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.