What do Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Billy Graham, and Neil Armstrong - the first man on the moon - have in common with the Musgroves? We all come from families along the English/Scottish border. These clan members were known as Border-Reivers.
L to R: Lyndon Johnson,
Richard Nixon and Billy Graham
"The Musgraves..., among the fourteen most notorious of the reiving (robbing ed.) clans, were known locally as de’ils (devils) dozen and consisted of the following families: Armstrong, Bell, Carleton, Dacre, Elliot, Graham, Johnstone, Kerr, Maxwell, Musgrave, Nixon, Routledge, Scott and Storey." Wikipedia
The Border-Reiver Clans
The families on the border of England and Scotland seem like the Hatfields and McCoys. Their situation was like that of the early Wild West. The Musgraves were:
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| Family Surnames - (click to enlarge) |
"A notable north Cumbrian family often holding official positions.
They made many enemies and were often at feud with the Dacres, the Bells, the Grahams, the Irvines and the Armstrongs: which is understandable, as elements of these families (except the Dacres) frequently made raids into Musgrave territory."
The Border Reivers Web Site
"The Reivers were the product of the constant English-Scottish wars that would often reduce the Border area to a wasteland.
The continuing threat of renewed conflict offered little incentive to arable farming. Why bother planting crops if they may be burned before they could be harvested? The reiving (raiding or plundering) of livestock was however a totally different matter, and so it became the principal business of the Border families."
Historic UK
A Way of Life
"It is said that the wife of one famous Border Reiver demonstrated that her larder was empty by serving her husband his spurs on a plate instead of his dinner. The message was clear; either mount up and go reiving, or go hungry."
Historic UKA stranger story demonstrates an unusual "Code of Honor" among these thieves.
"There is a well-known tradition that the Robsons of North Tynedale once made a foray into the Scottish valley of Liddesdale and stole a large flock of sheep belonging to the Graham family, which they brought back into Northumberland.
Later it was discovered that the Graham sheep were infected with scab, which spread like wild fire through the Robson’s flock.
The Robsons were so angry that they returned to Liddesdale in another raid, where they caught seven members of the Graham family and hung them until they were dead. They left a note to the effect that;
'The neist time gentlemen cam to tak their schepe
They are no te’ be scabbit!'"
England's Northeast
Their Trade
Because of the treacherous landscape:
"When raiding, or riding, as it was termed, the reivers rode light on hardy nags or ponies renowned for the ability to pick their way over the boggy moss lands.
The original dress of a shepherd's plaid was later replaced by light armour...and metal helmets...; hence their nickname of the "steel bonnets".
They were armed with lances and small shields, and sometimes also with longbows, or light crossbows, known as "latches", or later on in their history with one or more pistols."
Read more: Wikipedia
Legacy
Besides several Border-Reiver Ballads:
The Border Reivers with James Webb
"...two notable phrases...have entered the English language via the Border Reivers: Blackmail and Red-Handed.
In Tudor times ‘mail’ was an old word for ‘tax’ or ‘rent’ in the Border Country and farmers in the region often paid rent to their landlords in the form of silver money which was known as ‘White Mail’. When they couldn’t pay in silver, payment was made in goods such as cattle or other livestock that was often of much higher value than the rent they would have paid in silver. It was the enforcement of paying in goods of a higher value that came to be known as ‘black mail’ (black rent)....
(Redhanded) literally means being caught with blood on your hands either in the slaughter of an individual or taking of livestock. The phrase is sometimes associated with Northern Ireland and the flag of Ulster features a red hand but the phrase was imported there from Scotland. In the Borders, robbers who were caught in the act of stealing were ‘caught red-hand’ and often executed on the spot.
England's North East
The Border Reivers with James Webb
USA Presidential Candidate in the Democrat Primaries - 2016
1. Distinguished Surname 4. Versions 7 Origin.
2. Border Reivers 5. History 8. Author
3. Ballad 6. Text 9. Story
10. Minstrels
Have you been following this series on the Ballad of Little Musgrave? Do you have any thoughts on it? Tell me below in the comment section.
The Armstrong, Elliott, Nixon, and Crozier are of the Scottish Middle March, though the Musgraves are found with the Armstrong, Nixons, and most notably Routledges, Forsters, and Dacres on the English side of the Borders, they are also seemly found in Saint Cuthbert Paris region of Northumberland, and seem to have the Anglo roots of Danish Northumbria, and Co Lincolnshire.
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