POLITICAL HISTORY 



Laton for 100 footmen in 'the bailiwick' of Lyth. 1 In a previous 

 commission, dated at Lanercost on 20 February 1 307, the separate 

 liberties or franchises of Penrith, Cockermouth, Egremont, the bishop- 

 ric of Carlisle, and the priory of Carlisle were named with ' the baili- 

 wicks ' of Cumberland, Allerdale, Eskdale and Gillesland, and Lyth and 

 Alstonmore, for the contribution of quotas of footmen, varying from 

 20 to 200, according to the extent or capacity of the area. 3 It is 

 singular that the name of ward, the equivalent in Cumberland for the 

 hundred or wapentake of other counties, has not been found as a desig- 

 nation of these political divisions till we reach the muster rolls of the 

 sixteenth century.' The bailiwicks of the forest of Cumberland were 

 known as wards throughout the fourteenth century, 4 and probably at a 

 much earlier date. 



The frontier position of Cumberland continued to mould its 

 political history for several centuries. Though the county was called 

 upon from time to time to withstand invasion by the organized forces 

 of Scotland, its chief embarrassment was caused by a system of pre- 

 datory incursions which rendered life and property insecure. The 

 long continuance of Border feuds had a demoralizing effect on the in- 

 habitants of both sides. Civilization had made little advance. The 

 history of the county for the three centuries before the union of the two 

 kingdoms is written in blood. The occasional intervals of truce serve 

 only as a background to throw out the principal lineaments of slaughter 

 and devastation which dominate the picture. Mutual reprisal was re- 

 duced to a science. The dangers with which the district was menaced 

 bred a rough and sturdy race of independent men whose duty to fight 

 coincided with the safety of themselves and their families. 8 The 

 stern necessities engendered by such conditions of warfare were instru- 

 mental in training the great territorial families in habits of continual 

 watchfulness, and supplying some of the best commanders for the de- 

 fence of the county. Families like the Tilliols of Scaleby, the Lucies 

 of Cockermouth, the Greystokes of Greystoke, the Dacres of Naworth, 

 and others became conspicuous as fighting families, and displayed qualities 

 which one would expect from the nature of their position and the em- 

 ployments on which they were engaged. The records of the fourteenth 



i Pat. 35 Edw. I. m. 23 ; Parl. Writs (Rec. Com.), i. 380. 3 Pat. 35 Edw. I. m. 32. 



3 Border Papers (Scot. Rec. Pub.), i. 37-62. In the records of Quarter Sessions for the seventeenth 

 and eighteenth centuries each of the five wards of the county is found in the administration of a chief 

 constable. 



4 In 1307 the forest of Inglewood was composed of the three 'wards' of Penrith, Allerdale and 

 Gatesgill (Gaytescales), each of the two former wards having four foresters, and the latter two (Pat. 

 35 Edw. I. m. 15). The ward of Penrith was an important division of the forest (Cal. of Pat. Rolls, 

 1399-1401, pp. 34, 200; Cal. Rot. Pat.[Rec. Com.], 166, 172, I73b, 210). In 1371 we have the 'warda 

 de Gateshales infra forestam de Inglewood ' (Pat. 45 Edw. III. pt. i. m. 38) The present parish of 

 Westward took its name from ' le Westwarde in Allerdale,' as it was called in 1383 (Cal. of Pat. Rolls, 

 1381-5, p. 392). 



8 For a description of the state of the Border at this period see Vrayes Chroniques (ed. Palain), i. 

 47-8. Jehan le Bel gained his information about the methods of Border inroads either from personal 

 observation or by the report of Sir John of Hainault, whose friend he was. Froissart acknowledges his 

 indebtedness to this chronicle, as well he might, for several of his chapters are wholly or in part 

 appropriated from it (Anct. Chronicles [ed. Berners], i. 63-4). 



