James V's judicial murder of Johnnie Armstrong was intended to pacify the Borders by eliminating its most powerful independent military force. Armstrong reportedly told the king: 'I am but a fool to seek grace at a graceless face.' The execution provoked deep resentment across the Borders — the Armstrong clan remained powerful and the memory of Johnnie's betrayal sustained Border hostility to royal authority for generations. The ballad 'Johnnie Armstrong' became one of the defining texts of Border culture.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
Research a location near Dumfriesshire