Clothing of Border Reiver Men and Women
Clothing - Reiver Women Clothing in the mid and late 16th century had become not only functional but highly fashionable. Clothing was expensive and so the same outfit had to suffice for work and for…
Clothing armour weapons of Border Reivers
Clothing armour weapons of Border Reivers Clothing The inventory for Ewanrigg Hall in 1585 shows the relative value of clothing; a leather jacket had the same value as much as the best horse of a…
Reiver Truce Days and Locations
Reiver Days of Truce and Locations The Wardens of opposing Marches agreed upon a day and place of meeting usually on the frontier but sometimes elsewhere. In the west, Dumfries and Carlisle were convenient venues,…
Reiver Routes
Reiving Routes The following text is from text in the Callendar of Border Papers and dates from the 16th century. It gives an impression of the routes that Reivers may have taken on their raids…
Beacons Bells and Watchers
Watching the Border Beacons, Bells and Watchers England and Scotland were afraid of invasion from each other. Both countries were also troubled by raiding Reivers who would steal goods, kill or abduct people and destroy…
Reiver Weapons
Reiver demonstrating how a Main Gauche Dagger can be used in defence The Reivers were rural workers who occasionally committed acts of great violence. They were not wealthy nor were they well-educated. Their weapons had…
Complaints of Losses from Reiver Raiders
Record of Theft, Damage, Injury and Cost of Raids by Reivers These are some of the complaints made by victims of raids by Scottish and English Reivers at the end of the 16th century. The…
Rules to Protect Carlisle from Scots
Rules to Defend Border Towns - Carlisle Scotland and England feared theft and invasion from each other. Towns were where the wealth resided, thus invaders and thieves sought to strip towns of their valuables. Towns…
Passport for English Man in Scotland
Permission to Pass in Scotland's Middle March A copy of a letter allowing an Englishman to pass through the Middle March of Scotland. Each town in Scotland had its legal representations recorded in a protocol…
Battle of Solway Moss 1542
Solway Moss, The Battle Of, 1542 The Battle of Solway Moss, 1542; Thomas Wharton's “prickers” rout the Scots Painting of The Battle of Solway Moss, by Rick Scollins, c.1986. The illustrator Richard Scollins specialised in…
Battle of Otterburn with Harry Hotspur
Harry Hotspur At The Battle of Otterburn Harry Hotspur or Henry Percy at The Battle of Otterburn Henry Percy or “Hotspur” played a prominent part in Border warfare in the late 14th and early 15th…
Battle of Flodden Field 1513 “False Borderers”
Flodden Field, 1513 “False Borderers” Flodden Field, Battlefield 1513, Branxton, Northumberland and the behaviour of the borderers Flodden was fought on 9th September 1513 and was a disaster for Scotland. As night fell over the…
Battle of Dryfe Sands
The Battle Of Dryfe Sands The Battle of Dryfe Sands, 1593, Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire The Battle of Dryfe Sands, fought on 6 December 1593, was the culmination of the famous and long standing deadly feud between…
Battle of Ancrum Moor
Ancrum Moor Battlefield The Battle of Ancrum Moor was fought on the 17th February 1545 between a motley English force under Sir Ralph Eure and Sir Brian Layton and a smaller but well-led Scottish force…
