THE BORDER REIVERS.

[urbanspaceman]

So long as the two countries were divided, the borders were policed by neither Scotland nor England; consequently, Reivers could reive in both countries and hide in the borders.
The Borders also provided refuge for Scots families who had been outlawed... as was often the case. These families tended to be politically troublesome as well as criminal, so inevitably they gave allegiance to no-one and stole from everyone.
Brian Moffatt has researched and recorded everything there is to know about the Reivers over on the West side of Northumberland. His website is a monumental - ongoing - work that gives jaw-dropping insight into the Reivers and the debatable lands:
https://fallingangelslosthighways.bl.../?view=classic
Stealing cattle in Scotland and driving it into England... and vice-versa, was simply too good an opportunity to ignore. Stealing weapons from both countries was also a good idea and consequently led to the enormous variety of swords used.
Here on Tyneside we have an expression: "The Wilds of Wannie" meaning beyond civilisation. This comes from the Wansbeck River and hills running West to East across Northumberland about 20 miles north of Newcastle. Once you crossed over, you were in territory that was not policed and obviously dangerous; even after unification it was still not safe.

[Peter Hudson]

Thanks Keith,
Brian Moffat has more than 6 decades of study on this subject and has amassed a museum load of detail and research second to none. He is well down the road of putting a complete museum of artefacts in Hawick and hopefully we should be visiting there on its completion.

Thanks for your recent e mail last week telling me about Brian Moffat and his incredible saga.

Meanwhile on combing through information at Durham University here is a monumentally important thesis that vitally places The Northern Horse and its theory in warfare into perspective ...It shows how in the 16th C. these English Cavalry were used on the continent and covers how they were deployed as well as fine detail on their armaments.

Thus Please See http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2743/

Regards Peter Hudson.

[M ELEY]

Attached is a paper on the swords of the Reivers (please pardon my scribbled notes in the copy I saved which are not relevant to the printed work).
Yesterday 11:31 AM

Jim, thank you do much for this valuable material! As the Reivers were put down by the early 1600's, these sword types that the article indicates (pre-Claymore) are indeed the types they would have carried. I would also suggest the possible use of the claidheamh da laimh (the Braveheart sword type) during this time period-

[Peter Hudson]

Thank you M. Eley for your contribution and if I may point to page 35 of my reference it views the various weaponry usually fielded by Border Reivers.

Please see http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2743/

Clearly there was no possibility for open cavalry tactics as the country in the borders is almost mountainous and thus virtually impossible unless moving singlefile on narrow tracks. However it is easy to see how horse born raiders could infiltrate great distances and apply flank security as well as recconaisance and reporting and not hindered by darkness their sudden appearance could be so effective as Light Cav...It was on the continent where any formal tactical training may have occured where using their inbred ability as hunters and herders and their courage would have been key to their success. Their lances from which the nickname Prickers ...was born.. were excellent as weapons as well as herding stolen animals... Firearms were essentially too costly but some richer Border Reivers possibly carried a pistol or two. The main missile weapon was either a crossbow (Latch) or a longbow. A particular type of curved sabre called a Winjer was carried and armour included a Jack ...a style of waist coat into which metal plates were sewn as a protection against enemy blades. The Lobsterpot head armour was often worn if it could be afforded...otherwise the addition of an axe or dagger may have completed their arms.

Regards,
Peter Hudson.effect.

[Jim McDougall]

With the 'assembled' nature of these organized groups of 'reivers', while there was a typical range of weaponry and dress, there were no regulations or standards, so 'anything was possible'. Typically on horseback, those mounted would of course not used the huge 'two hand' swords, and these men would have used whatever swords were available. As has been noted however, the most typical weapon was the couched lance. In the 16th century, which seem the period most attended historically, there were many forms of European fighting swords, most of them of types known to be used by the 'landsknechts', German mercenary forces.

The two hander was of course indeed used through the 16th century in Scotland in many cases, but mostly incidentally, as it was not a widely apportioned weapon. As in Europe, these huge swords had been decreasing in general use, and in Scotland, if I understand correctly, many of these had their blades cut down and were used in 'basket hilts'. Perhaps this may have been why the term 'claymore' was used through the 19th c. for the basket hilts, or maybe just a generalized term by then.

In a way I think of the Reivers in the manner of Jesse James during the Civil War, and with Quantrills Raiders. After the war, he and many of these soldiers simply continued their ways though they were now 'outlaws' . When they could no longer operate without impunity, they simply diffused into their own respective clans and no longer operated in the organized groups of before.

[Peter Hudson]

Thank you Jim... It appears that Border Reivers probably adopted their style from Hobilars...thus I define the Hobilar from ENGLISH INFANTRYMAN c.1320
An extract from Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 1
by Ian Heath and I QUOTE"

HOBILAR

The term Hobilar first appeared in 1296, when it was applied to 260 light horsemen raised from the Anglo-Irish feudal estates for service in Scotland under Edward I. The word itself evolved from the native pony or ‘hobby’, 12-14 hands tall, that such a horseman rode, this word probably evolving in turn from the Gaelic obann, meaning quick or nimble. English, as opposed to Anglo-Irish, hobilars first appeared in 1300, closely based on their Irish counterparts but probably on the whole riding larger horses. They were basically mounted infantrymen and were the progenitors of (and in due course were steadily replaced by) the mounted archers of later armies, some of whom were even at first called hobilar-archers, such as were those assigned the duty of guarding the coast in 1364. Hobilars could be found both in magnates’ retinues and in shire levies, and were probably the same as armati.
In 1335 their equipment was laid down as horse, aketon or (coat-of-) plates (though writs of 1359 specify an haubergeon), a bascinet or palet (an unidentified type of helmet that could be of either iron or leather), gorget (either a quilted hood like that of 14 or else an aventail), iron gauntlets, sword, long knife and spear. The horse seems to have usually been valued at about 40s".UNQUOTE.


The region spoken of i.e. The shires of Scotland encompass the Borders of both countries and which formed their ancestral homes before the Union in about 1603... In a logical twist the retentionof the word Borders needed to be sorted thus it was banned from use...there could be no border thus that was that!


Border Reivers had a similar horse called a Galloway bred for its toughness and ability in mountains and cold weather. When the system moved against the Border Reivers it did so across the board and everything they were associated with including their horses was banned and outlawed on pain of death, imprisonment and or transportation. To make matters worse a huge retraining program was instigated to reteach religion to the people. ......Draconian laws meant that men were executed without trial...massive fines were imposed and even Moss Troopers those men trying to escape this system of strict laws and who had run away to Border Rieiver country...among the Marches/wastelands were mercilessly hunted down.

What is quite difficult to build among this disintegration is how the Border Reivers... as a renamed Northern Horse were able to join the English Army ORBAT as crack Cavalry and fight in foreign wars on the continent as well as survive mass transportation to places like The Apalachians and Ireland...often with little chance of returning home.

I hope to show some artwork of their weapons going forward...

Regards
Peter Hudson

[Peter Hudson]

Border Reivers Weapons See http://reivers.info/reiver-clothing-armour-weapons/