The Steel Bonnets

The Steel Bonnets
Author: George MacDonald Fraser
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 541
Release: 2008-07-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1628730137

From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, outlaws reigned supreme on the contentious frontier between England and Scotland. Feud and terror, raid and reprisal, were the ordinary stuff of life—and a way of survival. Power was held by the notorious border reivers (the "steel bonnets," named for their flashy helmets), who robbed and murdered in the name of family: the famous clans (or "grains")—like Elliot, Armstrong, Charlton, and Robson—romanticized by Sir Walter Scott. In The Steel Bonnets, George MacDonald Fraser, author of the bestselling Flashman novels, and himself a borderer, tells the fascinating and bloody story of the reivers, their rise to power as ferocious soldiers of horse, and their surprisingly sudden fall from grace.

The Steel Bonnets

The Steel Bonnets
Author: George MacDonald Fraser
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2012-06-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 0007474288

From the author of the famous ‘Flashman Papers’ and the ‘Private McAuslan’ stories.

Border Reiver 1513–1603

Border Reiver 1513–1603
Author: Keith Durham
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-03-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781849081931

Stretching from the North Sea to the Solway Firth, the Border region has a sharply diverse landscape and was a battleground for over 300 years as the English and Scottish monarchs encouraged their subjects to conduct raids across their respective borders. This Warrior title will detail how this narrow strip of land influenced the Borderer's way of life in times of war. Covering every aspect of militant life, from the choice of weapons and armor to the building of fortified houses, this book gives the readers a chance to understand what it must have been like to live life in a late-medieval war zone.

The Reivers

The Reivers
Author: Alistair Moffat
Publisher: Birlinn
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2011-07-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 085790115X

From the early fourteenth century to the end of the sixteenth, the Anglo-Scottish borderlands witnessed one of the most intense periods of warfare and disorder ever seen in modern Europe. As a consequence of near-constant conflict between England and Scotland, Borderers suffered at the hands of marauding armies, who ravaged the land, destroying crops, slaughtering cattle, burning settlements and killing indiscriminately. Forced by extreme circumstances, many Borderers took to reiving to ensure the survival of their families and communities, and for the best part of 300 years, countless raiding parties made their way over the border. The story of the Reivers is one of survival, stealth, treachery, ingenuity and deceit, expertly brought to life in Alistair Moffat's acclaimed book.

Border Fury

Border Fury
Author: John Sadler
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 650
Release: 2013-11-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317865286

Border Fury provides a fascinating account of the period of Anglo-Scottish Border conflict from the Edwardian invasions of 1296 until the Union of the Crowns under James VI of Scotland, James I of England in 1603. It looks at developments in the art of war during the period, the key transition from medieval to renaissance warfare, the development of tactics, arms, armour and military logistics during the period. All the key personalities involved are profiled and the typology of each battle site is examined in detail with the author providing several new interpretations that differ radically from those that have previously been understood.

The Border Reivers

The Border Reivers
Author: Keith Durham
Publisher: Osprey Publishing Company
Total Pages: 48
Release: 1995
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781855325609

From the 13th century until the early 17th century the Border Marches of England and Scotland were torn by a vicious and almost continuous cycle of raid, reprisal and blood feud. The Border Reiver was a professional cattle thief, a guerilla soldier skilled at raiding, tracking and ambush and a well organised "gangster". Including eight superb full page colour plates by Angus McBride, as well as numerous other illustrations, this text by Keith Durham explores the colourful History of these remarkable people.

The Candlemass Road

The Candlemass Road
Author: George MacDonald Fraser
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Total Pages: 149
Release: 2013-12-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0007502044

This is a beautiful, moving tale from the bestselling author of the "Flashman Papers".

The Debatable Land: The Lost World Between Scotland and England

The Debatable Land: The Lost World Between Scotland and England
Author: Graham Robb
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2018-06-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 0393285332

"[An] entertaining work of geographical sleuthing.…Surprises abound." —The New Yorker An oft-overlooked region lies at the heart of British national history: the Debatable Land. The oldest detectable territorial division in Great Britain, the Debatable Land once served as a buffer between England and Scotland. It was once the bloodiest region in the country, fought over by Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and James V. After most of its population was slaughtered or deported, it became the last part of Great Britain to be brought under the control of the state. Today, its boundaries have vanished from the map and are matters of myth and generational memories. In The Debatable Land, historian Graham Robb recovers the history of this ancient borderland in an exquisite tale that spans Roman, Medieval, and present-day Britain. Rich in detail and epic in scope, The Debatable Land provides a crucial, missing piece in the puzzle of British history.

The Borders

The Borders
Author: Alistair Moffat
Publisher: Birlinn
Total Pages: 686
Release: 2011-08-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 0857901141

In this acclaimed book, Alistair Moffat tells the story of a part of Scotland that has played a huge role in the nation's history and moved poets, painters and writers as well as ordinary people for hundreds of years. The hunter-gatherers who first penetrated the virgin interior, the Celtic warlords, the Romans, the Northumbrians and the Reivers, who dominated the Anglo-Scottish borderlands for over 300 years, have all had their part to play in the constantly evolving life of the area. It is the people of a place that make its history and Alistair Moffat's book is a testament to those who have made the Borders their home, and who have created the traditions, myths and romance that define it so strongly.