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The Border Reivers |
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The Borderers are frequently thought of as honourable, despite their criminal activities. Bishop Leslie wrote “having once pledged their faith, even to an enemy, they are very strict in observing it, insomuch that they think nothing can be more heinous than violated fidelity.” It is true that there was a code of honour that was central to Border law. The punishment for perjury was known as ‘bauchling and reproaching’. Those who had broken promises or were proven to have lied, were publicly rebuked at Warden meetings. This custom was suspended after 1582, however, as bauchling inevitably led to fighting.
However, despite the importance in law of good faith, there are numerous accounts of betrayal and perjury in the Border records. George MacDonald Fraser argues that the law was based on a presumption of honesty because there was no alternative in ‘a fairly primitive and unusual society’. It may be that, as in many other matters, the Borderers kept to a code of honour when it was in their best interests to do so.
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