England's Northern Frontier: Conflict and Local Society in the Fifteenth-Century Scottish Marches

Description

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 Half-title Series information Title page Copyright information Dedication Contents List of Figures List of Maps Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations 1 Introduction Overview The Far North, Conflict and Governance The Problem of Conflict The Governance of the 'contreis . . . in euery partie off the lande' Sources and Outline Part I 2 Frontiers and Borderlands Frontiers and Borderlands Boundary and Gateway Writing the Marches 3 Earth and Stone Towers and Castles Landscape and Settlement Conclusion at Part I Part II 4 The Nobility, Gentry and Religious Houses 5 Lordship, Kinship and the Surnames Lords and Men Kinship and Landed Society Naming Customs and Practices The Surnames The Surnames of 1498 English Surnames with Scottish Dimensions Models and Indications of Leadership among the Surnames Conclusion at Part II Part III 6 The Administration of Justice Justice in England and Europe Royal Justice and English Common Law Border Justice and March Law Conclusion at Chapter 6 7 Patterns of Conflict Court Records and Figures: The Evidence Assembled Conflict and Court Activity Conflict, War and Truce Violent Offences The Border Liberties 8 Cross-Border Conflict Lesser Illicit Activity Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini's Report A 'Raiding Culture' Conclusion at Chapters 7 and 8 9 Discord Language and Social Emotion The Support Group The Nature of Violence 10 Concord Love and Law The Objectives of Peacemaking Reconciliation Ceremonies Compensation Contracts of Lordship and Kinship 11 Conclusions Bibliography Manuscript Sources Printed Sources (Including Reference Works and Digital Resources) Secondary Works Unpublished Dissertations and Theses Index