James Douglas — the Black Douglas — conducted several deep raids into Yorkshire between 1316 and 1322, probing ever further into the North Riding. The Wensleydale raid of 1318 penetrated one of the major dale systems feeding into the Vale of York. Communities in Wensleydale, Swaledale, and Teesdale all paid blackmail at various times. The dales' narrow valleys made them easy to raid but difficult to defend, and the scattered farming communities had no means of organised resistance.
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