Editing Border reivers (section)

===The Borders during the 'Rough Wooing'===
History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. Like his father, James IV, who perished at [[Battle of Flodden|Flodden]], James V suffered a decisive defeat at the [[Battle of Solway Moss]] in 1542. However, unlike his father, he did not fall in battle but succumbed to illness soon afterward. Once again, the Scottish throne passed to an infant—this time, a girl, [[Mary, Queen of Scots]].<ref name="Magnusson, Magnus 2000, p. 314">Magnusson, Magnus. Scotland: The Story of a Nation. London: HarperCollins, 2000, p. 314.</ref><ref>Sadler, John. The Hot Trod: A History of the Anglo-Scottish Border. Amberley Publishing, 2024. {{ISBN|978-1-3981-1962-8}}., p206</ref> In the aftermath, Scotland descended into factional strife as rival nobles vied for the [[Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus|Regency.]] Seizing the moment, [[Henry VIII]] intervened in Scottish affairs, exploiting both political instability and the growing religious tensions of the Reformation.<ref name="Magnusson, Magnus 2000, p. 314"/>

The conflict known as the [[Rough Wooing]] — lasting from 1542 to 1551 — refers to Henry VIII's military and diplomatic campaign aimed at coercing the leading Scottish nobility into agreeing to a marriage between his infant son [[Edward VI|Edward]] and the young Mary, Queen of Scots.<ref>Fraser, George MacDonald. The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers. HarperCollins, 1989. p 254</ref> This led to the destruction of 192 towns, towers, and bastle-houses, as well as the capture of 20,000 cattle.<ref>Fraser, George MacDonald. The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers. HarperCollins, 1989. p 258</ref> This devastation only made the Borders more dangerous and lawless, with English and Scottish borderers — and even the local Scottish aristocracy — joining in the depredation.<ref>Fraser, George MacDonald. The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers. HarperCollins, 1989. p 259</ref><ref>Magnusson, Magnus. Scotland: The Story of a Nation. London: HarperCollins, 2000, p. 324.</ref><ref>Durham, Keith. Border Reiver 1513–1603. Illustrated by Angus McBride. Osprey Publishing, Warrior Series No. 154, 2011. {{ISBN|978-1-84908-193-1}}. p12</ref>{{sfn|Robson|1989|p=183}}

During this period, Henry VIII and his appointed man on the Borders, [[Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton|Sir Richard Wharton]], actively encouraged Scottish raiding. A notable instance occurred in 1543, when the Liddesdale Armstrongs were urged to raid and burn the lands and property of the Kerrs and Scotts. Despite this support, the Liddesdale Armstrongs carried out an attack on Hexham in the same year.<ref name="Fraser, George MacDonald 1989. p 256">Fraser, George MacDonald. The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers. HarperCollins, 1989. p 256</ref> A contemporary report described English villages as desolate, calling for their repopulation and for increased enforcement by local garrisons.<ref>Ellis, Steven G. Tudor Frontiers and Noble Power: The Making of the British State. Oxford University Press, 1995, p.70.</ref>

Included among the Scottish Surnames most actively fighting alongside the English Borderers, southern English troops and foreign mercernaries were the Olivers, Davidsons, Pringles, Taits, Youngs, Turnballs, Elliots, Crosers, Nixons, Armstrongs and Rutherfords.<ref>Fraser, George MacDonald. The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers. HarperCollins, 1989. p 257-266</ref> The principle target of these raids were the Surnames Maxwell and Kerr.<ref name="Fraser, George MacDonald 1989. p 256"/><ref>Fraser, George MacDonald. The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers. HarperCollins, 1989. p 270</ref> In 1552, the long-standing feud between the Scotts and the Kerrs spilled into Edinburgh, where [[Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch|Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch]] was assassinated by members of the Kerr family.<ref>Moffat, Alistair. The Reivers: The Story of the Border Reivers. Birlinn, 2007, p.211. {{ISBN|978-1-84158-549-9}}.</ref>