Scottish Marches was the term used for the

Anglo-Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west, separating Scotland and England. The Firth of Forth was the border between the Picto- Gaelic Kingdom of Alba and the Angli ...

during the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

and the

Early Modern era The early modern period is a historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There is no exact date ...

, characterised by violence and cross-border raids. The Scottish Marches era came to an end during the first decade of the 17th century following the

Union of the Crowns The Union of the Crowns (; ) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas diplomacy) of the two separate realms under a single ...

of England and Scotland.

History

Origins

The Marches were first conceived in a treaty between

Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of John, King of England, King John and Isabella of Ang ...

and

Alexander III of Scotland Alexander III (; Modern Gaelic: ; 4 September 1241 – 19 March 1286) was King of Alba (Scotland) from 1249 until his death. He concluded the Treaty of Perth, by which Scotland acquired sovereignty over the Western Isles and the Isle of Man. ...

in 1249 as an attempt to control the Anglo-Scottish border by providing a buffer zone. On each side of the Anglo-Scottish border there was the West March, the Middle March and the East March. These regions nearly mirrored each other but there was some overlap between the Scottish and English regions. In the late 13th century

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

appointed the first

Lord Warden of the Marches The Lord Warden of the Marches was an office in the governments of Scotland and England. The holders were responsible for the security of the border between the two nations, and often took part in military action. They were also responsible, al ...

, who was tasked with overseeing these regions and keeping their monarch's domain secure; when it was in their interests, they would encourage cross-border raiding, or even full-scale war. Especially in the Tudor period, some inhabitants of the Marches on either side of the border exhibited mixed national allegiances, and parts of the region were home to Riding Surnames or

clans A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

. Before the two kingdoms were united in March 1603, under the

personal union A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...

of Scotland and England under

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

(James I of England), the border clans would switch allegiance between the Scottish and English thrones depending on what was most favourable for the members of the clan. For a time, powerful local clans dominated a region on the border between England and Scotland, known as the

Debatable Lands The Debatable Lands, also known as debatable ground, batable ground or threip lands,. lay between Scotland and England. It was formerly in question as to which it belonged to when they were distinct kingdoms. For most of its existence, the area ...

, where neither monarch's writ was heeded. During this era, the

Border Reivers Border Reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality.Hay, D. "E ...

were raiders that attacked local residents. There were both English and Scottish clans in these groups, and they would attack regardless of nationality. Local farmers would often need to make payments to the various clans as a form of

protection money A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...

to ensure they were not attacked. These agreements were called , from an Old Norse word meaning 'agreement'. The word ''

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

'' entered the English language in 1530 as a result. The fluid nature of the border, and the frequent wars between Scotland and England, made the Marches fertile ground for many bandits and reivers who exploited the situation. The wardens of the Marches on either side of the border were entrusted with the difficult task of keeping the peace and punishing wrongdoers; the Scottish and English wardens would meet to co-ordinate their efforts against free-lance reivers at "days of march" (or "days of truce"), when they implemented March law, a kind of customary law agreed upon by the two realms during times of peace. The reiver period produced one unique architectural feature in the old reiver country—the

peel tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the England, English and Scotland, Scottish Border country, borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and ab ...

, a defensive structure found on many great houses (and indeed on

Carlisle Cathedral Carlisle Cathedral, formally the , is a Listed building, Grade I listed Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in the city of Carlisle, Cumbria, Carlisle, Cumbria, England. It was founded as an Augustinian priory and became a cathedral in 1133. It is a ...

). It has also produced a great deal of romantic literature, most famously the works of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

, a strategic town on the north bank of the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...

(the traditional border in the East March), is slightly closer to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

than to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. It was fought over many times: between 1147 and 1482, the town changed hands between the two nations more than 13 times. As late as the reign of

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

, the English considered it worth spending a fortune on the latest style of

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

s (

trace italienne A bastion fort or ''trace italienne'' (a phrase derived from non-standard French, meaning 'Italian outline') is a fortification in a style developed during the early modern period in response to the ascendancy of gunpowder weapons such as c ...

) to secure the town against Scottish attack.

17th century

The Scottish Marches era came to an end during the first decade of the 17th century with the creation of the Middle Shires, promulgated after the

of Scotland and England under

(James I of England).Act anent fugitive persones of the borders to the in countrey (1609): ''Forsamekle as the kingis majestie is resolved to purge the mydele schyres of this isle, heirtofoir callit the bordouris of Scotland and England, of that barbarous crueltie, wickednes and incivilitie whilk be inveterat custome almaist wes become naturall to mony of the inhabitantis thairof...'' (Translated: ''Forasmuch as the king's majesty is resolved to purge the middle shires of this isle, heretofore called the borders of Scotland and England, of that barbarous cruelty, wickedness and incivility which by inveterate custom almost was become natural to many of the inhabitants thereof...'')

History

Origins

17th century

See also

Notes

References

Further reading