Editing Border reivers (section)

===Settling the Debatable Land===
In the early 16th century, the Armstrongs and Grahams broke with Border custom by settling in the Debatable Land—a territory long regarded as neutral and lawless. This incursion was acknowledged by the Scottish government as early as 1517<ref>Robb, Graham. The Debatable Land: The Lost World Between Scotland and England. W.W. Norton & Company, 2018., p118</ref> or 1518.{{sfn|Robson|1989|p=73}} Meanwhile, Lord Dacre, permitted loyal Scottish Grahams to settle its southern end, further eroding its no-man's-land status.<ref>Robb, Graham. The Debatable Land: The Lost World Between Scotland and England. W.W. Norton & Company, 2018. p119.</ref> One account suggests that the banished Grahams first settled in 1516,<ref>Ellis, Steven G. Tudor Frontiers and Noble Power: The Making of the British State. Oxford University Press, 1995, p.63.</ref> with the Armstrongs following in 1518, reportedly with Lord Dacre's approval.<ref>MacKenzie, W. Mackay. "The Debateable Land." The Scottish Historical Review, vol. 30, no. 110, 1951, pp. 117–120.</ref>

The policy of tolerating settlement in the Debatable Land did nothing to curb banditry in the Anglo-Scottish borderlands; criminality persisted, and the Armstrongs only grew more powerful.{{sfn|Fraser|1971|p=227}}