The Reivers

Book excerpt: From the early fourteenth century to the end of the sixteenth, the Anglo-Scottish borderlands suffered one of the most intense periods of warfare and disorder in modern Europe. As a consequence of constant conflict, Borderers suffered horribly at the hands of marauding armies who ravaged their land, destroying crops, slaughtering cattle, burning settlements and killing indiscriminately. Forced by extreme circumstances, many took to reiving to ensure their survival. For the best part of 300 years, countless raiding parties made their way over the border, often returning under the cover of darkness, leading their prize of stolen livestock back through wild, empty country. The story of the Reivers is one of survival, stealth, treachery, ingenuity and deceit.