Carey himself was a very capable Warden, not only did the assessment of his character show this, but also his actions. Carey seems to have been of strong character who both knew his job and how to go about it. On entering the March Carey quickly realised that the reivers would only be contained by a firm hand, where hanging and strict rule were the only measures they would respond to. This is not because Carey enjoyed capturing outlaws in order to execute them, merely that he recognised the only thing that would work was for the reivers to see justice done.

In this chapter Sir Robert Carey’s Middle March Wardenship of 1598-1603 will be examined, in an attempt to assess the effectiveness of his rule. This will be achieved by looking at the main events which occurred during his time as Warden, and then relating Carey’s actions to the laws covered in the previous chapter. When […]

This chapter will now outline the laws by which Sir Robert Carey would rule, and then say something of the Commission of 1597. ((The Commission of 1597 was the last of the Commissions to be set up before the Union of the Crowns, and the 36 clauses printed in W. Nicolson, (1747), Leges Marchiarum, have […]

Part II – Sir Robert CareyBefore looking at the powers and effectiveness of Sir Robert Carey, his background and personality will be examined. The reason for looking at Carey’s character is that no matter what laws there were, the effectiveness of his rule cannot be examined without assessing whether he himself was capable of being […]

The geography of the Borders between England and Scotland is dominated by the bleak rolling hills of the Cheviots. The immediate surrounding area is varied though often no less bleak in its appearance. Consisting of salt marshes, flowing rivers, such as the Tyne, and rocky outcrops, to the flat planes of Solway Moss. It is a land that under normal circumstances would produce a hard resilient people. From the thirteenth through to the early seventeenth century, this geography may have hardened the people, but the politics of the two countries honed this toughness to a fine edge.