“They may take who have the power,
And they may keep who can.”
It was, no doubt, a simple rule, but the consequences resulting from its application were not always of an agreeable description.
It is said that the original name of the Armstrongs was Fairbairn, and that the change of name was brought about by a curious incident. The King on one occasion asked a Fairbairn to help him to mount his horse. Stretching out his arm, he caught the King by the thigh, and lifted him into his saddle. From henceforth he was known by the name of Armstrong.
The name “Elliot” has undergone considerable changes. It is spelled in some of the older documents in at least seventy or eighty different ways, the most common being Ellwood, Elwald, Elwand, Hellwodd, Halliot, Allat, Elliot. It is remarkable that in many districts in the south of Scotland the name is still pronounced “Allat,” though this is one of the older forms in which it appears.
The Elliots and Armstrongs and other inhabitants of Liddesdale attained an unenviable notoriety. The picture which Maitland has drawn of these “Liddesdale Limmers” may be here and there too highly coloured; yet those who are most familiar with the facts of Border history will be the first to admit that it is, on the whole, a fairly accurate description. It is entitled, “A Complaynt against the Thieves of Liddesdale”—
“Of Liddesdale the common thieves,
Sae pertly steals now and reives,
That nane may keep
Horse, nolt, nor sheep
For their mischieves.
They plainly through the country rides,
I trow the mickle devil them guides,
Where they onset
Ay in their gait,
There is no yett,
Nor door them bides.
They leave richt nocht wherever they gae;
There can nae thing be hid them frae;
For gif men wald
Their houses hald,
Then wax they bald
To burn and slay.
They thieves hae near hand herrit hail,
Ettrick Forest and Lauderdale;
Now are they gane
To Lothiane,
And spares nane
That they will wail.
Bot common taking of blackmail,
They that had flesh, and bread, and ale,
Now are sae wrackit,
Made bare and naikit,
Fain to be slaikit,
With water caill.
They thieves that steals and turses[67] hame,
Ilk ane o’ them has ane to-name,
Will i’ the Laws,
Hab o’ the Shaws,
To mak bare wa’s
They think nae shame.
They spulyie puir men o’ their packs,
They leave them nocht on bed or balks,[68]
Baith hen and cock,
With reel and rock,
The Laird’s jock,
All with him taks.
They leave not spindle, spoon, nor speit,
Bed, blanket, bolster, sark, nor sheet,
John o’ the Park
Rypes kist and ark;
For all sic wark
He is richt meet.
He is weel kenned, Jock o’ the Syde—
A greater thief did never ride;
He never tires
For to break byres;
O’er muir and mires,
Ower guid ane guid.
Of stouth though now they come guid speed,
That nother of God or man has dread;
Yet or I dee,
Some shall them see
Hing on a tree,
While they be dead.”
It is evident from this graphic account that these “Liddesdale limmers” were not particular as to their booty. They carried off everything that came to hand, on the principle, perhaps, that if they had no particular use for some of the things they appropriated, they were at least leaving their enemies poorer than when they found them. We read of one John Foster of Heathpool, servant to Sir John Foster, complaining of John Elliot of the Heughehouse, Clement Croser, “Martin’s Clemye,” John Croser, “Eddie’s John,” Gib Foster of Fowlesheiles, &c., to the number of thirty, “who stole six oxen, 6 kye, 4 young nowte, ane horse, a nag, a sword, a steil cap, a dagger and knives, 2 spears, 2 dublets, 2 pair of breeches, a cloke, a jerkyne, a woman’s kertle and a pair of sleaves, 9 kerchers, 7 railes, 7 partlettes, 5 pair of line(n) sheitis, 2 coverlettes; 2 lynne sheits; a purs and 6/- in monie; a woman’s purs and 2 silke rybbons; a windinge clothe; a feather bed; a cawdron, a panne, 4 bond of hempe, a pair of wool cards, 4 children’s coates, &c., &c.”[69]
The list of goods here “appropriated” by John Elliot and his friends is an interesting one, as it shows “that all was fish that came to their net”—not even the “winding cloth” being discarded when ransacking the house. We also find an account of one Robert Rutherford of Todlaw producing a “remission for art and part of the theft of certain cuschies of silk, sheits, fustiane, linen cloths, scarfs, fustiane, scarfs, and other clothes, furth of the Kirk of Jedworthe—Robert Turnbull of Blindhalche becoming surety to satisfy parties.”[70] Sacrilege was of frequent occurrence. We also find the following entry in Pitcairn:—“Remission to Edward Tayt, for the thiftwise breking of the Kirk of Hendirland, and takin away of certaine guids, gold and silver, fra Sir Wilzeame Jurdane.” This happened in the year 1493, which points to the fact that at that date the church of Henderland, which stood on the rounded eminence near Henderland farm house, where “Perys and Marjorie Cockburn” have found their last resting place, was then in existence. This place of worship must have disappeared about the time of the Reformation.
These items of information, curious though they may appear, must not be regarded as abnormal instances of the rapacity of the Liddesdale thieves, or “limmers”—to use the designation of an old Act of the Scottish Parliament. They simply denote ordinary incidents of Border reiving. “Kist” and “ark” were made to yield up their treasures. “Insight gear” included everything to be found within the four walls of the house. The very children were sometimes carried off! When the thieves had completed their task those whom they had plundered were occasionally left in a state of absolute destitution. They might congratulate themselves when they were able to keep their clothes on their backs! Some, indeed, were not so fortunate; and, after an encounter with the thieves, were compelled to face the rigour of a severe climate with an exceedingly primitive outfit.
It is interesting to find that the clan system prevailed on the Borders, especially in the south-west portion of the district. In Liddesdale, in the district known as the Debateable land, and along the shores of the Solway, the inhabitants were grouped into clans, many of them numerous and powerful. According to Skene, “the word clan signifies children or descendants, and the clan name thus implies that the members of it are, or were supposed to be, descended from a common ancestor or eponymus, and they were distinguished from each other by their patronymics, the use of surnames in the proper sense of the term being unknown among them. These patronymics, in the case of the Caenncine, or chief, and the Ceanntighs, or heads of the smaller septs, indicated their descent from the founder of the race or sept; those of the members of it who were of the kin of the Chief or Chieftain showed the personal relation; while the commonality of the clan simply used a derivative form of the name of the clan, implying merely that they belonged to it.”[71]