medieval-atlas/regional-and-local/451

Transcription

The Borders from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries By the mid-thirteenth century the Anglo-Scottish Border confirmed by the Treaty of York (1237), had settled down as a longestablished feature of the political landscape, although its innuence for social intercourse, landownership and settlement was relatively slight. Even politically, it must be noted that the treaty confirmed the Scottish king's lordship over the Liberty ofTyne dale (i.e. the valleys of North and South Tyne), and added the Honour of Penrith, on either side of the River Eden. Yet, as the Laws of the Marches (revised and formally promulgated in 1249) make clear, the border was a true international frontier separating two distinct jurisdictions and administrative structures, punctuated by recognised crossing places -whether up-to-date like Berwick Bridge, or archaic like the Clochmabenstane, embodying the name of the Celtic pagan deity Maponus. Thus, in Penrith and Tynedale, the courts held by authority of the king of Scots followed English law and procedures and met with the same frequency as the ..-.: Renfrew • bGlasgow STEWART • Rutherglen ~. Royal centre Glasgow Cathedral ~ The border with principal crossing places BALLIOL Some leading families and lordships eyres of assizes for Cumberland and Northumberland. orth of the Border the king's authority, when not exercised directly, was delegated to the justiciar of Lothian (sometimes reinforced by a justiciar of Galloway), below whom the key administrative officers were the sheriffs of Dumfries, Roxburgh and Berwick, normally appointed from powerful baronial families such as Lindsay, Maxwell or (rising fast in the thirteenth century) Randolph. In keeping with the prevalence ofpeaceful relations between the death of King John of England (1216) and the reign of King John of Scotland (1292-6), the border was relatively unmilitarized and only thinly furnished with fortifications. On the Scottish side the king had important castles at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Roxburgh, Jedburgh and Dumfries. His backup defence consisted partly of a Tweed-Clyde line marked by castles, hardly first-rate, at Selkirk, Peebles, Lanark and Rutherglen, partly of the major castles at Ayr (New Castle-upon-Ayr founded 1197), Edinburgh and Stir- Cockermouth • • Egremont kms 0 25 50 75 100 , ,, , , 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 miles The Borders about 1250: western side GWSB 451