On the English side of the border the population were, in time,
leavened by Norman blood; as the estates were granted by William to his
barons. These often married the heiresses of the dispossessed families,
while their followers found wives among the native population.
The frequent wars with the Scots, in which every man capable of bearing
arms in the Northern Counties had to take part; and the incessant
border warfare, maintained a most martial spirit among the population,
who considered retaliation for injuries received to be a natural and
lawful act. This was, to some extent, heightened by the fact that the
terms of many of the truces specifically permitted those who had
suffered losses on either side to pursue their plunderers across the
border. These raids were not accompanied by bloodshed, except when
resistance was made; for between the people, descended as they were
from a common stock, there was no active animosity, and at ordinary
times there was free and friendly intercourse between them.
There were, however, many exceptions to the rule that unresisting
persons were not injured. Between many families on opposite sides of
the border there existed blood feuds, arising from the fact that
members of one or the other had been killed in forays; and in these
cases bitter and bloody reprisals were made, on either side.
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