Editing Border reivers (section)

===Schavaldours===
An earlier rendition of banditry may have been the bands of armed men who first appeared on the Borders in the early 14th century, then known as the Schavaldours<ref>"Schavaldour," *The Anglo-Norman Dictionary*. Retrieved 11 November 2024, from [https://anglo-norman.net/entry/schavaldour](https://anglo-norman.net/entry/schavaldour).</ref> (also spelled shavaldour, shavaldor, or shavaldor) during the unstable rule of [[Edward II of England]]. The term was first recorded in 1313, when [[Richard Kellaw|Richard de Kellawe]], then [[Bishop of Durham]], requested to be excused from levying any money from the goods of the parson of Whickham, citing the damage caused by "Schavadours and plunderers." The Schavaldours, like the later (and anachronistically named) Border reivers, were often pressed into service during cross-border wars, such as those in 1350.<ref name="auto5">King, Andy. War, Politics, and Landed Society in Northumberland, c.1296-c.1408. PhD Thesis, Durham University, 2001.</ref>

The problem of banditry grew worse following Edward II's loss at the [[Battle of Bannockburn]] in 1314 and appeared to further worsen after a severe famine in 1315–1317 and a failed campaign in 1322.<ref name="auto5"/> The anarchy that followed created conditions where both organised and independent bands of Scottish armed men, along with opportunistic English bands, raided as far as Yorkshire, devastating the land not only through plunder but also widespread burning.<ref name="auto25"/>

While the term 'Schalvadours' disappears from records by the late 14th century, the violence and lawlessness that characterised the Border region continued for centuries.<ref name="auto5"/>