Border Reivers

Two of the most dangerous places in the Isle of Britain in Medieval times were the Welsh marches, a no-man's land between England and Wales that was the domain of powerful Marcher Lords, and the Borders regions between England and Scotland.  The constant warfare between England and Scotland and the even more continual feuding amongst the various clans and families rendered it almost impossible to impose law and order. 

The present-day Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway, Midlothian, West and East Lothian and Lanarkshire, facing the English county of Northumberland were a continual war zone between invading England and Scottish armies.  In these areas, the soil was poor and inheritance laws made it so that land was inherited among all the sons of a family.  This meant that making a living as an honest farmer was almost impossible.  Families supplemented their incoming by reiving, or cattle-raiding across the borders.  Of course, a family whose cattle had been lifted or stolen could raise the hew and cry and ride after the offenders.  Blood feuds flourished, and royal justice from either Edinburgh or London was too far away to be effective.  Gangs of men, known as border reivers, mounted on fast, light horses called hobbies or hobelars could go on ridings or raids, raid an enemy family's livestock and be back across the border before the victim would know what happened. 

If a victim discovered the theft, they had to react immediately, raise the hew and cry, or alarm and ride hot-trot after the offenders.  They would then help themselves to the offenders' cattle or crate other mayhem, destroying crops and stealing property.  Kidnappings were common and property owners paid black mail to the heads of local reiving families to be left alone.  During wars between England and Scotland, borderers on horseback were effective fore-runners to light cavalry or partisan rangers, sometimes penetrating as far as Lancashire in England during the Great Raid of 1322.  Kings of both England and Scotland would try to impose order by appointing marcher lords to protect the borders from these thieves, but these men were often local and on the take, making it unlikely that they would crack down on the reivers. 

Reiving reached its heyday during the Elizabethan era, but died out after the Stuarts began ruling in England in the 17th century. 

Places: Greenwich Palace

During the Medieval and Tudor eras, when royal and noble households moved from place to place, the choicest locations for houses and castles were along rivers.  River transport was more comfortable than plodding along rutted roads on heavy-footed horses.  The Thames River Valley was especially favored by members of the royal family, who built sumptuous pleasure palaces.  Humphrey of Gloucester, a brother of Henry V, acquired the land for what is now Greenwich in 1443.  He began building a palace there which he called Bella Court.  His creation wasn't complete when, in 1447, he fell out of favor under an accusation of treason and later died of a heart attack before he could face trial.

Bella Court passed to Queen Margaret of Anjou, who continued to work on the palace, having in mind the French chateaux where she had grown up.  She named the property Placentia Palace, though it was often called Pleasance Palace.  The meaning in both the Latin and French was obvious, a pleasure palace, a show piece, rather than one intended for defense such as a traditional castle.  By 1461, Henry VI's reign was over and Margaret was in exile.  Pleasaunce passed to Edward IV and Richard III, but it reached its heyday under the Tudors.  Henry VII added extensively to the existing structure, where his son Henry VIII was born.  It was Henry VII who named the palace Greenwich.  In time, Mary I and Elizabeth I were born there.  Elizabeth I returned often to Greenwich, which was a typical Tudor masterpiece of red brick, towers and mullioned windows.  However, by the time James I and Charles I came along the in 17th century, they much preferred St. James' Palace in London or Hampton Court. 

Greenwich Palace fell into disrepair and much of its buildings were torn down.  What was left became a biscuit/hardtack factory and prison during the English Civil War.  Charles II had an idea to rebuild and refurbish the old palace but only one range of buildings facing King Charles Court was constructed, but never used as a royal residence.  Finally, in 1694, building began on a hospital, later a home for needy sailors and a naval hospital.  The naval hospital became the Royal Naval College in 1873.  The University of Greenwich and a musical conservatory occupy the site today.  However in 2005, some of the Tudor foundations of the palace were unearthed.  Portions of the Tudor chapel and vestry were located in 2006 were located, including portions of tiled floor.  Recently, more rooms, probably used as storage rooms during the Tudor era, have also been located.

What Is: a Caltrop

One of the more dreaded events on a Medieval battlefield was a charge of knights or mounted men-at-arms, riding down foot soldiers who had little or no place to flee.  There were various measures taken to ward off horses on a battlefield, from pike formations such as the schiltron to a nasty little antipersonnel device known variously as a caltrop, cheval trap, jack-rook or crow's foot.  These devices were made of two or more spikes arranged in a formation so that, when thrown on the ground, one of the spikes always points upward.  A horse running over these weapons would get them embedded in the soft part of the foot and go down, taking its rider with it.  A pile of downed horses and riders created fearful mayhem on any battlefield.

The name caltrop comes from a French corruption of the Latin words for a foot-trap, which is exactly what it was intended.  They were first used by Roman armies in dealing with horses or even war elephants, who were just as susceptible to the spikes.  Medieval armies used them, including Scottish armies facing English knights during the battles of Wallace and Bruce, and they remained in use during the early modern era.  Settlers in Jamestown, Virginia kept a supply of them on hand for use against Native warriors who sometimes fought barefoot.  They were also used during World War I, where Australian troops knew them as horse chestnuts.  Representations of a caltrop are used as military insignia by units who trace their heritage to horse cavalry, such as the U.S. Army's 3rd Corps, at Fort Hood, Texas.

Writer: John Gower, c 1330-1408

Books were a highly prized luxury item in Medieval times, due to the amount of work that went into writing, printing, illuminating and binding them.  Medieval libraries included poetry, ballads and stories, histories, religious works, many of them written in French and Latin.  Reading books was a privilege of the upper classes.  Becoming a published author was also expensive and available only to the select few.  One had to have education and connections to secure the patronage of a royal or noble person whose support was necessary to allow time to compose and write, and to print and circulate the work after it was done.

John Gower was one of a group of poets and writers called the Ricardian Poets, since most of them flourished during the reign of Richard II, 1377-1400.  The leading light of this group was Geoffrey Chaucer, who enjoyed the patronage of both Richard II and John of Gaunt as well as Henry IV and whose most famous work was the Canterbury Tales.  Another poet, known probably only to scholars and English literature majors, was John Gower.  Gower was born most likely in Kent or Suffolk.  Little is known of his early life except that his family was well-to-do enough to provide him an education where he could learn Latin and French and have access to the classic works he quoted in his own writing.  At some point, Gower may have become a lawyer in London.  He became acquainted with Geoffrey Chaucer, as well as fellow poet William Langland.   In 1385, he happened to meet Richard II while the King was sailing on his barge on the Thames River.  Richard was impressed enough that he commissioned Gower to write a work that later became a poetic Christian treatise, Confessio Amantis.  Since London lawyers weren't typically invited onto the King's barge and just randomly given commissions, most likely there was some know-who and backstory to this meeting which is lost to us now.  Was Chaucer involved?  We'll never know, although the two men were close, Chaucer naming Gower as an executor of his will. 

Gower is known for a range of works, mostly utilizing allegory and complicated rhyming schemes, as well as writing in French and Latin with heavy quotations from the classics.  It would be dull and boring today but was just the stuff well-heeled audiences of the time favored.  On of his works, Vox Clamantis, was an allegorical commentary on the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, which was one of the highlights of Richard II's reign.  Confessio Amantis and Mirror of Man were both contemplative Christian treatises in verse.  Later, when Richard II was overthrown, Gower achieved the patronage of Henry IV and wrote works for him, including In Praise of Peace, which extolls Henry IV as the savior of England.  Gower also wrote ballads and other propaganda pieces for Henry. 

Patronage could bring many fringe benefits, including personal wealth.  Gower died in 1408 and was buried in a elaborate tomb in Southwark Cathedral.  He obviously died a wealthy man, most likely from royal patronage.  Writers weren't paid royalties as they are today.

The Assize of Clarendon, 1166

Once Henry II had established his authority over England, he turned his attention to the legal system of his new country.  He understood, as did most kings of the Medieval era, that royal authority was only as strong as the law.  If wrongdoers were being punished and disputes settled, people would have more respect and fear for royal authority.  Henry had inherited a kingdom were Saxon and Norman customs prevailed.  There was some idea of a jury and of local courts, but these were heavily influenced by customs routed in superstition and susceptible to being swayed by those with more money or popularity.

Trial by combat, where parties to a case or more likely, hired champions, would fight to determine the outcome was still the norm in most civil or criminal cases.  In criminal cases as well there was trial by ordeal, where an accused would be forced to walk over hot coals, hold a red hot bar in their hand, or plunge their hand into boiling water and have their guilt determined by whether the injury became infected.  Wealthy or popular defendants could recruit their friends to swear to their innocence en masse, by a process known as compurgation.  In civil cases, the other side could round up their relatives and friends, forcing judges and juries to go with the more popular side in a given controversy.  Naturally, disgruntled victims and plaintiffs often resorted to taking justice into their own hands.  Henry wanted to put a stop to all this.

He began by setting up assizes or courts to handle property and other civil matters.  He also dispatched justices to travel the country and hold justice eyres.  Upon arriving in a town, the justices would command the local sheriff to convene twelve men whose responsibility it was to investigate any potential crimes in the area, the forerunner of a modern grand jury.  Once the suspects were caught, the jurors would question witnesses and make a determination of guilt, after which sentence would be pronounced and the guilty punished.  An acquittal still resulted in banishment, from either the town or village or even the kingdom for serious offenses, to avoid any private retributions or blood feuds.  As this system continued, there was need to formulate more efficient rules and procedures, which Henry proceeded to do.  During an assize held at Clarendon Castle in 1166, Henry and his advisors laid out the procedures by which judges and juries, not competing, swearing village factions, would determine the guilt or innocence and the right penalty to be applied in the case of the former. 

Under Henry's system, no one was above or immune to the law.  Clergymen and barons could be brought to trial and punished, or made to return property they had taken.  Henry's sense of justice drew no distinction between clergy and laity, a fact that would run him head-on into conflict with his Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket.  The barons were also irked and the conflict between royal and baronial authority would come to a head during John's reign in 1215.  However, on the whole, Henry's system for dispensing swift, regular and equal justice worked and would form the basis of what became the English common law system.

Royal: Joanna of England, 1335-1348

Kings were humans, too.  Over time a myth has developed that parents in former times loved their children less than parents do today.  Various reasons are given, ranging from the fact that so many children died as babies or otherwise tragically young, to the low marriageable age of girls, to the apparent formality with which parents and children treated each other on a daily basis.  While all these factors are true, there can be no doubt that, in many cases, royal and noble parents loved their children and families as much as anybody.  And, when tragedy struck, they felt it as much as did the common people, or people today.

Edward III and his wife Philippa of Hainault had many children, at least 9 who lived to grow up.  Most of the time, the focus is on the boys.  Edward the Black Prince, John of Gaunt, Lionel of Antwerp, Edmund of Langley, and Thomas of Woodstock would take up a lot of their parents' time.  However, Edward and Philippa also had several daughters.  Their middle daughter, Joanna would perhaps cause them more pain than any of the others.  She was one of the earliest and, for her time, better known victims of the Black Death. 

Joanna was born in London in 1334.  Edward and Philippa took great care over her education.  She was placed in the care of Marie de St. Pol, wife of Aymer de Valence and co-foundress of Pembroke College, Cambridge.  There, Joan grew up with her brother Edward, the future Black Prince, her sister Isabella and their cousin, Joan of Kent.  Later, Joanna travelled in 1338 with her parents on a visit to Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, seeing the famous German city of Koblenz.  Joanna was to be married to one of Louis' sons, but that fell through later.  In 1345, she was betrothed to Pedro of Castile and departed England in 1348.  Her parents spared no expense on her trousseau, the inventory of which still survives.  Joanna's wedding dress was silk, she had another dress of red velvet, silver and gold buttons, other heavily embroidered gowns, even bed curtains and linens.  She was surrounded by a retinue of servants, retainers, musicians, clergy and men-at-arms.  There was to be no doubt that this was a Princess of England.

Joanna crossed the Channel and made her way to Bordeaux.  By that time, a strange new disease was already making itself felt in Bordeaux and was on its way to England.  Perhaps believing that Joanna was removed from any chance of infection given her rank and the fact that princesses didn't mix with common folk, Joanna's attendants felt she was safe.  Then, members of her close personal retinue began to sicken and die.  Joanna fled to a small village called Loremo, but there the Black Death caught up with her.  She died on July 1, 1348 and her body was buried in the chapel at Bordeaux.  By that time, Bordeaux and England were in the grips of the crisis.  The town mayor of Bordeaux ordered buildings in the town burned to ward away the contagion.  The fire caught the castle, destroying Joanna's remains before he family could claim them.

Meanwhile, back in London, even as he oversaw arrangements to dispose of the large numbers of dead and quell the rising panic, Edward's family would suffer two more blows.  Two of Joanna's little brothers, Thomas and William of Windsor, also died of the Plague.  This disease spared no one.  Royals, nobles, commons, clergy, tradesmen, soldiers, women and children were all susceptible to it.  Meanwhile, life went on and Edward had to write to Joanna's fiancée Pedro's father, the King of Castile, to explain what had happened and formally call off the marriage.  Edward wrote.

We are sure that your Magnificence knows how, after much complicated negotiation about the intended marriage of the renowned Prince Pedro, your eldest son, and our most beloved daughter Joan, which was designed to nurture perpetual peace and create an indissoluble union between our Royal Houses, we sent our said daughter to Bordeaux, en route for your territories in Spain. But see, with what intense bitterness of heart we have to tell you this, destructive Death (who seizes young and old alike, sparing no one and reducing rich and poor to the same level) has lamentably snatched from both of us our dearest daughter, whom we loved best of all, as her virtues demanded

No fellow human being could be surprised if we were inwardly desolated by the sting of this bitter grief, for we are humans too. But we, who have placed our trust in God and our Life between his hands, where he has held it closely through many great dangers, we give thanks to him that one of our own family, free of all stain, whom we have loved with our life, has been sent ahead to Heaven to reign among the choirs of virgins, where she can gladly intercede for our offenses before God Himself. (Source: Wikipedia).

The Great Writs: Quo Warranto

The most prized possessions of any noble family were their estates and especially the castles that provided defense and the manors that provided income.  Often those manor lands came with the right to hold courts, punish and fine offenders, and levy taxes or other burdens on the peasants.  Kings were aware of the intrinsic value of real estate, as they often bestowed property on nobles, and were quick to confiscate the property of traitors and rebels.  Over time, the titles to various properties became muddled and Edward I, reigned 1272-1307, decided it was time to clean house.  His father, Henry III, had made extensive grants of royal land Edward intended to claw some of it back.  From 1278-1294, he dispatched judges throughout England, who were empowered to serve a writ known as quo warranto upon landowners, forcing them to prove what right they had to the property in question.

Quo warranto, Latin for by what right/warrant, forced landowners to divulge whatever documentation they believed gave them authority to retain the land, and more importantly, utilize the produce and income from it.  Since many landowners didn't have written charters, Edward had to be content with proof that the land had been retained by that person or his family since 1189, the beginning of Richard I's reign.  Later, quo warranto became used as a challenge to anyone claiming to exercise royal authority or act in the King's name.  In some legal jurisdictions which descend from English jurisprudence, writs of quo warranto may be used to challenge a public official's exercise of his or her powers.