The Border Reivers - Carlisle, England
Carlisle Castle
The Carlisle Castle is located in Carlisle, England, in the county of Cumbria. This castle is over 900 years old and has been the site of many battles throughout the centuries. It is also the site where many captured Border Reivers were imprisoned. It sits across the the road, Castle Way, from the Tullie Museum and Art Gallery, home of many artifacts relating to Border Cultural History. Linking the two sites is an underground walkway whose floors and walls commemorate the names of the families that occupied the Border Region of Scotland and England. At the NW end of the walkway is the Cursing Stone which displays the curse Gavin Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow, spoke against all the Border Reivers, Scottish and English.
Cursing Stone in the "Names of the Border Reiver Families" Tunnel
Archbishop Gavin Dunbar's Border Reiver Curse
In 1525 Archbishop Dunbar proclaimed this curse over all the Border Reivers who have been a plague in the Border marches since the mid 13th century. The stone contains 300 words of the 1069 curse. As you will read the archbishop did not leave anything out of the curse.
The following is a sample of the curse:
"I curse their head and all the hairs of their head; I curse their face, their brain (innermost thoughts), their mouth, their nose, their tongue, their teeth, their forehead, their shoulders, their breast, their heart, their stomach, their back, their womb, their arms, their leggs, their hands, their feet, and every part of their body, from the top of their head to the soles of their feet, before and behind, within and without."
"I curse them going and I curse them riding; I curse them standing and I curse them sitting; I curse them eating and I curse them drinking; I curse them rising, and I curse them lying; I curse them at home, I curse them away from home; I curse them within the house, I curse them outside of the house; I curse their wives, their children, and their servants who participate in their deeds. I (bring ill wishes upon) their crops, their cattle, their wool, their sheep, their horses, their swine, their geese, their hens, and all their livestock. I (bring ill wishes upon) their halls, their chambers, their kitchens, their stanchions, their barns, their cowsheds, their barnyards, their cabbage patches, their plows, their harrows, and the goods and houses that are necessary for their sustenance and welfare."