James V personally led a punitive expedition into the Borders in 1530 to suppress reiver activity and impose royal authority. He summoned the leading Border chieftains under safe conduct and hanged fifty of them, including Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie whose ballad lament became one of the most famous in Scottish literature. Armstrong reportedly said to James: 'I am but a fool to seek grace at a graceless face.' The expedition broke Border lawlessness temporarily and demonstrated James V's brutal efficiency.
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