The Debatable Lands, also known as debatable ground, batable ground or threip lands, lay between Scotland and England. It was formerly in question whether the lands belonged to either the Kingdom of Scotland or the Kingdom of England, when they were still distinct kingdoms. For most of its existence, the area was a lawless zone controlled by clans of "border reivers" which terrorised the surrounding areas. It became the last part of Great Britain to be brought under state control, when King James V of Scotland partially subdued the lands in the mid-sixteenth century. The territory was eventually divided between Scotland and England.
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In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: Debatable Lands
- Debatable Lands in the context of Anglo-Scottish border
- Debatable Lands in the context of Treaty of York
Debatable Lands in the context of Anglo-Scottish border
The Anglo-Scottish border is a boundary in Great Britain that separates England and Scotland. It runs for 96 miles (154 km) between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west.
The Firth of Forth was the border between the Picto-Gaelic Kingdom of Alba and the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria in the early 10th century. It became the first Anglo-Scottish border with the annexation of Northumbria by Anglo-Saxon England in the mid-10th century. In 973, the Scottish king Kenneth II attended the English king Edgar the Peaceful at Edgar's council in Chester. After Kenneth had reportedly done homage, Edgar rewarded Kenneth by granting him Lothian. Despite this transaction, the control of Lothian was not finally settled and the region was taken by the Scots at the Battle of Carham in 1018 and the River Tweed became the de facto Anglo-Scottish border. The Solway–Tweed line was legally established in 1237 by the Treaty of York between England and Scotland. It remains the border today, with the exception of the Debatable Lands, north of Carlisle, and a small area around Berwick-upon-Tweed, which was taken by England in 1482. Berwick was not fully annexed into England until 1746, by the Wales and Berwick Act 1746.
View the full Wikipedia page for Anglo-Scottish borderDebatable Lands in the context of Treaty of York
The Treaty of York was an agreement between the kings Henry III of England and Alexander II of Scotland, signed at York on 25 September 1237, which affirmed that Northumberland (which at the time also encompassed County Durham), Cumberland, and Westmorland were subject to English sovereignty. This established the Anglo-Scottish border in a form that remains almost unchanged to modern times (the only modifications have been regarding the Debatable Lands and Berwick-upon-Tweed). The treaty detailed the future status of several feudal properties and addressed other issues between the two kings, and historically marked the end of the Kingdom of Scotland's attempts to extend its frontier southward.
The treaty was one of a number of agreements made in the ongoing relationship between the two kings. The papal legate Otho of Tonengo was already in the Kingdom of England at Henry's request, to attend a synod in London in November 1237. Otho was informed in advance by Henry of the September meeting at York, which he attended. This meeting was recorded by the contemporary chronicler Matthew Paris, who disparaged both Alexander and Otho.
View the full Wikipedia page for Treaty of York