The Border
Region
Is that part of Britain which straddles
the frontier (yes, I said frontier. It's more far more than a mere
border) between Scotland and England. In geographical terms it is a
hilly upland plateau bisected by river valleys, but that doesn't tell
the full story, it also comprises some of the bleakest, most
dangerous and yet beautiful terrain in Britain (if not Europe). While
it provides good grazing, there isn't much arable land but what there
is, is good. There are also mosses (impenetrable boggy areas which
can be traversed with local knowledge) and wastes. A waste, in this
context is an area of trackless hilly ground which contains
absolutely no recognisable landmarks – if you aren't a local, you
need a native guide – preferably one who has a compass, a map and
the ability to use them.
The Marches
The frontier between Scotland and
England was divided into six “administrative” (in quotation marks
as that is the easiest way to describe it) districts called Marches,
three in each country. From the west these were the Scottish West
March, Middle March and East March. The English Marches were named in
the same way. The inhabitants of these areas were, due to the
oft-repeated invasions aimed at expanding the influence of the
English monarchy, and the subsequent Scottish retaliatory raids into
England, pretty much nomadic herdsmen. This was due to the scorched
earth tactics favoured by the Scots and the English habit of living
off the land (as long as its somebody else's). Due to these tactics
the Borderers had little or no chance to raise crops.
The frontier was originally put in
place by the Romans when they realised they had bitten off more than
they could chew (or, more likely, had decided it would be cheaper to
build a wall than keep fighting the Caledonians). However, by
building the wall they inadvertently invented a technique which has
since been used by all western empires (including the USA). Namely,
they (in effect) drew a line on a map – only in this case the line
was Hadrians Wall. What happened when they erected the wall was that
they split tribal groups and families. The wall was built on
territory belonging to the Selgovae in the west and the Votadini in
the east, but there were Selgovae, Votadini and Brigantes on both
sides of the wall. This may, at some level have some bearing on the
origins of the Reivers.
Debatable Lands
A significant chunk of the Western
Marches was known as “The Debatable Land”. This is pretty much
common knowledge, but what was the reasoning behind this name? Was it
because both countries claimed it? Or was it because neither country
wanted it? This last suggestion calls to mind a sort of
pass-the-parcel scenario:- (“It's yours, take it. Please.” ~~“
Oh no, we couldn't. It yours, please we insist.”). Charming idea,
but wrong. The Debatable Land got it's name because neither Scotland
or England could control the inhabitants, most of whom had only a
passing acquaintance with any form of legality.
The Debatale Land (or lands, depending
the source used) was an area of approximately 40 square miles which
encompassed part of both the English and Scottish West Marches.
Inhabited in the nominally Scottish side by Armstrongs, Elliots,
Irvines, Beatties and Robsons . The English part of the Debatable
Lands was mostly occupied by the Surnames of Graham, Hetherington,
Storey, Scrope and Robson (yes, Robson, I KNOW, deal with it).
The Riding Families
This is a partial
list of the main “Riding Names” on both sides. Some of them
appear in both Scotland and England, where this is so, their primary
loyalty was not to the country in which they presently lived (except
when it was – temporarily of course), even if they had been born
there, but to their name and kinship group. Alternate spellings given
in brackets.
Scotland:
Armstrong (Armstrang), Burn, Croser (Crozier, Crosar), Elliot
(there are innumerable ways to spell this one, commonest are
probably: Eliot, Elliot, Eliott),
Hume (Home), Irvine, Johnstone, Kerr (Ker, Carr), Maxwell, Scott. And
many others.
England: Charlton
(Carleton), Fenwick, Hetherington, Musgrave, Robson, Storey. And many
others.
Both: Bell,
Graham (Graeme), Hall, Nixon (Nixoun), And many others – I've only
listed the most famous (notorious?) of the Riding Families – there
are a helluva lot more.
The various (and
many) feuds and alliances between the Riding Families could support a
good many doctoral theses, but its highly unlikely that any one
person will manage to identify all the pertinent influences. So I'm
not even going to try – I'm just going to outline a few of the
better known ones and wait for the howls of disbelief....
The Kers of
Ferniehurst and the Kerrs of Cessford, though sharing a Surname, were
at feud with each other. The Kerrs – all of them – were at feud
with the Scotts (all of them) in a dispute which had been started by
an Elliot. Unusually, all Scots this time.
The Grahams, some
of whom were Scottish and of whom weren't, were, in 1582 feuding with
Irvines, Bells and Maxwells. However, a year later, they were allied
with the Irvines against the Musgraves. The Armstrongs joined in
against the Musgraves, while still in feud with the Robsons and the
Taylors (who were allied with the Elliots against the Forsters who
were allied with the Humes).
Looking at the
supposed national allegiances in this dispute is quite educational:-
Grahams (mainly English), allied with Irvines (Scottish) whom they
had been killing the year before against the Musgraves (English) with
the help of the Armstrongs (mainly Scottish) who were, at the same
time conducting vendettas against the Robsons (mainly English),
Taylors (English), Bells (English) and Johnstones (Scottish).
Confused yet? That was just the obvious part of it – I haven't
mentioned the marriage and family ties which existed within these
feuding families. I'll just say that Musgraves, Armstrongs and
Johnstones tended to marry each other, but all the surnames were at
it.
The feud between
the Maxwells (Scottish) and Johnstones (Scottish) was probably the
virulent and bloodthirsty tribal war in British history. This feud
culminated in the Battle of Dryfe Sands in 1593. In this battle
approximately 2000 Maxwells (and allies) fought about 400 Johnstones.
The Johnstones won the battle, while the Maxwells lost around 700.
the battle is notable for being where Robert Johnstone of Raecleugh
“bloodied his lance” - he had attained the advanced age of 11 at
the time...
Unfortunately for
the Johnstones, the Maxwells had the Kings warrant.
MacDonalds and
Campbells? - Forget it.
Hatfields and
McCoys? - Mere amateurs.
------------- For money you did what guns could not do.........
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