supplied by the east coast route to Berwick, the Waverley route through Liddesdale, the London & North-Western by Carlisle, the North British branch from Berwick to St Boswells, and the North Eastern lines from Berwick to Kelso, Alnwick to Coldstream, and Newcastle to Carlisle.
At frequent intervals during a period of 1500 years the region was the scene of strife and lawlessness. The Roman road of Watling Street crossed the Cheviots at Brownhartlaw (1664 ft.), close to the camp of Ad Fines, by means of which the warlike Brigantes on the south and the Gadeni and Otadeni on the north were held in check, while another Roman road, the Wheel Causeway, passed into Scotland near the headwaters of the North Tyne and Liddel. (For early history see Lothian; Northumbria; Strathclyde.) In the 12th century were founded the abbeys of Hexham and Alnwick, the priory church of Lindisfarne and the cathedral of Carlisle on the English side, and on the Scottish the abbeys of Jedburgh, Kelso, Melrose and Dryburgh. The deaths of Alexander III. (1286) and Margaret the Maid of Norway (1290), whose right to the throne had been acknowledged, plunged the country into the wars of the succession and independence, and until the union of the crowns in 1603 the borders were frequently disturbed. Berwick and Carlisle were repeatedly assailed, and battles took place at Halidon Hill (1333), Otterburn (1388), Nisbet (1402), Homildon (1402), Piperden (1435), Hedgeley Moor (1464), Flodden (1513), Solway Moss (1542), and Ancrum Moor (1544), in addition to many fights arising out of family feuds and raids fomented by the Armstrongs, Eliots, Grahams, Johnstones, Maxwells and other families, of which the most serious were the encounters at Arkenholme (Langholm) in 1455, the Raid of Reidswire (1575), and the bloody combat at Dryfe Sands (1593). The English expeditions of 1544 and 1545 were exceptionally disastrous, since they involved the destruction of the four Scottish border abbeys, the sack of many towns, and the obliteration of Roxburgh. The only other important conflict belongs to the Covenanters’ time, when the marquess of Montrose was defeated at Philiphaugh in 1645. Partly for the defence of the kingdoms and partly to overawe the freebooters and mosstroopers who were a perpetual menace to the peace until they were suppressed in the 17th century, castles were erected at various points on both sides of the border.
Even during the period when relations between England and Scotland were strained, the sovereigns of both countries recognized it to be their duty to protect property and regulate the lawlessness of the borders. The frontier was divided into the East, Middle and West Marches, each under the control of an English and a Scots warden. The posts were generally filled by eminent and capable men who had to keep the peace, enforce punishment for breach of the law, and take care that neither country encroached on the boundary of the other. The wardens usually conferred once a year on matters of common interest, and as a rule their meetings were conducted in a friendly spirit, though in 1575 a display of temper led to the affair of the Raid of Reidswire. The appointment was not only one of the most important in this quarter of the kingdom, but lucrative as well, part of the fines and forfeits falling to the warden, who was also entitled to ration and forage for his retinue. On the occasion of his first public progress to London, James I. of England attended service in Berwick church (March 27, 1603) “to return thanks for his peaceful entry into his new dominions.” Anxious to blot out all memory of the bitter past, he forbade the use of the word “Borders,” hoping that the designation “Middle Shires” might take its place. Frontier fortresses were also to be dismantled and their garrisons reduced to nominal strength. In course of time this policy had the desired effect, though the expression “Borders” proved too convenient geographically to be dropped, the king’s proposed amendment being in point of fact merely sentimental and, in the relative positions then and now of England and Scotland, meaningless. Some English strongholds, such as Alnwick, Chillingham, Ford and Naworth, have been modernized; others, like Norham, Wark and Warkworth, are picturesque ruins; but most of the Scottish fortresses have been demolished and their sites built over, or are now represented by grass-grown mounds. Another familiar feature in the landscape is the chain of peel towers crossing the country from coast to coast. Many were homes of marauding chiefs, and nearly all were used as beacon-stations to give alarm of foray or invasion. Early in the 18th century the Scottish gipsies found a congenial home on the Roxburghshire side of the Cheviots; and at a later period the Scottish border became notorious for a hundred years as offering hospitality to runaway couples who were clandestinely married at Gretna Green, Coldstream or Lamberton. The toll-house of Lamberton displayed the following intimation—“Ginger-beer sold here and marriages performed on the most reasonable terms.”
Border ballads occupy a distinctive place in English literature. Many of them were rescued from oblivion by Sir Walter Scott, who ransacked the district for materials for his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, which appeared in 1802 and 1803. Border traditions and folklore, and the picturesque, pathetic and stirring incidents of which the country was so often the scene, appealed strongly to James Hogg (“the Ettrick Shepherd”), John Wilson (“Christopher North”), and John Mackay Wilson (1804–1835), whose Tales of the Borders, published in 1835, long enjoyed popular favour.
Besides the works just mentioned see Sir Herbert Maxwell, History of Dumfries and Galloway (1896); George Ridpath, Border History of England and Scotland (1776); Professor John Veitch, History and Poetry of the Scottish Border (1877); Sir George Douglas, History of the Border Counties (Scots), (1899); W. S. Crockett, The Scott Country (1902).
BORDIGHERA, a town of Liguria, Italy, in the province of
Porto Maurizio, 91 m. S.W. of Genoa by rail, and 3 m. E.N.E.
of Ventimiglia. Pop. (1901) 4673. It is a favourite winter
resort, especially for visitors from England, and is situated in
beautiful coast scenery. It has fine gardens, and its flowers and
palms are especially famous: the former are largely exported,
while the latter serve for the supply of palm branches for St
Peter’s at Rome and other churches on Palm Sunday. The new
museum contains a unique collection of the flora of the Riviera.
From 1682 until the Napoleonic period, Bordighera was the capital
of a small republic of the villages of the neighbouring valleys.
BORDONE, PARIS (1495–1570), Venetian painter, was born
at Treviso, and entered the bottega of Titian in 1509. Vasari,
to whom we are indebted for nearly all the facts of Bordone’s
life—later research has not added much to our knowledge—holds
that he did not spend many years with Titian and set
himself to imitate the manner of Giorgione to the utmost of his
power. As a matter of fact, the Giorgionesque traits in Bordone’s
earlier works are derived entirely from Titian, whom he imitated
so closely that to this day some of his paintings pass under
Titian’s name. Crowe and Cavalcaselle and Dr Bode ascribe
to Bordone the “Baptism of Christ” in the Capitoline gallery,
but Morelli sees in it an early work of Titian. Paris Bordone
subsequently executed many important mural paintings in
Venice, Treviso and Vicenza, all of which have perished. In
1538 he was invited to France by Francis I., at whose court he
painted many portraits, though no trace of them is to be found
in French collections, the two portraits at the Louvre being later
acquisitions. On his return journey he undertook works of
great importance for the Fugger palace at Augsburg, which
again have been lost sight of. Bordone’s pictures are of very
unequal merit. They have a certain nobility of style, and that
golden harmony of colour which he derived from Titian, together
with the realistic conception of the human figure and the dignified
character of his portraiture. On the other hand, his nudes are a
little coarse in form, and the action of his figures is frequently
unnatural and affected. A true child of the Renaissance, he
also painted a number of religious pictures, numerous mythological
scenes, allegories, nymphs, cupids and subjects from
Ovid’s fables, but he excelled as a portraitist. His principal
surviving work is the “Fisherman and Doge” at the Venice
Academy. The National Gallery, London, has a “Daphnis and
Chloe” and a portrait of a lady, whilst a “Holy Family” from
his brush is at Bridgwater House. Other important works of
