'Property' | Diggers | Gift | Oppressed | Fairfax
We're not talking about living on managed nature reserves - the fact is that high-impact land use (intensive housing and chemical farming)- combined with a lack of public access (scrutiny) leads to practices far more detrimental to biodiversity.
You have to be very careful using arguments about exclusivity of access to land - eg. this piece of land is for plants only. I remember seeing an Englishman in Scotland getting a cool reception in 1997 when he unveiled plans for a people-free wildlife area in the Cairngorms, "I'd say ye have nae spoken wi' many local people. Have ye never heard of the clearances," was the frosty reply.
The point we're trying to make is that responsible people manage land for the benefit of all species - not to the exclusive benefit of man. I believe Simon's criteria has a section where biodiversity is mentioned as having to form part of any management plan. That is to say "if you ain't gonna improve biodiversity you can't have your planning permission"!
I think it's really important to get away from the idea that man is incompatible with other species. It doesn't have to be like that! The problem is the current attitude to land which so many farmers have which is that they see it as their factory floor and don't look at WHY it is necessary or lucrative for them to use chemicals and force land into monoculture.
The reasons for this have a lot to do with EEC subsidies and modern distribution networks. But many farmers, and others, are guilty of this partitioned thinking where they have a 'resigned' attitude to the structure which is forcing tenant and landowning farmers to intensify their activities to destructive proportions.
The other problem comes from the private ownership of land. This means if there is any dispute about what should happen or not be allowed on the land there is no reason to talk to your neighbours. You just do what you want. It is also a very important concept that the earth is a free gift to mankind. Not to one class of mankind and not another.
Sharing land forces us to justify our plans in front of the local community and forces us into a much-needed participatory approach to land use/management.
If a modern day village was to be told the inhabitants were collectivising the land there would be nothing less than the screaming ab-dabs!!
People get very territorial especially when they have been able to wangle more than their fair share. But eventually agreement would be reached... see Ken Loach's film 'Land and Freedom' for an example of this happening in the Spanish Civil War.
But look at a pre-inclosure village. It would look something like the New Forest where the land is managed by local agreement and by local consensus. No wonder the rich and powerful sought fit to inclose it because the local wouldn't agree to their wishes to ruin it!!!
There is now only one wholly unenclosed village in the country, Laxton in Nottinghamshire.
Try visiting Laxton or the New forest and tell me if unenclosed land and wasteland is incompatible with people. You'll find in both these places the people are a positive benefit to the area.
From
Historians are inconclusive about the origin and cause of the war. Whatever brought the merchant classes, or bourgeoisie, to armed conflict with the king must have had a mighty incentive. Driven by the new capitalist class the move from collective to private ownership of land was extremely lucrative. To halt it, unforgivable.
In the eyes of the merchants the king had to go!
Probably in Stuart times baser motives weighed more heavily with the governmental authorities. The Stuart policies, especially that of Charles I, were as Tawney says, 'smeared with the trail of finance'.,' Enclosure, at any rate enclosure leading to depopulation, was an offence against the common law."* Commissions inquired into it, and in many cases the statesmen and divines who composed these were inspired by the loftiest motives. The general action of the government, however, was to use the Privy Council and the courts, especially the prerogative courts, the Court of Requests and the Star Chamber, the Councils of Wales and the North, as means of extortion. The offenders were 'compounded with', i.e. huge fines were levied so that the culprits might continue their malpractices.¹
In 1601 a proposal to repeal the depopulation acts was crushed upon the ground that the majority of the militia levies were ploughmen.² In 1603 the Council of the North were ordered to check the 'wrongful taking in of commons' and the consequent 'decay of houses of husbandry . . .'. From about 1607 to 1636, the Government pursued an active anti- enclosure policy.³ In 1607 the agrarian changes in the Midlands had produced an armed revolt of the peasantry, beginning in Northamptonshire, where there had been stirrings of unrest at any rate since 1604. The counties mainly affected were Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire, the three divisions of Lincolnshire, and Warwickshire.
The leader was a certain John Reynolds, nick- named Captain Pouch, 'because of a great leather pouch which he wore by his side, in which purse he affirmed to his company there was sufficient matter to defend them against all commers, but afterwards when he was apprehended, his Pouch was searched, and therein was only a peece of greene cheese'. John was soon dealt with after a skirmish at Newton, where a body of mounted gentlemen with their servants dispersed a body of a thousand rebels, killing some forty or fifty of the poorly-armed rustics. Some of his followers were hanged and quartered.
Promises of redress made by various proclamations were fulfilled only to the extent of the appointment of still another royal commission to inquire into agrarian grievances in the counties named. After it had made its return, however, it was discovered that on legal technicalities the commission was invalid, and little action seems to have been taken upon its laboriously compiled returns. The local gentry were soon busily at work again in enclosing their own land and that of others, though in 1620 Sir Edward Coke, the greatest of English judges, who had already shown himself a keen opponent of enclosure, declared depopulation to be against the laws of the realm, asserting that the encloser who kept a shepherd and his dog in the place of a flourishing village community was hateful to God and man.
A reaction set in when in 1619 there were good harvests, and the Privy Council was concerned to relieve farmers and landlords who were suffering through the low price of corn. This is why commissions were appointed to grant pardons for breaches of the depopulation acts, and why in 1624 all save the two acts of 1597 were repealed. The county justices still, however, attempted to check the change, and in this received more or less spasmodic pressure from the Council. In the 1630's corn prices rose again, and in 1630 the justices of five Midland counties were ordered to remove all enclosures made in the last two years. In 1632, 1635, and 1636 more commissions were appointed, and the justices of assize were instructed to enforce the tillage acts. In 1633 they were cited before the Board to give an account of their proceedings. From 1635-8 enclosure compositions were levied in thirteen counties, some six hundred persons in all being fined, and the total fines levied amounting to almost £50,000. Enclosers were being prosecuted in the Star Chamber as late as 1639. However, the Star Chamber was to vanish in 1641, and the Stuart administrative policy disappeared with the engines by which it had been - somewhat ineffectively and spasmodically - put in force.
If the reign in its social and agrarian policy may be judged solely from the number of anti-enclosure commissions set up, then undoubtedly King Charles I is the one English monarch of outstanding importance as an agrarian reformer. How far his policy was due to genuine disinterested love of the poor, and how far it followed from the more sordid motive of a desire to extort fines from offenders, it is difficult to say. But even the most unsympathetic critic must allow a good deal of honest benevolence to his minister Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, and some measure of it to his master. On the whole it is perhaps not too much to say that for a short time after the commissions issued in 1632, 1635, and 1636, Star Chamber dealt fairly effectively with offenders. The lack of ultimate success of this last governmental attempt to stem the tide of enclosure was due, no doubt, partly to the mixture of motives on the part of its proponents. Still more its failure is to be attributed to the fact that again the local administrators, upon whom the Crown depended to implement its policy, were of the very [landed] class which included the worst offenders. A (practising) poacher does not make a very good gamekeeper!
During the Commonwealth there was little legal or administrative attempt to check enclosure of open fields. It is not clear how far this was taking place, though there was great activity in the enclosure and drainage of commonable waste. Some of the Major-Generals, especially Edward Whalley, held strong views upon agrarian matters, and attempted to use their very extensive powers to carry their ideals into operation. Petitions were prepared and presented, a committee of the Council of State was appointed and numerous pamphlets were written.
In 1653 the mayor and aldermen of Leicester complained of local enclosures and sent a petition to London, very sensibly choosing their neighbour, John Moore, as its bearer. Appar- ently it was because of this that the same year the Committee for the Poor were ordered 'to consider of the business where Enclosures have been made'. The question arose again in 1656 when Whalley, the Major-General in charge of the Midlands, set on foot local inquiries, and took fairly drastic action in response to petitions adopted by the grand juries in his area. He hoped that as a result of his action 'God will not be provoked, the poor not wronged, depopulation prevented, and the State not dampnified'. The same year he brought in a Bill 'touching the dividing of commons', but it failed through the opposition of William Lenthall, the Master of the Rolls, and indeed was not even given a second reading. This was the last bill to regulate enclosure. Ten years later, in 1666, another bill was read in the Lords, to confirm all enclosures made by court decree in the preceding sixty years. It also was unsuccessful, but the fact that it was introduced is indicative of a great change in the general attitude towards enclosure displayed by those in authority.
* Coke (Chief justice of the King's Bench, 1613-16), was very emphatic on this, Institutes III, 1644 edn., p. 205. Ellesmere, his great rival (Lord Chancellor 1603-16), was more favourably disposed to enclosure, and himself authorised some enclosures by Chancery Decree. The point is of interest, since it may well have been Ellesmere's attitude which emboldened his kinsmen, Arthur Mainwaring, to embark on the enclosure of Welcombe, near Stratford, in 1614. In the story of this, Shakespeare plays a (very minor) part. Tothill, W., Transactions of the Court of Chancery etc., 1649, edn. 1827, P. 109, and Ingleby, G. M., Shakespeare and the Welcombe Inclosure, 1885.
¹ There is a tabular statement of the proceeds in Gonner, p. 167 [and presented below!].
² See D'Ewes, op. cit., p. 674, for Cecil's speech on this.
³ The activity was mainly 1607-18 and 1636, the first spasm being due presumably to the Midland riots, the second to a period of high corn prices.
1) Introduction of tillage acts
2) Introduction of depopulation acts
3) A total of 600 individual fines on enclosing landowners as follows
[from p. 167, Gonner, E.C.K., 'Common Land and Inclosure', 1912]:
| Year -> | 1635 | 1636 | 1637 | 1638 | Total 1635-8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincolnshire | 3,130 | 8,023 | 4,990 | 2,703 | 18,846 |
| Leicestershire | 1,700 | 3,560 | 4,080 | 85 | 9,425 |
| Northamptonshire | 3,200 | 2,340 | 2,875 | 263 | 8,678 |
| Huntingdonshire | 680 | 1,837 | 230 | 2,747 | |
| Rutland | 150 | 1,000 | 1,150 | ||
| Nottinghamshire | 2,010 | 78 | 2,088 | ||
| Hertfordshire | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||
| Gloucestershire | 50 | 50 | |||
| Cambridgeshire | 170 | 340 | 510 | ||
| Oxfordshire | 580 | 153 | 733 | ||
| Bedfordshire | 412 | 412 | |||
| Buckinghamshire | 71 | 71 | |||
| Kent | 100 | 100 | |||
| Grand Total | £46,810 |
If anyone has the equivalent amount in today's money please contact me here and I will include it on this page
As all indigenous people know everyone needs access to primary resources, land must be freely available to all, regardless of social standing. It is an essential right, not a privilege, in any society that calls itself civilised or free.
Yet this has rarely, if ever, been so. As this is the one step that can move us out of a world of constant fear, threat and intimidation what is stopping us getting there? Simply awareness and consciousness of the issue. The fact that land went into private ownership centuries ago does not mean that decision is irreversible.
Especially as our economic 'system' seems to be on its last legs; especially as the only answer the rich and powerful seem to have to poverty and dispossession is the totalitarianism of their corporations. We need land reform right now!
In order to help us understand how the land has been stolen, bit-by-bit, from ordinary people here in the U.K. here is a brief overview of historical terms related to land use and taxation, many of which have fallen out of use.
By understanding the progress of land control and theft from Domesday to the present I hope we can grasp our position more clearly, and be empowered to change it.
Bailiff Baron Ceorl Clan Copyhold Court Baron Court Leet Crofters' War Demesne Diggers Dissolution of the monasteries Distraint Distress Domesday book Duke Ealdorman Earl Enclosure Fealty Fee Feudalism Forest Franchise Frankalmoign Freehold Fyrd Gavelkind Gebur Geneat Highland Clearances Homage Irish land acts Irish Land League Kett's rebellion Knight Kotsetla Manor Manumission Man Trap Marquess Mesne tenure Norman yoke Peerage Pilgrimage of Grace Quit claim Reform acts Rights of Common Serf Scutage Sheriff Shire Socage Thegn Tithe Vassal Villein Viscount Witan
The agent or steward of a landlord or landowner. Also a sheriff's officer who serves writs and summonses, makes arrests, and ensures that the sentences of the court are carried out.
The fifth and lowest rank of the peerage. Until the 13th century the term was applied to all tenants-in-chief - those who held land directly from the king. A distinction came to be made between those summoned to court by personal writ (the greater barons) and those summoned by general writ (the lesser barons), which Magna Carta (1215) confirmed. A new criterion of definition was introduced in the 14th century, when baronies were created by personal summons to parliament and had no basis in land tenure. The law life peers (created since 1876) and other life peers (since 1958) are ranked as barons and baronesses.
An Anglo-Saxon peasant ranking between serf and noble. He either owned his land or receive it from a lord to whom he was therefore tied by labour services. He was liable for military service (in the fyrd) and taxes. In court he was entitled to have three fellow ceorls to support his oath. By the 11th century wealthy ceorls could become thegns, but most lost their personal freedom after the Norman conquest, and 'churl' came to mean an ill-bred person.
(Gælic for: children or offspring) Semi-autonomous political, military
and social units in the Scottish Highlands which emerged at the end of the
14th century. Clans were formed partly to counteract the growing lawlessness
that resulted from the decline of the monarchy, although the clans themselves
were partly to blame for this lawlessness.
In theory a clan consisted of all the descendants of a common ancestor, who
was regarded as the founder of the clan and who gave his name to it (e.g..
MacDonald, son of Donald). In practice many clansmen were tenants, dependants
or followers who had no blood relationship with the chief's family.
In the west many chiefs were descendants of pre-feudal local leaders, either
Celtic or Norse, who had accepted feudal tenure but now reasserted more
traditional kinship claims to authority. In the east the founders of many
clans were alien feudal landlords whose descendants adopted local customs,
accepting the Gælic language, culture and form of "clan chief" leadership.
Thus feudalism could be at leas as important as kinship in creating a clan,
while naked aggression and conquest could be as important as either in extending
a chief's power.
Under the clans, much of the Gaelic speaking Highlands (especially the west
and the Hebrides) remained outside the effective control of central government
until the 18th century.
During the 18th century the social and economic influences of Lowland Scotland
combined with political and military pressure to destroy clanship, especially
after the failure of the 1745 Jacobite rising.
A form of land tenure, so called because the holder had a copy of the record
of his holding in the manorial role. By the 15th century most villeins had
become copyholders as most of the services they owed to their lord were commuted
to money payments. Under the Reform Acts "£10 copyholders" - those with
land worth £10 annually - were given the vote in 1832 and "£5
copyholders" in 1867.
The last copyholds were converted into freeholds by the Property Act (1922)
and the last feudal obligations attached to copyhold were abolished in 1935.
A court held before the freemen of a manor to deal with such services owed by tenants to the lord and personal actions by tenants for the recovery of debts or damages worth less than 40 shillings. Neither the lord nor his steward were permitted to imprison or fine. Although obsolete, courts baron have not been abolished.
A court of record that the lord of a hundred or manor might be authorized by royal charter to summon annually. Its chief functions were to inspect the members of the hundred etc. and to punish misdemeanours. The steward of the leet was the judge and he might fine or imprison.
Action which culminated around an eviction at The Braes, south of Portree in Skye in 1882. Crowds, led by the womenfolk, gathered to ambush a large party of police and bailiffs sent from Glasgow to evict crofters from The Braes. The eviction party was sucessfully repelled and newspaper reports on 'The Battle Of The Braes' led to Lord Napier's Royal Commission into the greivances of the Crofters. This, in turn, led to the unique Crofting Acts which do a great deal to enshrine in law what had been the customary system of land tenure before the Highland Clearances began.
Crofters War links:
Top Scottish Site
http://www.hebrides.com/subj/crofting.htm
Crofters
War discussed in the House of Commons
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199697/cmhansrd/cm961106/debtext/61106-01.htm
Books
available: http://american.prices.com/books/1450/1462midi.html
That part of a manor kept by the lord for himself as distinct from land held
of him by tenants. It was exploited directly for the lord by his villeins,
the amount of work owed to him varying according to region and season. Ancient
demesne was the land that was recorded in Domesday as having been in the
possession of the crown in 1066; it included the boroughs.
Towards the end of the 14th century the combined effects of depopulation
caused by the black death, the flight of the villeins, and the low price
of grain led many lords to lease the demesne.
A small but determined group that practised a form of agrarian communism
at the end of the English Civil War. Seeing the war as a defeat for the
landowning class, 20 Diggers, under the leadership of
Gerrard Winstanley, assembled at St. George's Hill
in Surrey on 1st April 1649 to set up a colony in which land was cultivated
communally. They used liberated printing presses
to get pamphlets about their vision out to ordinary people and to ensure
their ideas survived to inspire future generations.
Believers in passive resistance, the Diggers were harassed by legal action
and mob violence and by April 1650 had been dispersed.
The suppression of the monastic houses of England and Wales and the transfer of their property to the crown in an effort to boost royal income. It was organised by Thomas Cromwell between 1536 and 1540. A visitation of all monastic houses conducted from 1535 to 1536 revealed the hoped for examples of misconduct that provided some moral justification for the policy. Approximately 800 institutions were affected and although their 9000 inmates received some compensation the dissolution provoked resentment that contributed to the Pilgrimage of Grace. For Henry VIII the policy meant an additional income in excess of £90,000 a year. Most of the property was sold off to the English gentry through the Court of Augmentations.
1. See Distress. 2. The obligation of persons owning land of a certain value (originally £20) or holdinga knight's fee, to accept a knighthood. It was introduced by Henry III to increase revenues from feudal incidents. Charles I's insistence that all owners of land with an annual value of £40 assume knighthood provoked the long parliament to abolish compulsory knighthood (1641).
The seizure of a wrongdoer's movable property by the person wronged. In feudal law, a lord possessed the right to seize the property, also called distress and generally comprising livestock, of a tenant who had failed to perform the services owing to him. The statute of Marlborough (1267) and subsequent legislation attempted to regulate abuses in distress.
The most comprehensive and detailed record of property compiled anywhere
in Europe during the middle ages. Conceived by William the Conqueror at Christmas
1085 in Gloucester, the survey's primary purpose was to provide maximum yeild
from the land tax. It received its name in the 12th century to signify that,
like the day of judgement, there could be no appeal from its verdict.
The survey was carried out in 1086. Each shire was visited by groups of royal
commissioners, who conducted their investigations from the shire courts.
Every village was expected to reply to a variable list of questions, including
identity of landholders, the size and use of land, the number and status
of its cultivators, and its value, "all threefold: before 1066, when king
William gave it, and now". The truth of the replies was attested by juries
consisting of an equal number of Englishmen and Normans. The information
was then condensed and tabulated, shire by shire, on the basis of feudal
ownership: the king's estates were listed followed by those belonging to
the ecclesiastical and lay tenants-in-chief, women, English thegns, etc..
The survey was eventually recorded in two volumes, one dealing with the counties
of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex (Little Domesday) and the other with the remainder,
which were held at the treasury in Winchester. The four northernmost counties,
London, and Winchester were not included.
The survey caused considerable resentment and, in some places, riots. Domesday
Book is now in the Public Record Office.
The Village of Groby in Medaeval times - domesday entry and glossary http://www.grobynet.org.uk/gname.htm
In the Saxon and British tongue, signified a part or portion, most commonly
of a meadow, where several persons have shares.
Encylopaedia Britannica, 1697, Edinburgh.
The highest rank of the peerage originating in 1337 with the creation as duke of Cornwall of Edward, the Black Prince. The first nonroyal duke was Robert de Vere, 9th earl of Oxford, created duke of Ireland in 1386.
A noble of the highest social rank in Anglo-Saxon England, appointed by the king to govern a shire. Ealdormen were responsible for the shire military levy and secular law in the shire moot. From the 10th or 11th century ealdormen became powerful local magnates, with control over more than one shire, and became known as earls.
The chief royal representative in the shires, replacing the Anglo-Saxon ealdorman in the Danish areas of England in the 10th century and throughout the country under king Cnut (reigned 1016-35). Although the office was nominally the gift of the king, the earls had such political and landed power that the tendency was towards hereditability. In the shire the earl commanded the fyrd, presided over the court, and received a third of the profits of justice. During the 11th century earls ruled over provinces, such as Wessex and Northumbria, and were replaced in shire administration by the sheriffs. In the 12th century the title of earl became one of nobility and earls formally entered the peerage.
[Originally and more correctly spelt 'Inclosure' as the E spelling was thought
by the powerful landowners to be less emotive.]
The conversion of the open field system of farming into that of enclosed
fields, completed by the early 19th century. The enclosure by landlords of
open fields, commons and waste lands occurred in the middle ages. Extensive
enclosure, especially for sheep farming, took place in the 16th century,
causing considerable unrest (e.g.. The Pilgrimage of Grace and Kett's Rebellion).
In spite of legislation against enclosure by 1700 about half the arable land
in England and Wales was enclosed. The farming 'improvements' of the agricultural
revolution were inoperable in open fields and, together with the food demands
of an increasing landless population, brought about a relentless movement
towards enclosure in the 18th century. Implemented mostly by enclosure acts
(private acts of parliament), by 1815 almost all usable farming land was
enclosed.
These enclosures, while essentially for revolutionising farming and food
supply, had unfavourable social effects. Although land reallocation under
an enclosure act theoretically compensated those losing their rights to common
land, in practice most lacked the capital to utilise the land, and many
smallholders could not live adequately from their new plots; further, landless
labourers received no compensation.
The loyalty sworn by a vassal to his lord. It followed the act of homage. While making the oath the vassal placed his hand on the Scriptures or on a casket containing relics. The oath still survives in the coronation service.
Land granted to a knight by his lord in return for military service. By the 12th century such land was regarded as inheritable. Its size varied and it could be let by mesne. The word was later extended to offices of profit similarly held, and thence to the sums that those who held such offices were authorized to demand as payment for the exercise of their official functions. It was later extended to denote the remuneration due to lawyers and physicians, and in modern times to any professional person for services provided.
A system of land tenure, characteristic of medæval Europe, in which
land is held by a vassal (the feudal inferior) of his lord (the feudal superior)
in return for a pledge of homage, military services, and certain other duties.
In England, land was granted by the king to his tenants in chief, who might
pass on part of their service, in return for grants of land, to tenants,
and these tenants might do likewise.
All land was held directly or indirectly (mesne tenure) of the King, who
was the feudal superior of all tenants.
The question whether feudalism was introduced into England by the Normans
has been much disputed. There are almost no cases of land held for specific
military service in Anglo-Saxon England and the knight often regarded as
an essential component of feudal society, was unknown in England before 1066.
His home, the castle, was also a Norman innovation.
The feudal host provided the nucleus of the Anglo-Norman army but Kings also
relied heavily upon mercenaries and specialist soldiers. Soon after the conquest
money payment (scutage) was being exacted from the holders of fees (lands
held in return for the service of one knight) in place of military service
and the money was used to hire mercenaries. This process was hastened by
increasingly sophisticated warfare and the needs of English kings in the
12th and 13th centuries for almost permanent armies to serve in France, Wales
and Scotland.
The Military Justification for feudal tenure therefore declined at the same
time as the development of Royal Justice contributed to the decline of the
private jurisdictions of feudal Lords.
The Feudal System http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/vinogradoff/feudal
The right of keeping wild beasts or fowls in a specific area, not necessarily wooded, for the purpose of hunting. The royal forests were protected by forest laws, enacted mainly between 1066 and 1189. Penalties for infringement of the laws were severe and included capital punishment and mutilation, both abolished by the forest charter (1217). The repeal of the forest laws, little enforced after 1688, was completed by 1817.
The right to elect members of the House of Commons, known as the franchise, was until the present century only granted to landowners. The term originates in the setting free (French franchir, to set free) of the unfree by manumission. The franchise denoted first the body of freemen in a manor, borough, etc., and then their rights, including the right to vote. This depended largely on land ownership qualifications. Between 1430 and 1832 the English county franchise was limited to residents possessing a freehold worth 40 shillings a year. Borough members were elected on a variety of franchises. the reform act of 1832 unified the borough franchises, that of 1867 enfranchised all borough householders, and that of 1884 all county householders. In 1918 all men over 21 and women over 30 were enfranchised. Women over 21 have voted since 1928. Plural voting whereby certain electors might vote in more than one constituency, did not end until the abolition of the university seats in 1948.
(Anglo-Norman: free alms) land held by the church fro such services as praying fro the souls of the lord and his heirs. Originating in Anglo-Saxon times, it was not abolished until 1925.
A form of land tenure. Under feudalism freeholders were those who held land by knight service or by socage tenure. The services attached to these tenures were at an early date commuted to money payments. These rents were fixed and thus constituted a decreasing burden. Lands held in knight service also bore the various feudal incidents, but in practice the free tenures had become hardly distinguishable from absolute possession well before they were finally abolished by the long parliament (1640-60). The unfree tenures, notably copyhold, were finally converted into freehold by the property act (1922).
During the Anglo-Saxon period, a local military force in which all free men were obliged to serve. A fyrd seldom fought beyond the borders of the shires in which it was raised.
Tenure of land in return for the payment of rent (gavel) rather than the performance of services. Common in Kent, but occurring elsewhere, gavelkind land was not subject to the law of primogeniture but was inheritable by all heirs.
An Anglo-Saxon peasant, or ceorl. The gebur might have originated as a serf, who was given a yardland (generally about 20 acres) in return for specified and often burdonsome labour services and rents. His land and tools reverted to his lord on his death.
A high-ranking ceorl, who paid rent for his land and performed services for his lord that were suitable to his standing, such as serving as a horseman. The word means companion, so geneatas probably originated as members of the lord's household.
Eviction and enclosure of traditional Crofter and Cottar's settlements during the 18th century in the Scottish Highlands. The Scottish gentry's gambling debts in London pressurised themminto obtaining greater revenues from their estates which they did by replacing low rent human settlement with high yeild sheep rearing. The Cheviot sheep thus replaced people in the Highlands who, because they were evicted far from the public eye, suffered brutal treatment from landlord's 'factors' such as Patrick Sellar. He ordered at least one building to be burnt down in full knowledge that a bedridden occupant was still inside.
Highland Clearances links:
The Highland Clearances,
includes links page http://www.sirius.com/~macgowan/hc.html
U.S. Highland Clearances
site: http://www.clannada.org/docs/clrsncsa.html
Highland Clearances references:
David Craig, On the Crofters' Trail: in Search of the Clearance Highlanders,
Pimlico, London, 1990.
The act of submission made by a feudal tenant to his lord. Kneeling, a tenant gave his joined hands to be clasped by his lord, whom he undertook to serve. This was followed by the swearing of fealty.
A series of acts passed in response to agitation by Irish tenants for land
rights.
1. (1870) An act that provided compensation for eviction and for improvements
carried out by tenants.
2. (1881) An act guaranteeing fair rents, fixity of tenure, and freedom to
sell (the three F's).
3. (1885) An act- Ashbourne's act- that advanced £5million (increased
in 1888 and 1891) for the purchase of land by tenants.
4. (1903) The Wyndham Act- by which landlords were offered bonuses to sell
their lands.
An organisation formed to achieve land reform in Ireland. Founded in 1879
by Michael Davitt, its most famous tactic mass organised ostracism
(boycotting) of unpopular landlords and their agents. After Gladstone's
1881 Irish Land Act the League's immediate aims were achieved and it
disbanded.
Straide, in county Mayo, is Michael Davitt's birthplace. A plaque and Musuem
have been erected to his memory in the village.
Irish Land League links: THE GREAT STARVATION AND BRITISH IMPERIALISM IN IRELAND by Seamus Metress University of Toledo http://wwwvms.utexas.edu/~jdana/iphunger.html
An insurrection in Norfolk led by Robert Kett. The rebellion was directed against the enclosure by landowners of common pasture lands to raise their own sheep. The rebels - numbering some 16,000 - proposed the abolition of private ownership of land and achieved some short-lived success before being suppressed by forces under the earl of Warwick (later duke of Northumberland). Kett was chained to the city walls of Norwich and left to die.
Norwich drama group and a play on Ketts Rebellion http://www.paston.co.uk/users/joedye/plays.html#ketts
The mounted warrior of medieval Europe, it is likely he was a Norman innovation. A man became a knight, or was dubbed for knighthood, in a ceremony in which he was invested, by a noble, with a set of arms. In return for field service for a stated period, garrison duty, payment of feudal service and a general obligation to give counsel and aid his lord, a knight received land, his fee.
In the 11th century, a ceorl, or free peasant, who owed one day's labour a week to his lord and extra days at harvest time. In return he was permitted to farm a small share of the common.
A landholding unit in Medieval England. It was normally divided into two:
the demesne, land kept under the lord's direct control and cultivated for
his profit, and the tenants' holdings, land granted in return for service,
whether free (for money rent) or unfree (for labour provided on the lord's
demesne).
The proportion of demesne and tenanted land varied; some manors had no demesne,
others no land holding tenants. Nor was it always coterminus with a village:
some manors comprised several villages or one village might be divided between
several manors. The lord of a manor exercised jurisdiction over his tenants
in the court baron and some also held courts leet.
The manor's origin is unclear but manors were certainly present in the late
Anglo-Saxon period and almost all were created before 1289. They retained
their integrity as territorial, legal, and administrative units until the
early modern period, and vestiges of the manorial system still exist.
Man Traps, Spring Guns and Dog Spears were used to frighten off poachers
and trespassers of all sorts. These barbarous implements flourished during
the 17th and 18th centuries and earlier years of the 19th.
The Man Trap was a very large double spring gin trap. The second spring was
to ensure that if a person was caught by one leg only, he/she could not release
the jaws by pressing the free foot on the other spring.
Spring guns were loaded shotguns attatched to a trip-wire. One of the
manafacturers was Higham, Warrington. A decision was given on 22nd January
1820 it was legal to set these engines if public notice was given to that
effect.
The Dog Spear was planted in undergrowth with the object of maiming a running
dog.
A man-trap tale from Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, England:
In 1608, an elegant manor house - Bosworth Hall - was built by Sir Beaumont
Dixie and the family occupied it for generations. Situated in elegant parkland
it was later a hospital but is now a luxurious hotel. An indication of the
first Sir Wolstan Dixie's personality is reflected by claims that he installed
a man-trap in the grounds to ensnare a young hopeful after his daughter,
Anne. However, it was Anne who fell foul of the device, which severed her
leg at the ankle. She died of her injuries shortly afterwards.
http://www.hinckley-times.co.uk/bosworth.html
The man trap was used by land owners to inhibit the starving Irish peasants from stealing from orchards and fields where food was being grown. http://www.iol.ie/tipp/faminech.htm
The granting of the status of a free man, or franchise to a villein. Freedom was usually obtained by payment (quit rent) to the lord, who gave the villein his freedom (see quit claim) in a ceremony performed before the sheriff in court.
A rank of the peerage, standing below a duke and above an earl. It was first conferred in 1385 on Robert de Vere, 9th earl of Oxford. The oldest surviving marquessate is Winchester, created in 1551. A woman holding the rank is called a marchioness.
A kind of sub-letting in feudal law, where land was held from a lord by a mesne, or middle, lord, from whom an inferior tenant then held it. The arrangement was called subinfeudation.
A phrase applied to Norman rule by those who saw the Norman conquest as leading to the overthrow of representative institutions and their replacement by despotic, autocratic government. The Normans were a continental ruling dynasty, descended from the Viking Rollo, who were recognised by England in 911. The concept of the Norman yoke was a powerful political force in the English civil war, when the Anglo-Saxon witan was equated with parliament and the Norman kings with Charles I.
In descending order of rank, dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts and barons. The peerage originated from the tenants in chief, those who held land direct from the Norman kings. Although of different ranks they enjoyed the same privileges, notably the right to be tried by their 'peers' (latin pares, equals), which was last claimed in 1936 and abolished in 1948. The peers collectively comprise the lords temporal of the House of Lords.
A series of risings against Henry VIII that originated as a protest in Lincolnshire against the dissolution of the smaller monasteries. These rebellious supporters of traditional religion were joined by feudal magnates opposed to the extension of royal control over the north and by peasants worried by the enclosure of arable lands for pasture. The unrest spread to Yorkshire, where Robert Aske led the forces opposed to the King. The rebels did not coordinate their efforts, and no pitched battle took place. Their leaders were arrested and executed, and royal authority was restored by February 1537.
The release by a lord of all claims that he might have against a villein, who in compensation for lost services paid a quit rent. (See Manumission)
Three measures of electoral reform in the 19th century which went some way to granting the vote to those who do not own land:
1. (1832) An act originated by the Whig government of Lord Grey in response to widespread unrest. The first reform bill was introduced in March 1831. It was defeated by the Tories in April and the government resigned. The general election returned the Whigs, who introduced a second bill in June. In October the Lords rejected it and riots, notably in Bristol, ensued. A third bill, introduced in December again met obstruction in the Lords. Only after William IV, in response to Grey's resignation and popular agitation, threatened to create sufficient new peers to override the opposition did the bill become law. The bill disenfranchised most rotten boroughs, and the released seats were redistributed amongst the counties and previously unrepresented boroughs. The franchise was extended in the counties from the freeholders of property worth 40 shillings a year to £10 copyholders and £50 short leaseholders and tenants-at-will; in the boroughs £10 householders were granted the vote. The electorate in England and Wales was immediately increased by some 50%, but the vote had been extended only to the prosperous middle class.
2. (1867) An act sponsored by Derby's Conservative government and largely the work of Disraeli that extended the franchise to another 938,000 voters (bringing the total to some two million). It extended the vote to £5 leaseholders and £12 occupiers in the counties and to all householders and rentpayers paying £10 per annum in the boroughs. Some 45 parliamentary seats were redistributed.
3. (1884) An act introduced by Gladstone's government in response to radicals' demands, that extended the household franchise to the counties; the total electorate thus increased from about three to about five million. A separate measure (1885) redistributed seats to achieve an exact correspondence throughout the country between population and representation.
Common Land is Land subject to Rights of Common - ie rights enjoyed by one or more persons to take or use part of a piece of land or the produce of a piece of land which is 'owned' by somebody else.
Ancient rights of common were usually of five kinds, although there were others:
- of pasture: the right to graze livestock; the animals
permitted, whether sheep, horses, cattle, etc.,were specified in each case.
- of estovers: the right to cut and take wood (but not timber),
reeds heather bracken, etc.
- of turbary: the right to dig turf or peat for fuel.
- in the soil: the right to take sand, gravel, stone, coal,
minerals, etc.
- of piscary: the right to take fish from ponds, streams
etc.
An unfree peasant. A serf was tied to the land, which he tilled in return for paying a fee in cash or kind and providing services to his lord. He enjoyed certain rights that distinguished him from a slave. Slaves are legally owned by a master and their function is only to provide services to him.
A payment made by a knight to the king in commutation of services owed for his fee. The term derives from the latin scutum, shield, part of the knight's accoutrement.
A royal official who, from the early 11th century, came to replace the earl
as the king's chief agent in the shire. The Sheriff (or shire reeve)
was responsible for financial administration, the collection and local assessment
of royal taxes, and the supervision of royal estates. He also sat in the
shire court- although he did not preside over it until after the Norman conquest.
Abuse of their powers by sheriffs led to an inquest (1170), following which
many were dismissed. The office lost its importance by the 16th century and
the sheriff's duties now comprise chiefly the supervision of parliamentary
elections, executing writs, and the summoning of jurors.
A unit of local government that originated in 8th and 9th century Wessex. The shire system, which replaced the Roman provinces, was later extended to cover the whole of England. A shire usually took its name from its principal city. The king's interest was represented by an earldorman and later by a sheriff, who presided over the shire court and was responsible for the militia. The shires were replaced after the Norman invasion by the counties.
A form of land tenure, in which the tenant owed any of a variety of (non-military) services in return for land. The term now refers to freehold tenure.
(Old English, one who serves). A noble of Anglo-Saxon England, having a wergild six times greater than that of a ceorl. A thegn held his estates, which were hereditary, in return for service to his lord. The duty of the King's thegns included attendance at the witan, military service, and administration in both central and local government. The importance of the thegns was diminished by the time of the Norman conquest because estates of a deceased thegn were divided amongst all his sons.
The payment of one-tenth of the earnings or produce of an inhabitant of a
parish for the upkeep of the church. Originally voluntary, tithes were first
enforced in the mid 10th century, and they became an important item in the
income of parish priests. The payment of tithes was widely resented and became
a political issue during the Interregnum, when Barebones Parliament sought
to abolish them. They were also bitterly resented by the Roman Catholic majority
in Ireland and formed one of the grievances of the Whiteboys.
A series of Tithe Acts (1836-91) replaced tithes with rent charges dependent
on corn prices; these charges were abolished in 1936. Similar acts were later
passed for Scotland and Ireland.
A feudal tenant holding land from a lord in return for his sworn loyalty and service. The vassal had to do homage and swear fealty to his lord.
A Medieval peasant. The word is derived from the Latin villanus, villager- the class of person most frequently mentioned in the Domesday Book. Like the Anglo-Saxon gebur or geneat the villeins cultivated land in the village fields in return for labour services on the manorial farm. By the 13th century the villeins had become unfree peasants bound to their lords by rigid legal and economic ties. Economic and social changes, especially after the black death, had greatly weakened the institution of villeinage by the 15th century.
A rank of the peerage, below an earl and above a baron, originally a sheriff of a county and thus a deputy of a count or earl (Latin: vicecomes). The title was first used of a peer in 1440.
The council of the Anglo-Saxon kings. It developed from Germanic assemblies summoned to witness royal grants of land. By the late 9th century the witan had become a formal gathering of the principle ealdormen, thegns and bishops, summoned by the king to give him advice and to witness acts of royal administration, such as grants of charters and church benefices, new laws, and royal decisions on taxation, foreign policy and defence. The witan played a valuable role in checking royal power and preventing autocracy. It also carried on the business of government during gaps in the succession.
1066 --Norman Invasion, imposition of Norman Yoke
1086 --Domesday Book
1470-1900 --Enclosure
1536-1540 --Dissolution of the Monasteries
1549 --Kett's Rebellion
1642-1649 --English Civil War
1649 --The Diggers
1870-1903 --Irish Land Acts
1879-1881 --Irish Land League
1800-1882 --Highland Clearances
1882 --Crofters' War
1995- --The Land Is Ours, a landrights movement for Britain
Das Kapital on dispossession from the land chapter 27 http://www.marx.org/Archive/1867-C1/Part8/ch27.htm
Land Occupation at St George's Hill http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/tash_lodge/st_georg.htm
General Land Rights http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/tash_lodge/land1.htm
The Crofters Struggle - The Glendale Uprising. Following the clearances in the second half of the nineteenth century, the tide of fortunes at last began to turn for crofters. Inspired by the land struggle in Ireland and the writings of political dissidents such as John Murdoch, crofters at last began to organise and assert themselves; those on the Isle of Skye playing a key role in the events that followed.
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/info/History/TheCroftersStruggle
Battle of the Braes: last stand against the Clearances - By BRENDAN O'BRIEN. Clan chiefs began to clear crofters from their lands to concentrate on more profitable sheep farming Skye crofters rebelled against Lord MacDonald, who sought help from the law 100 men, women and children armed with sticks and stones against 50 Glasgow policemen near Portree. FOLLOWING the Jacobite’s devastating defeat at Culloden in 1746, the Highland way of life came under increasing scrutiny. The threat was at first political, as the government imposed restrictions on their cultural customs and language. However, the gravest threat was economic, and one that eventually changed the Highland landscape.
http://heritage.scotsman.com/thehighlandclearances/Battle-of-the-Braes-last.2596614.jp
The tenants of Skinidin claim two islands, opposite their crofts, in Loch Dunvegan. Apart from this, they complain that they do not get the quantity of seaweed to which they were entitled This may appear to some a small matter, but to the cultivator of a croft it is a matter of great import-ance, for seaware is the only manure which he can conveni-ently get, excepting, of course, the manure produced by his cows. The quantity of ware promised to the Skinidin crofters was one ton each, but the one-half of it, they say, was taken from them some time ago, and given to the "wealthy men" and favourites of the place. The result is that they have to cross to the opposite side of Loch Dun-vegan and buy sea-ware there at 31s. 6d. per ton. This is not only an outlay of money, which the poor crofters can ill afford to incur, but it also entails great labour, which is attended with no inconsiderable danger to life. The crofters accordingly demand the quantity of ware to which, they say, they are entitled.
The Colbost tenants, to the number of twenty-five, also sent in a petition, in which they complained of high rents, and stated that owing to incessant tilling the land is becom-ing exhausted, and ceasing to yield that crop which they might fairly expect. In 1848, they say they got Colbost with its old rights at its old rent with the sanction of the proprietor. The local factor, Norman Macraild, subse-quently deprived them of these privileges, while the rents were being constantly increased They accordingly demand that their old privileges should be restored, and the rents reduced to the old standard, otherwise they will not be able to meet their engagements.
We shall next take the petition of the Harmaravirein crofters. The place is occupied by John Campbell, who pays £9 15s. 4d.; John Maclean, £5 3s. 4d.; John Mackay, £6 2s. 8d.; and Donald Nicolson, £4 12s. The petition, which was in the following terms, deserves record:-
We, the crofters of Harmaravirein, do humbly show by this peti-tion that we agree with our fellow-petitioners in Glendale as to their requests. We do, by the same petition, respectfully ask redress for grievances laid upon US by a despotic factor, Donald Macdonald, Tor-more, who thirteen years ago for the first time took from us part of our land, against our will, and gave it to others, whom he drove from ano-ther quarter of the estate of Glendale, to extend his own boundaries, and acted similarly two years ago, when he dispersed the Ramasaig tenantry. We, your humble petitioners, believe that none of the griev-ances mentioned were known to our late J:tood and famous proprietor, being an absentee, in whom we might place our confidence had he been present to hear and grant our request. As an instance of his goodwill to his subjects, the benefits he bestowed on the people of St. Kilda are manifest to the kingdom of Great Britain. We, your petitioners, pray our new proprietors to consider our case, and grant that the tenantry be reinstated in the places which have been cleared of their inhabitants by him in Tormore…..
The petition of the Upper and Lower Milivaig and Borro-dale crofters set forth that, notwithstanding their going north and south all over the country to earn their bread, they are still declining into poverty. The crofts too are getting ex-hausted through constant tilling. Before 1845 they say there were only 16 families in the two Milivaigs and one in Borro-dale. There are now 5 in Borrodale, 19 in Upper Milivaig, and 20 in Lower Milivaig, averaging six souls in each family. The rent before 1845 for the two Milivaigs was £40. At the date mentioned, Macleod of Macleod, who was then proprietor, divided each of the two Milivaigs into 16 crofts.
They prayed that they might get the lands of Waterstein now tenanted by Dr. Martin. The petition concluded :-
……..Further, we would beg, along with our fellow-petitioners in Glen-dale, that the tenantry who have been turned out of Lowerkell, Rama-saig, and Hamara by our ill-ruling factor be reinstated.
The tenants of Holmesdale and Liepbein, 29 in number, stated in their petition, that 48 years ago the place was let to ten tenants at about £60, and afterwards re-let to 25 tenants at about £85, besides a sum of £3 2S. 6d. for providing peats for the proprietor. The rents, they say, have nearly doubled since then, and the inhabitants in-creased, the present number being nearly 200, occupying 33 dwellings. There was much overcrowding, there being as many as 15 persons upon crofts of four acres. The petition contained the following estimate of factors :-" Unless poor crofters are to be protected by the proprietor of the estate, we need not expect anything better than suppression from factors who are constantly watching and causing the down-fall of their fellow-beings, in order to turn their small portion of the soil into sheep-walks." These tenants prayed that the evicted townships of Lowerkell, Ramasaig, and Hamara, should be restored to the tenants, and thus to afford relief to the overcrowded townships. The crofters of Glasvein said they had no hill pasture for sheep, and no peat moss to get their fuel from. When some of the present crofters, they say, came into possession of their crofts, the town-ship of Glasvein was allotted to seven tenants, each paying an average rent of £5, whereas now the township is in the possession of 12 crofters, paying each an average rent of £4 or so. They accordingly sought to have this matter remedied.
It may be stated that most of the tenants of Glendale appear to be all hard-working, industrious men, and their houses are better, on the whole, than any crofter district that that we have yet visited in Skye. The soil is more fertile, well drained, and comparatively well cultivated. The men seem to be thoroughly intelligent, and some of them not only read newspapers, but have very decided opinions in regard to some of them. One of these, the Scotsman, we heard them designating as "The United Liar". But newspaper reading-that is Liberal newspaper reading-is not encouraged in Glendale. One man whom we met informed us that a crofter in Glendale was accused of reading too many newspapers, a circumstance which the factor strongly suspected accounted for the heinous crime of the crofter being a Liberal. At one time there were some small shops in Glendale, but these would appear to have practically vanished Some years ago the factor set up a meal store himself, and the crofters, we are informed, were given to understand that shopkeepers would have to pay a rent of £2 each for these so-called shops, in addition to their rents. No one, however, appears to have ever been asked to pay this, but the shops ceased to exist!
Perhaps the most indefensible custom of all was to compel the incoming tenant to pay up the arrears, however large a sum, of his predecessor. This appeared so incredible that no one present felt justified in publishing it; but on our consulting the factor personally, he not only admitted but actually defended the practice as a kind of fair enough premium or "good will" for the concern, and said it was quite a common practice in the Isle of Skye. We would describe it in very different terms, but that is unnecessary. It only wants to be stated to be condemned by all honest men as an outrage on public morality.
As we left the district the crofters were in great glee at the prospect of a visit from the trustees to arrange matters with them. They are hopeful that important concessions may be made to them, and if these hopes should not be realised, they appear to be animated with an unflinching determination to stand by one another, and, shoulder to shoulder, agitate for the redress of what they firmly maintain to be great and serious grievances.
DR. MARTIN'S ESTATE.
We have left ourselves but little space to speak of the condition of affairs on the estate of Dr. Martin. This estate is one which is of great interest to Highlanders. Borreraig, one of the townships in revolt, was anciently held rent free by the MacCrimmons, the hereditary pipers of Macleod of Dunvegan. The principal grievance com-plained of by the crofters may be briefly stated. The crofters are required to sell to the laird all the fish they catch at a uniform rate of sixpence for ling and fourpence for cod, and we have actually been informed of a case where some one was accused at a semi-public meeting of interfering in a sort of clandestine way with the doctor's privileges by buying the fish at higher prices. The crofters were also required to sell their cattle to the doctor's bailiff at his own price. A man spoke of his having some time ago sold a stirk to a foreign drover, and was after all re-quired to break his bargain with the outsider and hand over the animal to the bailiff: This bailiff was, however, dis-missed last Whitsunday, a fact stated in defence by Dr. Martin's friends. Tenants are also required to give eight days' free labour each year to the laird, failing which to pay a penalty of 2s. 6d. per day; and while thus working, we were informed that if anyone by accident broke any of the tools he used, he was required to pay for the damage. The breaking of a shearing-hook subjected the man who did it to pay 2s. 6d for it. We are aware that the friends of the laird maintain that the labour thus contributed by the people is in reality not for labour, but an equivalent for a portion of the rent. This is a very plausible excuse, but it will not bear examination. If it is regarded as a part of the rent, rates should be paid upon it, and the cc annual value" or rent returned to the county valuator each year should be the amount actually paid in money plus the value of the eight days' labour. Thus, either the labour is free, or there is an unjust and inequitable burden thrown on the other crofters in the parish who do not perform such labour, as, of course, the labour given by Dr. Martin's tenants is not rated. The tenants have now struck against performing this work, and Dr. Martin's work was done this year on ordinary day labour.
The people also complain that the hill land was taken from the tenants of Galtrigill, and the hill grounds of Borreraig, the neighbouring township, thrown open to them. This was a very material curtailment of the subjects let, but further, sums of from 10s. to 30s. were added to the rent of each holding. No crofter on the estate has a sheep or a horse, and they are obliged to buy wool for their clothing from a distance, as Dr. Martin, they say, will not sell them any. The tenants paid their rents at Martinmas last, but they have given notice that unless their demands are con-ceded they will not pay the rent due at Martinmas next. The leading points of their petition are that the rents be reduced, the old land-marks restored, and the hill grounds as of old given to them. This petition the tenants sent to Dr. Martin some time ago, but he has not made any reply. The tenants do not appear to be very hopeful that he will make any concession, but they are evidently deter-mined to walk in the same paths as their neighbours on the estate of Sir John Macpherson Macleod, and they are in great hopes that the friends of the Gael in the large towns of the south will manfully aid them in their battle against landlordism. This statement will enable the reader to form his own opinion on the question which has produced such a feeling of insecurity and terror in the minds of both crofter and proprietor for the last two years in the Isle of Skye, indeed throughout the whole Highlands.
BURNING THE SUMMONSES IN THE BRAES.
We shall next give a short account of what followed upon the refusal of these proprietors to give favourable considera-tion to the claims of their crofting tenantry. A correspon-dent of the Free Press, early in April last, described what had occurred-after the tenants had refused to pay any rent until their grievances were considered-in the following terms :-
The quarrel between Lord Macdonald and his tenants of Balmeanach, Peinichorrain, and Gedintaillear, in the Braes of Portree, is developing into portentous importance. His lordship, it appears, has made up his mind to put the law in force against them, and not on any account to yield to their demands; and on Friday a sheriff-officer and assistant, accompanied by his lordship's ground-officer from Portree, proceeded to serve summonses of removing, and small debt summonses for rent upon about a score of the refractory ones. The tenants, however, for some time past, since they took up their present attitude, have been posting regular sentinels on watch to give warning of any stranger's approach, and when the officer and his party were at the Bealach near the schoolhouse, two youngsters who were on duty there-about gave the signal, and, immediately, it was transmitted far and near with the result of bringing together from all quarters from their spring work a gathering of about 150 or 200 men, women, and children, who rushed to meet the officer before he had got near the intended scene of his operation, viz., the townships of Peinichorrain, Balmeanach, and Gedintaillear, and, surrounding him, demanded his business. Upon understanding it, and being shown the summonses, the documents were immediately taken from him and burnt before his eyes, and thereupon he was coolly requested to go to his master for more of them. The officer, who is well known among them, with good tact, humoured them, and so escaped with a sound skin, so that no violence was used; but it appears the temper of the people was such that had he been less conciliatory, or had he attempted to resist the people, the consequence would have been inevi-tably very serious for him. When they were gathering from the sea-shore, where many of them were cutting sea-ware with reaping-hooks, their leaders judiciously shouted out to leave their hooks behind, which was done, so that the risk of using such ugly arms in the event of a melee was avoided. The officer spoke lightly before proceeding to the place of the resistance he was likely to meet, and thought there would really be none, as he knew the people so well and they knew him, many of them being his relations, but his impressions now of the real state of the people's minds is said to be very different, and he believes there would be no use attempting any legal steps again by the employment of the officers of civil law. The same paper in a later issue says :-
We have received the following narrative of the manner in which the summonses were burned on Friday last :- The people met the officer on the road, about a mile from the scene of his intended labours. They were clamorous and angry, of course. He told them his mission, and that he would give them the summonses on the spot if they liked They said, "Thoir dhuinn iad," (Give them to us) and he did so. The officer was then asked to light a fire. He did so; and a fish liver being placed upon it, that oily material was soon in a blaze. The officer was then peremptorily ordered to consign the summonses to the flames, which he did! The summonses were of course straightway consumed to ashes. The interchange of compliments between the officers of the law and the people were, as might be ex-pected, of a fiery character. The chief officer was graciously and considerately informed that his conduct - as he had only acted in the performance of a public official duty - was excusable; but with his assistant, or concurrent, it was different. He was there for pay, and he would not go home without it. Certain domestic utensils, fully charged, were suddenly brought on the scene, and their contents were showered on the unlucky assistant, who immediately disappeared, followed by a howling crowd of boys.
MARCH OF THE DISMAL BRIGADE.
The summonses were never served, and the County Au-thorities after full consideration determined to arrest and punish the ringleaders for deforcing the officers of the law. Sheriff Ivory obtained a body of police from Glasgow, and with these, twelve from the mainland of the County of In-verness, and the Skye portion of the force, he, with the leading county officials invaded the Isle of Skye during the night of the 17th of April. After consulting with the local authorities in Portree, an early start was made for the Braes to surprise and arrest the ringleaders. The secret was well kept, but two newspaper correspondents were fortunate enough to get an inkling of the proceedings, namely, Mr. Mackinnon Ramsay, of the Citizen, who followed the in-vading force from Glasgow, and Mr. Alexander Gow, a special correspondent of the Dundee Advertiser, who had gone to Portree a few days before the Battle of the Braes. These gentlemen accompanied the county officials, saw the whole proceedings, and sent a full description of the desper-ate and humiliating scrimmage to their respective papers. We give below Mr. Gow's graphic account, every particular of which we found corroborated by the leading county officials on our arrival in Portree the. same evening. After describing the state of feeling, and the acts on the part of the crofters which led up to direct contact with the criminal authorities, Mr. Gow proceeds :-
Here we were, then - two Sheriffs, two Fiscals, a Captain of police, forty-seven members of the Glasgow police force, and a number of the county constabulary, as well as a couple of newspaper representatives from Dundee and Glasgow, and a gentleman representing a well-known Glasgow drapery house-fairly started on an eight-mile tramp to the Land League camp at Braes, in weather that for sheer brutal ferocity had not been experienced in Skye for a very long time. In the cold grey dawn the procession wore a sombre aspect. It looked for all the world like a Highland funeral. It was quite on the cards, indeed, that the return journey might partake of the nature of a funeral procession. There could be no doubt that every one was fully impressed with the gravity of the mission on which we were proceeding. It is literal truth to say that no member of the company expected to return without receiving knocks, if not some-thing more serious. We were perfectly aware that the crofters had made preparations for giving us a warm recep-tion. In front, some distance ahead of the main body, walked the sheriff-officer, a policeman, and another person occupying for the time being some official position. Then came the police detachment, and the Sheriffs and the Fiscals brought up the rear-the three unofficial persons already mentioned forming what may be termed the rearguard. In this manner we proceeded without incident for four miles, when the Sheriff and his friends left the vehicle and sent it back. About half-past six o'clock we reached the boundary of the disaffected district nearest Portree. Hitherto scarcely a single soul was observed along the route, and some surprise was expressed by those in charge. At the schoolhouse, however, it was expected that a portion of the colony would be encountered, but the place was untenanted. On another mile, and signs of life appeared among the hillocks. Pre-sently our ears were saluted with whistling and cheering, and this was interpreted as a sign that it was time to close the ranks. Gedentailler township was passed without any demonstrations of hostility. At the south end of this town-ship there is an ugly looking pass, which seemed to cause some anxiety to the officers in charge. No wonder, as there could not be a finer position for an attack on a hostile body of men. On the west, a steep rocky brae rises sheer from the road to the height of about 400 or 500 feet. On the other side, a terrific precipice descends to the sea. We passed through it in safety, however, but Inspector Cameron, of the Skye police, had reason to believe that the return passage would be disputed.
Arrived at the boundary of Balmeanach, we found a collec-tion of men, women, and children, numbering well on to 100. They cheered as we mounted the knoll, and the women saluted the policemen with volleys of sarcasms about their voyage from Glasgow. A halt was then called, and a parley ensued between the local inspector and what ap-peared to be the leader of the townships. What is passing between the two it is difficult for an outsider to understand, and while the conversation is in progress it is worth while to look about. At the base of the steep cliff on which we stood, and extending to the seashore, lay the hamlet of Balmeanach. There might be about a score of houses dotted over this plain. From each of these the owners were running hillward with all speed. It was evident they bad been taken by surprise. Men, women, and children rushed forward, in all stages of attire, most of the females with their hair down and streaming loosely in the breeze. Every soul carried a weapon of some kind or another, but in most cases these were laid down when the detachment was approached While we were watching the crowds scrambling up the declivity, scores of persons had gathered from other districts, and they now completely surrounded the procession. The confusion that prevailed baffles description. The women, with infuriated looks and bedraggled dress-for it was still raining heavily-were shouting at the pitch of their voices, uttering the most fearful imprecations, hurling forth the most terrible vows of vengeance against the' enemy. Martin was of course the object of greatest abuse. He was cursed in his own person and in that of his children, if he should have any, one female shrieking curses with especial vehemence. The authorities proceeded at once to perform their disagreeable task, and in the course of twenty minutes the five suspected persons were apprehended. A scene utterly indescribable followed The women, with the most violent gestures and imprecations, declared that the police should be attacked. Stones began to be thrown, and so serious an aspect did matters assume that the police drew their batons and charged This was the signal for a general attack. Huge boulders darkened the horizon as they sped from the hands of infuriated men and women. Large sticks and flails were brandished and brought down with crushing force upon the police-the poor prisoners coming in for their share of the blows. One difficult point had to be captured, and as the expedition approached this dangerous position, it was seen to be strongly occupied with men and women, armed with stones and boulders. A halt was called and the situation discussed. Finally it was agreed to attempt to force a way through a narrow gully. By this time a crowd had gathered in the rear of the, party. A rush was made for the pass, and from the heights a fearful fusilade of stones descended. The advance was checked The party could neither ad-vance nor recede. For two minutes the expedition stood exposed to the merciless shower of missiles. Many were struck, and a number more or less injured. The situation was highly dangerous. Raising a yell that might have been heard at a distance of two miles, the crofters, maddened by the apprehension of some of the oldest men in the township, rushed on the police, each person armed with huge stones, which, on approaching near enough, they discharged with a vigour that nothing could resist. The women were by far the most troublesome assailants. Thinking apparently that the constables would offer them no resistance, they approached to within a few yards' distance, and poured a fearful volley into the compact mass. The police charged, but the crowd gave way scarcely a yard Returning again, Captain Donald gave orders to drive back the howling mob, at the same time advising the Sheriffs and the constables in charge of the prisoners to move rapidly forward. This second charge was more effective, as the attacking force was driven back about a hundred yards. The isolated con-stables now, however, found their position very dangerous.
The crofters rallied and hemmed them in, and a rush had to be made to catch up the main body in safety. At this point several members of the constabulary received serious buffetings, and had they not regained their comrades, some of their number would in all probability have been mortally wounded Meanwhile the crowd increased in strength.
The time within which summonses of ejectment could be legally served having expired, the crofters had for a day or two relaxed their vigilance, and not expecting the constables so early in the morning, they had no time to gather their full strength. But the "Fiery Cross" had in five minutes passed through the whole township from every point. Hundreds of determined looking persons could be observed converging on the procession, and matters began to assume a serious aspect. With great oaths, the men demanded where were the Peinichorrain men. This township was the most distant, and the men had not yet had time to come up. But they were coming. Cheers and yells were raised. "The rock! the rock!" suddenly shouted some one. "The rock! the rock!" was taken up, and roared out from a hundred throats. The strength of the position was realised by the crofters; so also it was by the constables. The latter were ordered to run at the double. The people saw the move, and the screaming and yelling became fiercer than ever. The detachment reached the opening of the gulley. Would they manage to run through? Yes! No! On went the blue coats, but their progress was soon checked. It was simply insane to attempt the passage. Stones were coming down like hail, while huge boulders where hurled down before which nothing could stand These bounded over 'the road and descended the precipice with a noise like thunder. An order was given to dislodge a number of the most deter-mined assailants, but the attempt proved futile. They could not be dislodged. Here and there a constable might be seen actually bending under the pressure of a well directed rounder, losing his footing, and rolling down the hill, followed by scores of missiles. This state of matters could not continue. The chief officials were securing their share of attention. Captain Donald is hit in the knee with a stone as large as a matured turnip. A rush must be made for the pass, or there seems a possibility that Sheriff Ivory himself will be deforced. Once more the order was given to double. On, on, the procession went - Sheriffs and Fiscals forgetting their dignity, and taking to their heels. The scene was the most exciting that either the spectators or those who passed through the fire ever experienced, or are likely ever to see again. By keeping up the rush, the party got through the defile, and emerged triumphantly on the Portree side, not however, without severe injuries. If the south end township had turned out, the pass would, I believe, never have been forced, and some would in all probability have lost their lives.
The crofters seemed to have become more infuriated by the loss of their position, and rushing along the shoulder of the hill prepared to attack once more. This was the final struggle. In other attacks the police used truncheons freely. But at this point they retaliated with both truncheons and stones. The consequences were very serious indeed. Scores of bloody faces could be seen on the slope of the hill. One woman, named Mary Nicolson, was fearfully cut in the head, and fainted on the road. When she was fo~nd, blood was pouring down her neck and ears. Another woman, Mrs. Finlayson, was badly gashed on the cheek with some missile. Mrs. Nicolson, whose husband, James Nicolson, was one of the prisoners, had her head badly laid open, but whether with a truncheon or stone is not known. Another woman, well advanced in years, was hustled in the scrimmage on the hill, and, losing her balance, rolled down a consider-able distance, her example being followed by a stout police-man, the two ultimately coming into violent collision. The poor old person was badly bruised, and turned sick and faint. Of the men a considerable number sustained severe bruises, but so far as I could ascertain none of them were disabled. About a dozen of the police were injured more or less seriously. One of the Glasgow men had his nose almost cut through with a stone, and was terribly gashed about the brow. Captain Donald, as already stated, was struck on the knee, and his leg swelled up badly after the return to Portree. Neither the Sheriffs nor the Fiscals were injured, but it is understood that they all received hits in the encounter on the hill.
After the serious scrimmage at Gedintailler, no further de-monstrations of hostility were made, and the procession went on, without further adventure, to Portree. Rain fell without intermission during the entire journey out and home, and all arrived at their destination completely exhausted. On arrival in town the police were loudly hooted and hissed as they passed through the square to the jail, and subse-quently when they marched from the Court-house to the Royal Hotel. The prisoners were lodged in the prison. There names are:- Alexander Finlayson, aged between 60 and 70 years; Malcolm Finlayson, a son of the above, and living in the same house (the latter is married); Peter Macdonald has a wife and eight of a family; Donald Nicol-son, 66 years of age, and is married; and James Nicolson, whose wife was one of the women seriously injured.
Unless appearances are totally misleading, the work which they were obliged to accomplish was most repugnant to Sheriff Ivory, Sheriff Spiers, Mr. James Anderson, Procurator-Fiscal for the County, and Mr. MacLennan, and the hope may be expressed that they will never again be called upon to undertake similar duties.
The "Battle of the Braes" has been capitally hit off in the following parody, published in the Daily Mail of the 26th of April last :-
CHARGE OF THE SKYE BRIGADE.
Half a league, half a league !
Four a-breast-onward !
All in the valley of Braes
Marched the half-hundred.
"Forward, Police Brigade!
In front of me," bold Ivory said;
Into the valley of Braes
Charged the half-hundred.
Forward, Police Brigade !
Charge each auld wife and maid ! "
E'en though the Bobbies knew
Some one had blundered !
Their's not to make reply;
Their's not to reason why;
Their's but to do or die;
Into the valley of Braes
Charged the half-hundred.
"Chuckies" to right ofthem, ..
"Divots" to left of them,
Women in front of them,
Volleyed and thundered!
Stormed at with stone and shell,
Boldly they charged, they tell,
Down on the Island Host!
Into the mouth of-well !
Charged the half-hundred.
Flourished their batons bare,
Not in the empty air-
Clubbing the lasses there,
Charging the Cailleachs, while
All Scotland wondered!
Plunged in the mist and smoke,
Right thro' the line they broke ;-
Cailleach and maiden
Reeled from the baton stroke,
Shattered and sundered;
Then they marched back-intact-
All the half-hundred.
Missiles to right of them,
Brickbats to left of them,
Old wives behind them
Volleyed and floundered.
Stormed at with stone and shell
-Whilst only Ivory fell-
They that had fought so well
Broke thro' the Island Host,
Back from the mouth of-well!
All that was left of them-
All the half-hundred !
When can their glory fade?
0, the wild charge they made!
All Scotland wondered!
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Skye Brigade!
Donald's half-hundred!
ALFRED TENNYSON, JUNIOR...
Ulster (or Northern Ireland) was one of the four provinces of the whole island
of Ireland which refused to become a republic (or free state) earlier this
century.
The Protestants there were given land centuries ago as payment for putting
down Irish rebellions against English rule. They form a majority in Ulster,
the most developed quarter of Ireland, and want to carry on being ruled from
London. The Catholics were the traditional native Celtic inhabitants of Ireland.
The protagonists line up as follows:
Extreme Protestants: Loyalists Political party: Ulster Unionists
Paramilitaries: UVF, UFF
Moderate Protestants: Unionists Political party: Democratic
Unionists
Moderate Catholics: Nationalists Political party: SDLP
Extreme Catholics: Republicans Political party: Sinn Fein
Paramilitaries: IRA, INLA
The extremists on both sides come from the poorest sections of the communities.
The protestants own almost all the land and businesses and control the police
force - the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Although in some cities in Northern
Ireland the communities are entirely separated, in most towns and villages
there is two of everything; church, bank, school, bakers, greengrocer etc.
one for the Protestants and one for the Catholics. There are a number
of towns that are exclusively Protestant, but few if any that are exclusively
Catholic.
The two communities are fighting for access to the national wealth and resources,
most of which the Protestants own.