

Englishman steal in Scotland or any

Scotsman steal in England any goods or

cattle which amount to 12 pence, he shall

be punished by death." The most serious

offenders were rounded up and servedwith what was known as Jeddert Justice -

which was immediate execution without

trial. Sir George Home was one of the

men appointed and he was ruthless,

hanging 140 of the most powerful thieves

in all the borders. Reivers had endured

such purges in the past but this time the

border headmen joined in the

proceedings against their own kinsmen.

Buccleuch himself hanged and drowned

in murder holes his companions and

sent many in exile to the Belgic wars.

Naturally, the reiving families bitterly

resented the Commission. With disregard

to the royal orders issued, the

Armstrongs and Elliots mounted a raid

on Redesdale. Because of this they were

singled out for exile to Ireland where

they were forced to eek out a living on

the moors and bogs. One hundred and

fifty Grahams were pressed into military

service in the Low Countries. Tynedaleand Redesdale families were conscripted

for service in Ireland and 120 sent to

fight in the Bohemian Wars. They were

told that the death penalty awaited any

who tried to return to their homes. These

measures were effective in breaking the

families

Although family kinships were broken,

and owning a horse or weapons

forbidden, traditions of reiving and

feuding were alive to the Restoration in

1660. Eventually, however, this began to

dwindle for there were fewer places for

the reiver to hide or to seek sanctuary

from the now-unified government. The

border economy improved and common

people became averse to giving support

to the reiving families. The union of the

English and Scottish monarchy ended the

tolerance that the wild borders had

enjoyed and the wilder spirits in the

borders turned to a more regularprofession of arms. The reivers died out.

Bibliography

George MacDonald Fraser: The Steel Bonnets, London, Barrie & Jenkins, 1971

Keith Durham & Angus McBride: The Border Reivers, London, Osprey, 1995

Thomas Rae: The administration of the Scottish frontier 1513-1603, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press 1966

Cynthia J Neville: Violence, custom and law, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1998

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