The Wild West of Scotland and the Border Reivers: Clans and Chaos on The Scottish-English Border
Channel: Celtic History Decoded
Date: 2022-12-31

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The Wild West of Scotland and the Border Reivers Clans: Chaos on The Scottish-English Border   

The term Wild West conjures up a vison of an America cowboy or a classic Hollywood film. The Wild West can equally be used to describe Scotland’s border with England at various points down through history however, although I can esure you the weather is better in California.

Chapters:
0:00 Border Reivers
2:08 Border Reiver Clans
3:34 The Royal View
4:25 Border Law
4:53 The War on the Reivers and Ulster Plantation 
6:01 Support this Channel 

The border reivers refers to raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the around the 13th century to the 17th century. Made up of both Scots and English people, the border reivers had little to no regard for nationality and they raided along the entire border area, which was a wild and somewhat lawless region for hundreds of years. Reave literally means to raid, rob and plunder. Raids usually took place within a days ride of the border area, with English raiders hitting as far as the outskirts of Edinburgh.
 
Today, I’ve come to Smailholm Tower, a peel tower just west of Kelso in the Scottish borders. Standing at 20m, it was built by the Clan Pringle in the 15th century, the wardens of Ettrick Forest, and it served in part as a stronghold and a watch tower where signal fires could be lit when English forces attacked. It also served as a safehouse when border reivers attacked, as this region was in prime border reiver territory.

During two raids in 1544, Northumberland reivers got away with more than 700 cattle, 104 horses and over a hundred prisoners. The tower would also go on to inspire Sir Walter Scott when he was a wee laddie recovering from polio in his grandparents farmhouse nearby. In fact, Scott may have coined the term border reiver.  

The border region in general was a wild place historically, a somewhat lawless place, as there was constant tension and conflict given it’s geography. When war between Scotland and England erupted, which was common for hundreds of years, the region was always devastated. 

This instability meant that farming was often considered a waste of time for many, as the borderland was destroyed whenever war broke out. The borderland thus became a violent and instable region, as fire breeds fire. As oppose to looking for royal authority for security (with the armies of that authority causing devastation), people relied on their kindred. 

Some of the major Scottish clans in the border region include Clan Johnstone, known to keep watch against English advances along the Anglo-Scottish border, known as the Scottish Marches. Clan Elliot was another clan that occupied the borderland region, and they were known as being the wildest clan of the border reivers. Another major border clan was Armstrong. 

Sources:

Historic Environment Scotland - Smailholm Tower https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/smailholm-tower/history/ 

Border reivers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_reivers 

Historic UK - The History of the Border Reivers ¬ https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/The-Border-Reivers/

March law (Anglo-Scottish border) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_law_(Anglo-Scottish_border) 

Scotland History Tours - Who Were The Scottish Border Reivers and Kinmont Willie Armstrong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_olF0TEWKWs 

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