England's Northern Frontier: Conflict and Local Society in the Fifteenth-Century Scottish Marches (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series, Series Number 118)

The three counties of England's northern borderlands have long had a reputation as an exceptional and peripheral region within the medieval kingdom, preoccupied with local turbulence as a result of the proximity of a hostile frontier with Scotland. Yet, in the fifteenth century, open war was an infrequent occurrence in a region which is much better understood by historians of fourteenth-century Anglo-Scottish conflict, or of Tudor responses to the so-called 'border reivers'. This first book-length study of England's far north in the fifteenth century addresses conflict, kinship, lordship, law, justice, and governance in this dynamic region. It traces the norms and behaviours by which local society sought to manage conflict, arguing that common law and march law were only parts of a mixed framework which included aspects of 'feud' as it is understood in a wider European context. Addressing the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland together, Jackson W. Armstrong transcends an east-west division in the region's historiography and challenges the prevailing understanding of conflict in late medieval England, setting the region within a wider comparative framework. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Series information 4 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 List of Figures 11 List of Maps 12 Acknowledgements 13 List of Abbreviations 16 1 Introduction 21 Overview 21 The Far North, Conflict and Governance 24 The Problem of Conflict 42 The Governance of the 'contreis . . . in euery partie off the lande' 56 Sources and Outline 64 Part I 67 2 Frontiers and Borderlands 69 Frontiers and Borderlands 69 Boundary and Gateway 77 Writing the Marches 85 3 Earth and Stone 94 Towers and Castles 95 Landscape and Settlement 113 Conclusion at Part I 125 Part II 127 4 The Nobility, Gentry and Religious Houses 129 5 Lordship, Kinship and the Surnames 139 Lords and Men 140 Kinship and Landed Society 144 Naming Customs and Practices 150 The Surnames 156 The Surnames of 1498 159 English Surnames with Scottish Dimensions 165 Models and Indications of Leadership among the Surnames 175 Conclusion at Part II 183 Part III 185 6 The Administration of Justice 187 Justice in England and Europe 188 Royal Justice and English Common Law 192 Border Justice and March Law 201 Conclusion at Chapter 6 217 7 Patterns of Conflict 219 Court Records and Figures: The Evidence Assembled 221 Conflict and Court Activity 230 Conflict, War and Truce 244 Violent Offences 252 The Border Liberties 256 8 Cross-Border Conflict 262 Lesser Illicit Activity 266 Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini's Report 279 A 'Raiding Culture' 284 Conclusion at Chapters 7 and 8 288 9 Discord 290 Language and Social Emotion 293 The Support Group 311 The Nature of Violence 317 10 Concord 328 Love and Law 329 The Objectives of Peacemaking 335 Reconciliation Ceremonies 340 Compensation 348 Contracts of Lordship and Kinship 351 11 Conclusions 357 Bibliography 366 Manuscript Sources 366 Printed Sources (Including Reference Works and Digital Resources) 369 Secondary Works 374 Unpublished Dissertations and Theses 405 Index 407 "This book has two main aims. Its subject is the far north in the fifteenth century, in a time period significant for the region in being much less well understood than either the preceding century (dominated by Anglo-Scottish warfare) or the following one (in which the so-called 'border reivers' were so well documented by Tudor administrators and their Scottish counterparts). The first aim is to investigate the far north in light of its prevailing reputation as different from the rest of England: an alien, turbulent and exceptional 'periphery' distant from the realm's heartland. The question to be pursued is how local society governed itself, in particular how it sought to manage conflict, in the northern marches. The second aim is the more ambitious. While drawing local, national and international comparisons where relevant and helpful, it is to raise questions from this example about the geography of power and the nature of conflict in the English kingdom as a whole"-- Proporcionado por el editor "This book has two main aims. Its subject is the far north in the fifteenth century, in a time period significant for the region in being much less well understood than either the preceding century (dominated by Anglo-Scottish warfare) or the following one (in which the so-called 'border reivers' were so well documented by Tudor administrators and their Scottish counterparts). The first aim is to investigate the far north in light of its prevailing reputation as different from the rest of England: an alien, turbulent and exceptional 'periphery' distant from the realm's heartland. The question to be pursued is how local society governed itself, in particular how it sought to manage conflict, in the northern marches. The second aim is the more ambitious. While drawing local, national and international comparisons where relevant and helpful, it is to raise questions from this example about the geography of power and the nature of conflict in the English kingdom as a whole"-- Provided by publisher This first book-length study of England's northern borderlands in the fifteenth century addresses issues of conflict, kinship, lordship, law, justice, and governance. Examining the region at different social levels, this book expands our understanding of late medieval English political society, within its broader chronological and European context