This is the story of the border: a place of beginnings and endings, of differences and similarities. It is the story of England and Scotland, told not from the remoteness of London or Edinburgh or in the tired terms of national histories, but up close and personal, toe to toe and eyeball to eyeball across […]
George MacDonald Fraser uses his knowledge of the Border Reivers to create a number of enthralling novels set against the backdrop of the turbulent borders. To the young Lady Margaret Dacre, raised in the rich security of Queen Elizabeth’s court, the Scottish border was a land of blood and brutal violence, where raid and murder […]
This books gives a useful insight in the wars that were crossing the borders that the Reiver families lived in. For three hundred years England and Scotland fought a bitter series of wars for territorial enlargement. Border Fury provides a fascinating account of the period of Anglo-Scottish Border conflict from the Edwardian invasions of 1296 […]
The Border Country has always been a wild area, both in landscape and in history. It has seen many years of war and turmoil, but is an area of great beauty and has the capacity to imprint its unique charisma on every visitor. It is a fascinating and romantic area and yet the stories of […]
A Short History of Scotland is a consise introduction to the history of Scotland from Roman times to the last Jacobite rebellion, written by the author of a much longer Scottish history. (Summary by Sibella Denton.) While the book is dated it will give a general background to the historical context that the reiving families found themselves in […]
The Tales of Derwentdale by J W Fawcett was published in 1902 and is a collection of stories 1st published in the Consett Guardian in 1901. The book is clearly the inspiration behind a folk album by John Thorpe and the Michael Kelly which shares the same name and gives verse to many of the […]
The Reivers view of religion was the result of a number of factors. To begin with the church had little presence on the border. Due to the state of the border there were few members of the clergy who would wish to take up residence and the challenge of converting cattle rustlers, theifs and murderers.
In the year 1296, Edward I of England launched a series of vicious raids across the Anglo-Scottish Border in his attempt to annexe Scotland. The Scots retaliated and the two countries were plunged into 300 years of war in which the Borderland became the frontline and raiding, or ‘reiving,’ encouraged by both sides, became a […]
The one indisputable fact concerning the Border Reivers was their supreme ability in the art of theft and guerilla warfare. A lifestyle which required specialist equipment. The fully equipped Reiver represented an elite light cavalryman, capable of navigating rough terrain at night with practiced stealth, and when required implementing deadly force.
This is a stretch of land measuring, at the longest, 12 miles by 4 miles, but its size bears little relation to the trouble it caused. It had been called the Debatable Land as early as the 15th century, because its ownership was in dispute between England and Scotland.
