Moss-troopers were brigands of the mid-17th century, who operated across the border country between Scotland and the northern English counties of Northumberland and Cumberland during the period of the English Commonwealth, until after the Restoration.

Moss Troopers Act 1662
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act for preventing of Theft and Rapine upon the Northern Borders of England
Citation14 Cha. 2. c. 22
  • (Ruffhead: 13 & 14 Cha. 2. c. 22)
Dates
Royal assent19 May 1662
Commencement29 September 1662
Expired28 September 1667
Repealed28 July 1863
Other legislation
Amended byMoss Troopers Act 1666
Repealed byStatute Law Revision Act 1863
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Moss Troopers Act 1666
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act to continue a former Act for preventing of Thefte and Rapine upon the Northerne Borders of England.
Citation18 & 19 Cha. 2. c. 3
  • (Ruffhead: 18 Cha. 2. c. 4)
Dates
Royal assent18 January 1667
Commencement21 September 1666
Expired28 September 1673
Repealed28 July 1863
Other legislation
AmendsMoss Troopers Act 1662
Repealed byStatute Law Revision Act 1863
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Moss Troopers Act 1677
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act for continuance of two former Acts for preventing of Theft and Rapine upon the Northerne Borders of England.
Citation29 & 30 Cha. 2. c. 2
Dates
Royal assent20 March 1678
Expired2 July 1687
Repealed28 July 1863
Other legislation
Repealed byStatute Law Revision Act 1863
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Moss Troopers Act 1685
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act for Continuance of Three former Acts for Preventing of Theft and Rapine upon the Northerne Borders of England.
Citation1 Ja. 2. c. 14
Dates
Royal assent27 June 1685
Repealed28 July 1863
Other legislation
Repealed byStatute Law Revision Act 1863
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Moss Troopers Act 1695
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act to continue Foure former Acts for preventing Theft and Rapine upon the Northerne Borders of England.
Citation7 & 8 Will. 3. c. 17
Dates
Royal assent10 April 1696
Repealed15 July 1867
Other legislation
Repealed byStatute Law Revision Act 1867
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
The Moss-trooper; by Thomas Jones Barker

Much like the earlier Border reivers who had operated in the lawless region during the 16th century and were dealt with,[1] moss-troopers do not have a clear genesis. They gradually evolved, or reemerged, from the long running sociopolitical milieu of the Border. Mention of them appears suddenly in historical records and gives the false impression that they appeared suddenly, but the first statute passed to deal with them, the Moss Troopers Act 1662 (14 Cha. 2. c. 22), notes the moss-troopers to have been a long-running problem.[2]

With the 1662 act about to expire, the Cavalier Parliament passed the Moss Troopers Act 1666 (18 & 19 Cha. 2. c. 3). Under section two of this act, the benefit of clergy was taken away from those convicted, which generally meant a death sentence, or otherwise with judicial discretion, the notorious thieves and spoil-takers in Northumberland or Cumberland were to be transported to America, "there to remaine and not to returne".[3][4]

Many moss-troopers were disbanded or deserting soldiers from one of the Scottish armies of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They had kept their weapons and lived a life of brigandage, attacking both civilians and Parliamentary soldiers for supplies during the Royalist rising of 1653 to 1654 when English Parliamentarian troops under George Monck occupied Scotland. Moss-troopers usually operated in small bands, either on the fringes of the Highlands or in the border regions.[5] Many Highland lairds complained of moss-troopers' cattle-stealing and of how they incurred military reprisals against the Highlands as a whole.

Some moss-troopers may[original research?] have had a national-political as well as an economic motivation, believing in resisting the Cromwellian occupation of Scotland – much as their Irish contemporaries, the "tories", in part resisted English occupation.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ See: Border reivers#Legislation
  2. ^ "An Act for preventing of Theft and Rapine upon the Northern Borders of England."
  3. ^ "An Act to continue a former Act for preventing of Thefte and Rapine upon the Northerne Borders of England."
  4. ^ Statutes at Large, Volume 24, Index for acts passed before 1 Geo. 3 p.581
  5. ^ Penney, Norman, ed. (1925). The Short Journal and Itinerary Journals of George Fox. Cambridge University Press. p. 33.