Broadcast - Musical Correspondent... with Tom Morton
Photo by Roger CC BY-SA 2.0 Johnny Armstrong as painted by Henry Hetherington Emmerson in 1886. Now in the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle
Story behind the song‌. Ballad of Johnnie Armstrong and Let Ramensky Go
S
ome 490 years ago this month the most famous of the Border Reivers, Johnnie Armstrong, and around 50 of his men were executed after being tricked into a meeting with King James V. A member of the powerful Armstrong family Johnnie of Gilnockie castle terrorised the English-Scottish border lands of the early 16th century as he plundered his way across the country with a gang of up to 160 armed men.
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Feared by the English but treated as something of a hero by his own people Armstrong, the youngest son of the Laird of Mangerton, operated a highly successful protection racket collecting payments from landowners and other victims as far south as the River Tyne. However the Reivers were seen as a thorn in the side of both the Scottish and English authorities as they operated with impunity for many years, playing each side off against the other, and were an obstruction to any
diplomatic moves between the two countries. In 1530, in an effort to assert the rule of law, Kings James V was determined to put an end to Armstrong’s activities. He sent a letter requesting a meeting for talks and promised safe passage to Johnnie and his men. In the hopes of getting a pardon from the king for his past activities Johnnie ordered his men to dress up in their finest clothes, as befitting a visit to the Royal Court, and set off from Langholm
