Even in times of peace, the Borders were a treacherous place…
— Liath Wolf
*
Some called him a reaver and there are those who say
That all down through new castle, blackmail to Johnnie paid
From the tower at Gilnockie to the shadowlands below
Blowed the outlaw royalty with honour and integrity
But they hung him from the gallows tree Johnnie Armstrong’s gone away
Ye know well that I love the works of Liath Wolf, who explores Scottish folklore and the territory of Fennario in fine storytelling fashion. He’s just posted one of the great frontier tales of the era of the Border Reivers.
The Scottish Borders was one of the wildest frontiers in Europe for centuries — and there is a direct throughline to the American backcountry. Many of the border families were booted by the Stuart kings to another frontier in Ulster, and thence migrated to the North American backcountry, where the Scots-Irish folk formed the hard-bitten core of frontier culture.
The Frontiersman, by Davi Wright.
The borderers were rustlers and Frontier Partisans to the bone; tales of the Border Reivers read like Elizabethan and Jacobean Westerns.
Michael Martin Murphy knows that the tale of Johnnie Armstrong is a cowboy song.
Mike says
A funny music story for you. I spent a summer working in Yellowstone NP, and a Michael Martin Murphy CD was in our store’s rotation as a regular play. I enjoyed the music, so when I found out a few years later that he was playing a gig a few hours from my home, I decided to go see him. Didn’t spend a lot of time looking into the details and just bought the tickets. When my friends (who I had convinced this trip was a good idea) get to the “venue,” we learned that the show is taking place in a furniture store! Some kind of charity fundraiser that MMM was connected to. The show was great, but I’ll never forget listening to him while sitting next to a La-Z-Boy marked half off!
JimC says
I’ve played some goofy venues, but never a furniture store. MMM is really good.
Monk says
There’s a “symbiotic” relationship between furniture and music that goes
back to the birth of the 78 record.
The home of Paramount was a chair factory in Grafton.
Rick Schwertfeger says
Now that I know that I’ve got 19% Scottish blood from >200 years ago, this stuff rings even more louder in my consciousness!
John M Roberts says
For a comprehensive work on the Border Reivers, I highly recommend George McDonald Fraser’s THE STEEL BONNETS. I have a great-great grandfather named Mofatt, which is the name of a Border town, so I hope I have some Reiver blood in my veins.
Geoff Miller says
I agree — a fascinating book. Another one I have yet to read is The Debateable Land by Graham Robb,, the history of the lawless area between England and Scotland that for many years was controlled by neither country. From the publisher’s blurb: “The Debatable Land was an independent territory which used to exist between Scotland and England. At the height of its notoriety, it was the bloodiest region in Great Britain, fought over by Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and James V.”
Matthew says
Off topic, but here’s a video comparing samurai and cowboys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtqVY58aYJM
It’s interesting. Though there were undoubtedly vast differences between the two.
Matthew says
A character in Neil Gaiman’s Truth is A Cave in the Black Mountains is a Border Riever. It could be found in his collection Trigger Warnings. It was a great story though I don’t care for most of the other stories in the collection.
Scotland has an interesting history. I am pretty sure I am half of Scottish descent. Though I have English ancestry. And a German last name. I probably should do one of those DNA tests to be sure since there is certain murkiness to my family history.