Johnnie Armstrong
Johnnie Armstrong was a prominent figure from the powerful Clan Armstrong, known for their significant role as border reivers along the Anglo-Scottish border during the medieval period. Born in the marsh borderlands, Armstrong became the leader of a notorious band of reivers, engaging in raids that were emblematic of the lawless culture fostered by ongoing conflicts between Scotland and England. His activities, characterized by livestock raids and skirmishes, were seen as a necessary means of survival in an environment where agriculture was often untenable.
Armstrong’s criminal career came to a tragic end in 1530 when he was invited to a royal audience by King James V of Scotland, who sought to quell the rampant reiving. Despite assurances of safety, Armstrong and about fifty followers faced execution without trial after the king's anger at their presence. This event marked a significant turning point in the region, as it alienated many clans from the Scottish crown and ultimately led the Armstrongs to align with the English in future conflicts.
The legacy of Johnnie Armstrong is preserved in cultural memory through border ballads, with "The Ballad of Johnnie Armstrong" being the most notable. These folk songs reflect the tumultuous history of the borderlands and celebrate the lives of notorious figures like Armstrong, offering insight into the enduring impact of the reiving culture in Scottish and English lore.
Subject Terms
Johnnie Armstrong
Scottish border reiver
- Born: c. 1490
- Birthplace: Gilnockie, Ineskdale, Scotland
- Died: 1530
- Place of death: Carlingrigg, Scotland
Major offenses: Rustling, robbery, murder, and arson
Active: c. 1505-1530
Locale: Scottish-English borderlands
Sentence: Death by hanging without trial
Early Life
John Armstrong (ARM-strong) of Gilnockie was born into the powerful Clan Armstrong of the marsh borderlands of Scotland and England. Armstrong’s father was laird of Mangerton and chief of the clan; the Armstrongs were the greatest of the riding families known as border reivers. Armstrong forays and raids along the borderlands caused more carnage then any other two Scottish or English clans combined.
Reiving was a life-culture forced upon borderlands clans by the constant border wars between Scotland and England. Because armies were constantly crossing the frontier, raising livestock or crops was nearly impossible. Clans fed themselves by raiding and counterraiding one another’s limited resources. This back and forth raiding was reiving, and it was the only possible lifestyle if one lived in the Anglo-Scottish borderlands between the fourteenth and late sixteenth centuries.
The effect of this constant raiding created a society that ignored centralized governance, and by the early sixteenth century had become a dangerous flashpoint between the Scottish and English crowns. It was under these circumstances that Armstrong became leader of the most powerful band of Scottish border reivers.
Criminal Career
Armstrong’s reivers savaged the borderlands until young King James V of Scotland decided to put a stop to it. One of James’s royal goals was to pacify the borderlands to keep peace with England’s Henry VIII, who in 1528 had made specific demands of James to have Armstrong arrested. James ordered his royal household and a command of soldiers to engage in a royal hunt near Ettrick. The hunt was actually a cover for a punitive expedition to the borderlands. After hunting for a few days, the king invited Armstrong and leaders of other reiving clans for a royal audience. King James assured all that, as royal guests, they were safe. Armstrong and a troop of fifty reivers accepted the invitation, expecting royal pardons. The reivers arrived at James’s encampment wearing their finest clothes and weapons.
Legal Action and Outcome
When Armstrong met the king, the royal was angered by Armstrong’s self-confidence and finery and said, “What want you knave that a king should have?” He then ordered Armstrong and his men executed. Armstrong pleaded for his life and those of his men, saying they had never reived in Scotland or harmed a Scot and that they swore loyalty to the crown.
King James said Armstrong must die, and Armstrong is quoted as replying directly to the King’s face: “I am but a fool to seek grace at a graceless face, but had I known you would have taken me this day, I would have lived in the Borders despite King Harry and you both.” Armstrong and nearly fifty of his followers were hanged immediately, without trial. Several reivers were spared, and one was instead burned alive as punishment for burning a house in which a mother and her children perished.
Impact
The blood feud and reiving culture of the Anglo-Scottish borderlands lasted nearly three hundred years. Some seventy lawless clans engaged in continual raiding, rustling, arson, and blackmail, rendering the borderlands nearly ungovernable by either Scotland or England. With the execution of Johnnie Armstrong and his immediate followers, James V was gradually able to bring some order to the region. Armstrong’s hanging alienated the western clans against the Scottish crown, the powerful Armstrong Clan in particular. Subsequently the Armstrongs would side militarily with the English in many future border disputes.
One outcome of the reiving culture still extant is a musical tradition called border ballads. These Scottish and English folk songs celebrate border reivers, outlaws, and historical events. The most famous of these songs is “The Ballad of Johnnie Armstrong,” which recounts Armstrong’s exploits and his betrayal and execution by King James.
Bibliography
Armstrong, William, A. The Armstrong Borderland: A Reassessment of Certain Aspects of Border History. Edinburgh: John McQueen, 1960. An Armstrong family biography and detailed overview of the Anglo-Scottish borderers.
Durham, Keith. The Border Reivers. Toronto, Ont.: Osprey, 1995. A well-illustrated book about the borderlands reiving and blood feud culture, with emphasis on weapons and raiding.
Fraser, George M. The Steel Bonnets. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972. A scholarly history of the border reivers and how they operated their raiding and blackmail systems. Contains biographical information on prominent marsh clans and families.
Sadler, John. Border Fury: England and Scotland at War, 1296-1568. New York: Longman, 2005. A detailed overview of the Anglo-Scottish border wars and how the outcome still affects relations between both cultures.