After The Romans
In the High Middle Ages, the section of the route between Jedburgh and Edinburgh was known as the Via Regia or royal way, it connected the larger part of Scotland with the important ecclesiastic sites of the Scottish Borders. King Malcolm IV established his Church and Hospital of the Holy Trinity halfway along this section to provide succour for the many pilgrims using it.
After the destruction of the Border Abbeys during "The Rough Wooing" by the Earl of Hertford's forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Reformation of the Scottish Church, the route fell into disuse and disrepair; and it was used mainly for driving livestock, and the occasional travellers daring enough to venture into the lawless border region.
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Famous quotes containing the word romans:
“There was about all the Romans a heroic tone peculiar to ancient life. Their virtues were great and noble, and these virtues made them great and noble. They possessed a natural majesty that was not put on and taken off at pleasure, as was that of certain eastern monarchs when they put on or took off their garments of Tyrian dye. It is hoped that this is not wholly lost from the world, although the sense of earthly vanity inculcated by Christianity may have swallowed it up in humility.”
—Herman Melville (18191891)