Reivers - Canonbie in the Debateable Land
A Scottish Borders Village of the Days of the Reiver
Aug 2, 2009
Until the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1603 the Debateable Land was a region frequented by the worst of Reiver society. Men disowned by their own clans,broken men, and those on the run from the law found refuge in its confines yet sallied forth at regular intervals to pursue their ignomonious activities.
Both countries had for centuries endeavoured to come to grips with the problems created by the Debateable Land yet neither would claim ownership.Each blamed the other for the unrest which it created and added to a society already fractured by the constant raids and feuds which were the daily fare of the Reiving clans.
Canonbie in the Reiving Times
Canonbie, in the heart of the Debateable Land, was different. It was one place that both countries were prepared to argue over. It was bounded on the east, north and west by Debateable ground and on the south by England. Therefore, the English claimed, it could not be Scottish. Yet the Priory, which lay at its heart, was granted to the monastery of Jedburgh, Scotland in the 12th century along with forty-two acres of land where 'Esche and Lidel meet' (where the rivers of Esk and Liddel meet).
The Indenture of Canonbie
In 1494 a commission was held in Coldstream between the Scots and English. They met to review a complaint by the Prior of Canonbie 'upon a number of Englishmen for taking away certeine kye (cows), oxon (oxen), and horse, certeine shepe and gait (goats) and burning ...'. The commission became known as the 'Indenture of Canonbie'.
It was clear, at the time, because this complaint was heard, that the Prior, his canons and inhabitants were recognised as being Scottish. Moreover at the commission there was no record that the inhabitants had ever paid tribute to the English for inhabiting the ground. They did pay for the entitlement to attend the market at Carlisle, a benefit not extended to the rogues of the Debateable Land nor a requirement of any who were English. Thus they claimed Scottish nationality.
Canonbie – Nationality Reaches Impasse
In 1504 James lV visited Canonbie and made an offering to the Priory. It is clear from this that the monarch of the realm considered the Priory to stand in Scottish ground.
In 1531 there were three complaints against the English by the people of Canonbie seeking redress. The English, at first refused to hear the complaints saying that Canonbie was Debateable and thus not subject to Border Law. When the 'Indenture' of 1494 was produced by the Scots, the English accepted the complaints and the pleas were heard and due restitution made. They, it would seem, then reverted to some expediency.
The English claimed that restitution had been made, not because the people of Canonbie were Scottish,but because the goods taken had not been driven directly into England but via the Scottish valley of Liddesdale.
In the same year the Council of Scotland met to discuss the English claims that Canonbie was in the Debateable Land. The decision agreed by the lords, earls and bishops present was that Canonbie was part of Scotland. Their recommendation to the King was that he should oppose the English view and insist that it was Scottish.
The English Response
In 1533 Henry Vlll of England was still claiming that the priory of Canonbie was English and there were forays into the lands of Canonbie in the following year to strike home the point.
By 1544 Henry was recommending that the priory should be suppressed along the lines of all English religious establishments in his purge known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The wealth of the Roman Catholic church was to be sequestered by the Tudor monarchy and their power over the people of England as spiritual benefactors broken. Henry Vlll was adamant that Canonbie was English.
The End of the Animosity
In 1552 certain commissioners met to consider the partition of the Debateable Land. Having eventually agreed the line of demarcation, an earthen Dyke was raised about eight feet high and three miles long. It divided the Debateable Land, the southern portion going to the English whilst the greater northern share went to the Scots.
Canonbie, north of the Scots or Marche Dyke, was at last Scots much to the chagrin of the English nation.
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