The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers [Paperback]

George MacDonald Fraser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 2008

From the 13th century to the middle of the 16th, outlaws and “border lords” reigned supreme on the contentious frontier between England and Scotland. Feud and terror, raid and reprisal, were the ordinary stuff of life, and power was held by the notorious border reivers: raiders and freebooters, plunderers and rustlers who robbed, murdered, and wreaked havoc. George MacDonald Fraser, author of the bestselling Flashman novels, takes us back through three centuries of conflict, showing how the frontier society was born and grew; how the region fitted into the diplomacy of the bordering nations; and how, with surprising suddenness, the world of the reivers disappeared. Fraser has crafted a fascinating work of serious history and scholarship that’s as irresistibly compelling as any novel.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A remarkably successful book on a fascinating subject, well organized and well written."--Time's Literary Supplement --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

The author of the famous Flashman series and the Private McAuslan stories, George MacDonald Fraser worked on newspapers in Britain and Canada. In addition to his novels he has also written numerous films, most notably The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, and the James Bond film Octopussy. He is also the author of Quartered Safe Out Here about his World War II service in Burma, and The Steel Bonnets and The Candlemass Road about the Anglo-Scottish wars. He passed away at the age of eighty-two in 2008.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing; 1st ptg edition (July 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160239265X
• ISBN-13: 978-1602392656
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #550,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough, well-structured, and entertaining, June 9, 2005

By 

Mike Christie (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers (Paperback)

Until England and Scotland were united under a single king in March 1603, the border between them was, unsurprisingly, a natural place for strife and disorder. The two countries had been at war intermittently for centuries, and many armies had passed back and forth across the border counties. Fraser's history covers the last hundred years of the border, from 1503 to 1603, a period during which the decayed (and astonishingly corrupt) administration could never cope with the local gangs -- known as "reivers" -- who terrorized the district with cattle theft, murder, and arson.

The book is very well-organized. Fraser starts with a few pages on the long historical background, then takes about half the book to cover the reivers by topic: chapters on arms and armour; on reiving technique; on the key families and their alliances; on cross-border relations; on the administrative structure. Fraser gives a lot of details, and plenty of quotes from the original sources (with the original spellings!).

This painstaking coverage sets up the second half of the book perfectly: one hundred and forty pages that cover the history of the border chronologically through the sixteenth century. With the details in hand, the second half is easy to follow and put in context; the writing is also clear and entertaining.

The last section of the book details the uncompromising way in which King James I destroyed the reivers in a few short years after 1603. It is a startlingly bloodthirsty story: Fraser includes quotes from blanket pardons that King James issued to some of his enforcers, which essentially say "whatever murders you did, I'm sure it was in a good cause, and you're absolved".

There are separate chapters on some of the most famous events, notably the raid on Carlisle Castle that freed Kinmont Willie. Fraser is at some pains to dispel the romantic ideas that cling to stories of the borderers -- as he points out, they were essentially a Mafia, with little of Robin Hood about them. It's clear, though, that he finds their adventurousness and style endearing and fascinating; and he writes about them so well that you are likely to feel the same way.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Readable and relevant, February 4, 2002

By 

David Packer (Middlesex, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers (Paperback)

MacDonald Fraser brings to the history of the Anglo-Scots border reivers all the exuberance and attention to detail that made his name in the Flashman novels. Readers looking for more gloriously politically-incorrect adventures from the Victorian age won't find them here, but this book does repay the extra effort needed from the reader. The Steel Bonnets is the most entertaining yet informative serious works of history I have read.
The story of the Anglo-Scots border is a complex and a bloody one. MacDonald Fraser manages to understand, without condoning, the hard men who fought and died, rode and raided across the border between the kingdoms of England and Scotland. He untangles the knotted threads of their family ties and feuds and reveals their part in the wider relations between England and Scotland prior to the union of the Crowns in 1603. He dives into the dusty depths of the written records and brings them back to us red in tooth and claw.
At a time when the border between England and Scotland looks as though it may become an international, rather than a domestic border once more, this book should be of relevence to all with an interest in and love of these two nations.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book for me as a Reiver descendant., March 15, 2003

By 

Ian Crozier (Gretna, LA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers (Paperback)

I was born in Carlisle, England. The second big town of the border area other than Berwick. My father is from Longtown, Cumbria which is right next to the debateable land and I have the last name of Crozier. This book was like reading about my own history and explained a whole lot of things about my home town and the people I grew up with. Just in my neighborhood, there were Armstrongs, Taylors, Littles, Nixons, Grahams and many other Reiver names.
This is a very scholarly book and exceptionally well written. The author must have done an incredible amount of research to put this together. I read it twice, the second time noting how many references to Croziers(Crosers) there were. My father's family name is in there 26 times. Along with the Armstrongs, Nixons and Eliots, we were considered the worst of the worst of the reivers. Maybe not something to be proud of, but interesting. According to my mother(God rest her soul)her paternal grandfather was the illegitmate son of the Duke of Buccleugh(you'll hear a lot about the Scotts of Buccleugh, many of whom had the same name of Walter, including the famous one), so I have Reiver blood from there too. Fascinating book especially if you have a surname that might go back to that part of the world and those times.
What I have written here is just a taste of the whole book. A little heavy going at times, but so good that I have read it twice already and now use it as a research tool.