As well as being armed with Swords and Daggers, Reivers will also have carried the Pole-Arms of the time. These started as the weapon of the common agricultural labourer who could not afford to buy specialised weapons. By attaching an agricultural implement, such as a bill or sickle, to a pole he now had a serviceable and efficient weapon. In time these developed into weapons in their own right.

These two weapons are known as GLAVES

Pole-Arms

Many of them altered so much from their original form that it was difficult to tell what their original ancestor had been.

This Reiver, however, is carrying a pole-arm unique to the Borders - The JEDDART STAFF

This is the business end of a Jeddart Staff, which gets its name from the Scottish town of Jedburgh, known colloquially as Jeddart. It is a 120cm (4feet) blade, sharpened and pointed attached to a pole approx 2m (7feet) long. It is believed that this did not start life as “a sickle on a stick” but as a use for old sword blades.

Increasingly, however, over the course of the 16th Century, a new type of Foot Loun was emerging, however, one who was very much in the minority among the Reivers, but whose place, come the next century, would be very important in all armies on the battlefield - the Musketeer.

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