- Feed Preview Border Reivers from the 13th to the 17th centuries.
Border Reivers- Animosity-between-Buccleuch-and-Scrope-
In April 1596 Sir Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch rescued from Carlisle Castle Kinmont Willie Armstrong.Armstrong was top of the English most wanted list for decades because of his rele...
Border-Reivers-The-Scottish-Border-Clans-Bond-against-Liddesdale
In 1569 the clans of Berwick, Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles pledged themselves to repel and disown the clans of Liddesdale. The regent of Scotland, Moray, suggested that they should unite their ...
Border-Reivers-Sir-Richard-Lowther
Richard Lowther was born about 1530. His date of birth is often given as 1529,1530 or 1532. He died in 1607 and is interred in the Lowther Church Mausoleum in what is now Lowther Park near Pen...
Border-Reivers-Thomas-Salkeld-Deputy English-West-March-Warden
. Thomas Salkeld was Deputy Warden of the English West March, second in command to Thomas Lord Scrope. He presided for the English at a ‘Day of Truce’ held at the Dayholme of Cressope (...
https://wwwborderreiverstories-neblessclem.blogspot.com/2017/04/border-reivers-thomas-salkeld.html
Border-Reivers-Aftermath-of-the-Rescue-of-Kinmont-Willie
In mid April 1596,in a daring and unprecedented raid on Carlisle castle, Kinmont Willie Armstrong , the most formidable of the Scottish Border Reivers, was rescued by a small party of Reivers wh...
Border-Reivers-the-Raid-on-Kilham-Northumberland
Kilham is a hamlet in Northumberland about seventeen miles south west of Berwick. It is also only twelve miles east of Kelso, so not far from Scottish Border country. It has a population of abou...
https://wwwborderreiverstories-neblessclem.blogspot.com/2016/12/border-reivers-raid-on-kilham.html
Border-Reivers-Thomas-Carleton-Corrupt-English-Official
Border-Reivers-Thomas-Carleton-Corrupt-Border-Official. Thomas Carleton was an educated man. He was from an old and influential English family whose ve...
Border Reivers-the Raid on Haydon Bridge, Tynedale, Northumberland
The raids of the Border Reivers intensified after the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots in February 1587. Mary was the mother of the Scottish king, James V1. He had been king since 1567 when his ...
Border-Reivers-Sir-John-Forster
Sir John Forster was born in Northumberland, England, sometime between 1500 and 1523. By 1542 he was commander of Harbottle castle, a strategic stronghold in the English Middle March. He fought...
https://wwwborderreiverstories-neblessclem.blogspot.com/2016/01/border-reivers-sir-john-forster.html
Border-Reivers-Buccleuch's-Raid-on-Carlisle-Castle
Walter Scott was born in 1565. His ancestral home was Branxholme in Teviotdale. Today one of the four original towers of Branxholme still stands, the Nesby tower, about five miles south of Hawic...
Border-Reivers-Kinmont-Willie-Armstrong-The-War-of-Words
In March 1596 a Day of Truce was held at the Dayholm of Kershope. it was traditional that the Truce was witnessed by both Scottish and English members of the Border clans and families. Their rol...
Border- Reivers-Kinmont- Willie-Capture-at-the-River-Liddel
The Border Reivers held sway in the Borderlands of England and Scotland for almost three centuries. To 'reive' is to thieve but the theft inevitably led to feud between the clans and families on...
Border-Reivers-The-Border-Laws-of-Medieval-England-and-Scotland
The Border Laws of England and Scotland were unique in British history. Indeed there is a sound argument in stating that at no other time or place in history has such an innovative attempt ever ...
Border-Reivers-The-Border-Line-The-West-Marches
In late medieval and early modern times, up to the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1603,the lands on each side of the Border were divided into six administrative districts; three ...
Border-Reivers-The-Border-Line-James-Logan-Mack
The Border Line between England and Scotland was, for centuries, a cause of great contention and confrontation between the clans and families who inhabited the lands to the north and south of it...
Border-Reivers-Who-were-They
Who were the Border Reivers? Why did they hold sway in the English Scottish Border lands for over three centuries? Why was it that neither authority could bring them to heel? The reasons are comp...
https://wwwborderreiverstories-neblessclem.blogspot.com/2015/03/who-were-border-reivers.html
Border-Reivers-the-Battle-of-Melrose
In 1526 James V of Scotland was but a fourteen year old lad with a growing awareness that it was time that he should be the power in Scotland and not subject to the avarice of his lords and the ...
Border-Reivers-More-Notes-on-the-End-of-the-Maxwell-Johnstone-Feud
Border-Reivers-at-Hollows-Tower In three different posts I have written about the Maxwell-Johnstone feud which lasted for most of the 16th century and beyond. I have written how the feud d...
Border-Reivers-Religion-and-the-Lack-of-It
The Border Reivers had very little interest in religion. Throughout most of the three hundred years in which they rode the hills and vales on both sides of the English Scottish Border country ro...
Border-Reivers-the-First-International-Football-Match
One of the main pastimes of the Border Reivers was football. They did not need to practice archery or learn dexterity with the long lance or sword. Such skills were honed from a young age in the...
Border-Reivers-the-Fray-of-Haltwhistle-and-the-Raid-of-Robert-Carey
'The first thing they did was the taking of Hartwessel, and carrying away prisoners and all their goods. I sent to seek justice for so great a wrong. The opposite officer sent me word it was not ...
Border-Reivers-Holy-Cross-Church-and-the-Bastle-Houses-of-Haltwhistle
Four years ago I went to an open day at Holy Cross church in Haltwhistle. Holy Cross is an early 13th century church which was renovated in the late 19th. It is a wonderful site in a beautiful s...
Border-Reivers-Geography-and-Population
Anyone who walks the Border country today will be impressed by its overall beauty. The rivers of Esk, Tweed and Liddel wend their ways through the valley bottoms which house lush pasture and str...
Border-Reivers-Their-Names-Meant-Everything
The Border folk of Scotland and England, on both sides of the political frontier agreed between Henry 111 of England and Alexander 11 of Scotland in 1237, are often seen as misguided in clinging ...