The historical border between England and Scotland follows natural features, running (NE–SW) along the R. Tweed and across the Cheviot Hills to the Solway Firth. First established in the later 11th century, and more firmly from the mid 12th century, it represents the line at which England finally halted southward expansion by the kingdom of Scotland. (There is no compelling natural border across N Britain.)
Scotland originated in the UNION OF SCOTS AND PICTS from c.842. Their kingdom (called ‘Alba’ meaning ‘Britain’ from c.900, ‘Scotland’ from the 11th century) was mostly N of the FORTH–CLYDE ISTHMUS. To the SE, it abutted the Anglian (English) kingdom of NORTHUMBRIA, and to the SW the British kingdom of STRATHCLYDE. In the 10th or 11th century (probably by 1026), Alba/Scotland acquired the LOTHIAN part of Northumbria, extending to the R. Tweed. From 1018 it had authority over Strathclyde (including Cumbria in modern NW England).
In 1092, King WILLIAM II of England seized the southern part of former Strathclyde, pushing the border back northwards, to the Solway Firth (see CARLISLE). Scottish expansionist ambitions nonetheless continued. King DAVID I regained former southern Strathclyde in 1136, obtained NE England in 1139, and from 1141 ruled southwards to a line from the R. Tees to the R. Ribble. In 1157, however, HENRY II of England forced MALCOLM IV to surrender N England, restoring the Tweed–Solway line.
The border remained largely unchanged (see BERWICK‐UPON‐TWEED), though Scottish claims were maintained until 1237 (abandoned in treaty of York). Local cross‐border relations fell under special laws (codified 1249 as the ‘Laws of the Marches').
The border area remained turbulent in the 14th–16th centuries, often with recurrent warfare. Conditions became peaceful with the UNION OF CROWNS (1603). Following the UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND (1707), the border ceased to be an international boundary, becoming an internal border of GREAT BRITAIN. See also SCOTTISH–ENGLISH RELATIONS; RAIDING, CROSS-BORDER; COUNCIL OF THE NORTH.
BORDER, ANGLO‐WELSH
W Britain (WALES) was severed from direct land contact with other British areas by Germanic (English) kingdoms probably in the early 7th century. Soon afterwards, the advance of the English kingdom of MERCIA against the Welsh kingdom of POWYS pushed the border back to a N–S line between the Dee and Severn estuaries, which was roughly marked from the late 8th century by OFFA'S DYKE. For over 400 years, political and settlement borders fluctuated around that axis (from the mid 10th century dividing the Welsh kingdoms from a united England).
English settlement moved W even after construction of the dyke; English lived around Radnor (C Wales) by the late 10th century, and in NE Wales before 1066. Though NORMANS invaded Wales from the late 11th century, the lordships they founded, constituting the MARCH OF WALES, were treated as territories within Wales.
BORDER COMMISSIONSIn the 14th–16th centuries, disorder was endemic in the Anglo‐Scottish border country, with cross‐border raids for cattle thieving. After the UNION OF CROWNS (1603), both sides came under King JAMES VI/I, who appointed ten border commissioners (five Scots, five English) to administer justice (1605). By often brutal means, they largely pacified the area. The commission was renewed in 1618 but disbanded in 1621. Disorder revived, prompting CHARLES I to establish new commissions (1630, 1635). See also BORDER, ANGLO‐SCOTTISH; RAIDING, CROSS‐BORDER.BORNEO
An island in SE Asia within which Great Britain acquired territories. In 1842 the sultan of Brunei in N Borneo gave the Sarawak River area (later named Kuching) to the Englishman James Brooke, inaugurating rule by members of the BROOKE FAMILY (to 1946). It was extended by further grants between 1846 and 1905. The territory was known as Sarawak.
In 1880 the Englishman Alfred Dent acquired an existing foreign jurisdiction in part of NE Borneo, called North Borneo. It was governed from 1882 by Dent’s BRITISH NORTH BORNEO COMPANY.
Both territories, together with Brunei, were made British PROTECTORATES in 1888. Timber and rubber were exported. Approx. total population in 1921: 1,846,000. Sarawak and Brunei were occupied by Japan 1941–5, North Borneo 1942–5. Sarawak and North Borneo became CROWN COLONIES in 1946, and joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, when British forces helped to defend them from Indonesia. (North Borneo was renamed Sabah.) Brunei was granted internal self‐government in 1971 and independence as a sultanate in 1983.
BOROUGH
A settlement, usually a TOWN, where some inhabitants enjoy particular rights, privileges or liberties. Some were personal, such as the right to sell or bequeath property; others were corporate, such as the right to elect officers and administer the town. The term is derived from OE burh, which originally referred to a fortified centre.
By the mid 11th century, larger BURHS (in England) probably had courts and customs. During the 12th and 13th centuries, kings granted charters of liberties to many English towns, especially larger ones, often including confirmation of existing customs and self‐government (e.g., to OXFORD, c.1155). Lords also founded, and granted varying liberties to, numerous small towns (e.g., Maurice de Gant to LEEDS, 1207), which historians sometimes designate as ‘seigneurial boroughs’. From the 13th century, some boroughs were represented in PARLIAMENT, and are often designated ‘parliamentary boroughs’ by historians. Boroughs sometimes received extensive legal rights from the mid 14th century and are regarded as ‘incorporated boroughs’, while from the late 14th century a few towns received county status, becoming ‘county boroughs’ (see INCORPORATION OF BOROUGHS). Kings and lords created boroughs in Wales (from late 11th century) and Ireland (from late 12th century), following invasions; similar developments occurred in Scotland (see BURGH).
The organization of TOWN GOVERNMENT – including the holding and definition of borough status and borough FRANCHISES – was controlled from the 19th century by the UK Parliament, and also from the 1920s by the parliaments in Ireland. See also GUILD; ROTTEN BOROUGH; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, NORTHERN IRELAND/SOUTHERN IRELAND.
BOSTON TEA PARTYA protest at Boston, MASSACHUSETTS (N America), on 16 Dec. 1773 when men disguised as Indians threw 342 chests of tea from three ships into the harbour. They were objecting to the British Tea Act (1773), which permitted the EAST INDIA