The Scottish Privy Council's border commission of 1606 was one of the most deadly single operations in the history of border pacification. The commission — composed of both Scottish and English members after the Union of Crowns — held summary trials throughout the Middle Shires and executed approximately 140 convicted reivers in a concentrated campaign. The speed and scale of the executions was deliberate policy: James VI wanted the reiver communities to understand that the old tolerance for border lawlessness had ended permanently. The 1606 commission broke the operational capability of most of the major reiver families.
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