Extensive Definition
Border Reivers were raiders
along the Anglo-Scottish border
(Border
country), for nearly three hundred years from the late 13th century
to the end of the 16th
century, although their heyday was perhaps in the last hundred
years of their existence.
Background
England and Scotland were frequently at war during the late Middle Ages. During these wars, the livelihood of the people on the borders was devastated by the contending armies. Even when the countries were not at war, tension remained high, and royal authority in one or other Kingdom was often weak.The uncertainty of existence meant that
communities or peoples kindred to each other would seek security
through their own strength and cunning, and improve their
livelihoods at their nominal enemies' expense. Loyalty to a feeble
or distant monarch and reliance on the effectiveness of the law
usually made people a target for depredations rather than
conferring any security.
Another factor which promoted a predatory mode of
living was that much of the border region is mountainous or open
moorland, unsuitable for arable farming but good for grazing.
Livestock was easily rustled and driven back to raiders' territory
by mounted reivers who knew the country well. (The raiders also
often removed "insight", easily portable household goods or
valuables).
The attitudes of the English and Scottish
governments towards the Border clans alternated between indulgence,
as these fierce families served as the first line of defence
against invasion from the other side of the Border, and draconian
and indiscriminate punishment when the Borderers' lawlessness
became intolerable to the authorities.
The popular story handed down within Reiver
families is that from earliest times, Reivers would visit the
homesteads prior to wars or invasions and remove the cattle and
items of value to a place of safety. Lords and Wardens unable to
guarantee their masters' supply lines would claim wrongdoing by
ruffians and broken men. It is easy to conjecture that this
attitude of defiance to authority would grow into outright
lawlessness.
Nature
The reivers were both English and Scottish and raided both sides of the border impartially, so long as the people they hit had no powerful protectors and no connection to their own kin. Their activities, although usually within a day's ride of the Border, extended both north and south of their main haunts. English raiders were reported to have hit the outskirts of Edinburgh, and Scottish raids were known as far south as Yorkshire. The main raiding season ran through the winter months, when the nights were longest and the cattle and horses fat from having spent the summer grazing.The inhabitants had to live in a state of
constant alert, and for self-protection, they built fortified
tower
houses, such as the bastle
houses and Peel towers
which are characteristic of this area and period. Smailholm
is one of many surviving Peel towers.
When raiding, or riding, as it was termed, the
Reivers rode light on hardy nags or ponies renowned for the ability
to pick their way over the boggy moss lands. The original dress of
a shepherd's
plaid was later replaced by light armour such as Brigandines or
jacks
of plaite (a type of sleeveless doublet into which small plates
of steel were stitched), and a metal helmet such as a burgonet or morion;
hence their nickname of the steel bonnets. They were armed with a
lance and small shield, and sometimes also with a longbow, or a light crossbow known as a "latch", or
later on in their history with one or more pistols. They invariably
also carried a sword and
dirk.
Borders horse
As soldiers, the Border Reivers were considered among the finest light cavalry in all of Europe. After meeting one Reiver (the Bold Buccleugh), Queen Elizabeth I is quoted as having said that "with ten thousand such men, James (VI) could shake any throne in Europe." Many Reivers served as mercenaries, or were forced to serve in English and Scots armies in the Low Countries and in Ireland; such service was often handed down as a penalty in lieu of that of death upon their families.Reivers fighting as levied soldiers played
important parts at the battles of Flodden
Field and Solway
Moss. When fighting as part of larger English or Scottish
armies, borderers were difficult to control. They frequently
plundered for their own benefit instead of obeying orders, and
there were always questions about how loyal they were. At battles
such as Ancrum
Moor in Scotland in 1545, borderers
changed sides in mid-battle, to curry favour with the likely
victors.
Many Borderers had relatives on each side of the
line, despite laws forbidding international marriage, and could
claim to be of either nationality, describing themselves as English
if forced, Scottish at will and a Reiver by grace of blood. At the
Battle
of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547, an observer noticed that the Scottish
and English borderers were talking to each other in the midst of
battle, and on being spotted put on a show of fighting.
Law and order
During periods of nominal peace, a special body of customary law, known as Border Law, grew up to deal with the situation. Under Border Law, a person who had been raided had the right to mount a counter-raid within six days, even across the border, to recover his goods. This Hot Trod had to proceed with "hew and cry, hound and horne", making a racket and openly announcing their purpose to distinguish themselves from unlawful raiders proceeding covertly. Any person meeting this counter-raid was required to ride along and offer such help as he could, on pain of being considered complicit with the raiders. The Cold Trod mounted after six days required official sanction.Both Borders were divided into "Marches",
each under a "March Warden". The respective kingdoms' March Wardens
would meet at appointed times along the border itself to settle
claims against people on their side of the border by people from
the other kingdom. These occasions, known as "Days of Truce," were
much like fairs, with entertainment and much socializing. For many
Reivers it was an opportunity to meet (lawfully) with relatives or
friends normally separated by the border.
March Wardens (and the lesser officers such as
"Keepers" of fortified places) were rarely effective at maintaining
the law. The Scottish Wardens were usually borderers themselves,
and were complicit in riding. They almost invariably showed favour
to their own kindred, which caused jealousy and even hatred among
other Scottish border families. Many English officers were from
southern counties in England and could not often command the
loyalty or respect of their locally-recruited subordinates or the
local population. Some local officers such as Sir John Forster, who
was Warden of the Middle March for almost 35 years, became quite as
well known for venality as some of his most notorious Scottish
counterparts.
By the death of Elizabeth
I of England, things had come to such a pitch along the Border
that the English government considered re-fortifying and rebuilding
Hadrian's
Wall. Upon his accession to the English throne, James
VI of Scotland (who became James I of England) moved hard
against the reivers, abolishing Border Law and the very term
"Borders" in favor of "Middle Shires," and dealing
out stern justice to many known Reivers.
Border 'Names' and Clan status
Border society was structured into "Riding Surnames" and the "Graynes" thereof. This can be equated to the system of the Highland Clans and their septs. e.g. Clan Donald and Clan MacDonald of Sleat, can be compared with the Scotts of Buccleuch and the Scotts of Harden and elsewhere. Both Border Graynes and Highland septs however, had the essential feature of patriarchal leadership by the chief of the name, and had territories in which a majority of their kindred lived. Border families did practice some customs similar to those of the Gaels, such as tutorship when an heir who was a minor succeeded to the chiefship, and giving bonds of manrent. Although feudalism existed, tribal loyalty was much more important and this is what distinguished the Borderers from other lowland Scots.Relationships between the Border families varied
from uneasy alliance to open "deadly feud". It took little to start
a feud; a chance quarrel or misuse of office was sufficient. Feuds
might continue for years until patched up in the face of invasion
from the other kingdoms, or when the outbreak of other feuds caused
alliances to shift. The border was easily destabilised if Graynes
from opposite sides of the border were at feud. Feuds also provided
ready excuse for particularly murderous raids or pursuits.
In 1587 the Parliament of Scotland passed a
statute: “For the quieting and keping in obiedince of the
disorderit subjectis inhabitantis of the borders hielands and
Ilis.” Attached to the statute was a Roll of surnames from both the
Borders and Highlands. The Borders portion listed the 17 Graynes
with a Chief and their associated Marches: MIDDLE MARCH: Elliot,
Armstrong, Nixon, Crosier WEST MARCH: Scott, Bates, Little,
Thomson, Glendenning, Irving, Bell, Carruthers, Graham, Johnstone,
Jardine, Moffett and Latimer.
Of the Border Graynes listed on this roll,
Elliot, Armstrong, Scott, Little, Irving, Bell, Graham, Johnstone,
Jardine and Moffett are registered with the Court of Lord Lyon in
Edinburgh as Scottish Clans.
Aftermath
Long after they were gone, the reivers were romanticized by writers such as Sir Walter Scott (Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border), although he got some things wrong; the term Moss-trooper more correctly refers to one of the robbers that existed after the real Reivers had been put down. Nevertheless, Scott was a native of the borders, writing down histories which had been passed on in folk tradition or ballad. The stories of legendary border reivers like Kinmont Willie Armstrong were often retold in folk-song as Border ballads. There are also local legends, such as the "Dish of Spurs" which would be served to a border chieftain of the Charltons to remind him that the larder was empty and it was time to acquire some more plunder.Scottish author Nigel
Tranter revisited many of these themes in his historical and
contemporary novels.
Hawick in Scotland
holds an annual Reivers' festival as do the Schomberg Society in
Kilkeel, Northern Ireland (the two often co-operate). The summer
festival in the Borders town of Duns is headed by the "Reiver" and
"Reiver's Lass", a young man and young woman elected from the
inhabitants of the town and surrounding area. The Ulster-Scots
Agency's first two leaflets from the ‘Scots Legacy’ series feature
the story of the historic Ulster tartan and the origins of the kilt
and the Border Reivers.
Many Borderers (particularly those banished by
James
I of England) took part in the plantation
of Ulster becoming the people known as Ulster-Scots
(Scots-Irish in
America). Reiver descendants can be found throughout Ulster with
names such as Elliot, Armstrong, Beattie, Bell, Hume and Heron,
Rutledge, and Turnbulls amongst others.
Author George
MacDonald Fraser wryly observed or imagined several border
traits and names among controversial people in modern American
history; Presidents Lyndon B.
Johnson and Richard
Nixon, among others. It is also noted that a descendent of the
Borderers, Neil
Armstrong, was one of the first people to land on the moon in
1969, accompanied by Buzz Aldrin.
In 1970, Mr. Armstrong visited the town of Langholm, home of
his ancestors
References
- Durham, Keith; McBride, Angus. The Border Reivers: The story of the Anglo-Scottish borderlands, 1995, Osprey Publishing, ISBN 1-85532-417-2
- MacDonald Fraser, George The Steel Bonnets, 1971. HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-272746-3
- Carey, Robert The Stirring World of Robert Carey, Robert Carey's Memoirs 1577-1625. RippingYarns.com ISBN 1-904466-29-X
- Janni Howker. "Martin Farrell", 1997, Red Fox, ISBN-10: 0099181614 & ISBN-13: 978-0099181613
- Turnbull, Rob. "The Border Reivers: A stain on the image of Tudor England", Medieval History Magazine, Issue 4, December 2003
- Great Britain III Acts of the Parliamant of Scotland pp.466-7 (1587)
External links
reiver in Italian: Border
Reivers