The Border Reivers

Related pages: Reiver Life | Reiver Country | Traces of the Reivers | End of the Reivers |

Continuous Feuding
For over 350 years up to the end of the 16th century what are now Northumberland, Cumbria, The Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway rang to the clash of steel and the thunder of hooves. The great border tribes of both Scotland and England feuded continuously among themselves. Robbery and blackmail were everyday professions; raiding, arson, kidnapping, murder and extortion an accepted part of the social system.

"For over 150 years the border lands of England and Scotland were held in the grip of the some of history's most ruthless clans - the Border Reivers"

While the monarchs of England and Scotland ruled the comparatively secure hearts of their kingdoms, the narrow hill land between was dominated by the lance and the sword. The tribal leaders from their towers, the broken men and outlaws of the mosses, the ordinary peasants of the valleys, in their own phrase, 'shook loose the Border'. They continued to shake it as long as it was political reality, practising systematic robbery and destruction on each other. History has christened them the Border Reivers.

The Reiver
The border reiver, in modern terms, could be described as a small-holder or gentleman farmer, but he was also a professional castle rustler. He was a fighting man, a guerrilla soldier of great resource to whom the arts of theft, raid, tracking and ambush were second nature.

He was also often a gangster organised on highly professional lines, who had perfected the protection racket three centuries before Chicago was built. The border reiver came from every class, and from both sides of the England/Scotland border.

Reiving for a living
Reive - means to steal. The reiver period is roughly categorised as 1450 - 1610. The movement came to its height in the late 1500's and ended around 1610. The reiver history is a mixture of fact and folklore. The English crown destroyed almost all of the documentation relating to reiver life and so the reivers' story has passed down through oral history and folk traditions, rather than formal documentation. As a result, it is hard to untangle the mythological from the material when describing the reiver movement.

"He was a fighting man, a guerrilla soldier of great resource to whom the arts of theft, raid, tracking and ambush were second nature"

The reivers were clans who lived in the border territories. The Armstrongs, the Humes, the Watsons and the Grahams were some of the 200 or so clan families who occupied the border areas. Due to this constant upheaval border life was fast and furious.

The clans were pragmatic survivors who would turn any circumstance to their advantage. Some historians would say that the reivers lifestyle developed as constant violent upheaval of the border meant that people were pushed into reiving as a retaliation for their lands being invaded, and pillaged by enemy armies. However, others say that the clans were just gangs who deliberately cultivated a lifestyle of reprobates.

Linda Bruce Caron - One of the most comprehensive guides to the life and times of the Border Reivers

In Search of the Border Reivers - online guide to the history of the Border Reivers, the places and Reiver names

The Border Reivers - the story of the Reivers and their families on both sides of the Border.

There are seventy-seven predominant family names who can claim to have been Reivers. Some of the Border Clans include:

Armstrongs
Bells
Cecils
Croziers
Dodds
Douglases
Elliotts
Fenwicks
Forsters
Grahams
Homes
Howards
Irvines
Johnstones
Kerrs
Maxwells
Nixons
Robsons
Scotts
Storeys
Taits

These names are still commonplace across the Border country.