Moss-trooper

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Campaignbox Interregnum}}

{{Infobox UK legislation

| short_title = Moss Troopers Act 1662

| type = Act

| parliament = Parliament of England

| long_title = An Act for preventing of Theft and Rapine upon the Northern Borders of England

| year = 1662

| citation = 14 Cha. 2. c. 22{{br}}{{ubli|(Ruffhead: {{nowrap|13 & 14 Cha. 2. c. 22}})}}

| territorial_extent = England and Wales

| royal_assent = 19 May 1662

| commencement = 29 September 1662{{efn|Start of session.}}

| expiry_date = 28 September 1667

| repeal_date = 28 July 1863

| amendments = {{ubli|Moss Troopers Act 1666|Moss Troopers Act 1677|Moss Troopers Act 1685|Moss Troopers Act 1695|Moss Troopers Act 1700|Moss Troopers Act 1712|Continuance of Laws, etc. Act 1723|Perpetuation of Various Laws Act 1732|Universities (Wine Licences) Act 1743|Continuance of Laws (No.2) Act 1750|Continuance, etc., of Acts, 1757}}

| repealing_legislation = Statute Law Revision Act 1863

| related_legislation =

| status = Repealed

| original_text = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp417-418

| collapsed = yes

}}

{{Infobox UK legislation

| short_title = Moss Troopers Act 1666

| type = Act

| parliament = Parliament of England

| long_title = An Act to continue a former Act for preventing of Thefte and Rapine upon the Northerne Borders of England.

| year = 1666

| citation = 18 & 19 Cha. 2. c. 3{{br}}{{ubli|(Ruffhead: {{nowrap|18 Cha. 2. c. 4}})}}

| territorial_extent = England and Wales

| royal_assent = 18 January 1667

| commencement = 21 September 1666{{efn|Start of session.}}

| expiry_date = 28 September 1673

| repeal_date = 28 July 1863

| amends = Moss Troopers Act 1662

| amendments = {{ubli|Moss Troopers Act 1677|Moss Troopers Act 1685|Moss Troopers Act 1695Moss Troopers Act 1700|Moss Troopers Act 1712|Perpetuation of Various Laws Act 1732}}

| repealing_legislation = Statute Law Revision Act 1863

| related_legislation =

| status = Repealed

| original_text = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/p598

| collapsed = yes

}}

{{Infobox UK legislation

| short_title = Moss Troopers Act 1677

| type = Act

| parliament = Parliament of England

| long_title = An Act for continuance of two former Acts for preventing of Theft and Rapine upon the Northerne Borders of England.

| year = 1677

| citation = 29 & 30 Cha. 2. c. 2

| territorial_extent = England and Wales

| royal_assent = 20 March 1678

| commencement = 28 January 1678{{efn|Start of session.}}

| expiry_date = 2 July 1687

| repeal_date = 28 July 1863

| amends = {{ubli|Moss Troopers Act 1662|Moss Troopers Act 1666}}

| amendments = {{ubli|Moss Troopers Act 1685|Moss Troopers Act 1695|Moss Troopers Act 1700|Moss Troopers Act 1712|Perpetuation of Various Laws Act 1732}}

| repealing_legislation = Statute Law Revision Act 1863

| related_legislation =

| status = Repealed

| original_text = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp864-866

| collapsed = yes

}}

{{Infobox UK legislation

| short_title = Moss Troopers Act 1685

| type = Act

| parliament = Parliament of England

| long_title = An Act for Continuance of Three former Acts for Preventing of Theft and Rapine upon the Northerne Borders of England.

| year = 1685

| citation = 1 Ja. 2. c. 14

| territorial_extent = England and Wales

| royal_assent = 27 June 1685

| commencement = 19 March 1604{{efn|Start of session.}}

| expiry_date =

| repeal_date = 28 July 1863

| amends = {{ubli|Moss Troopers Act 1662|Moss Troopers Act 1666|Moss Troopers Act 1677}}

| amendments = {{ubli|Moss Troopers Act 1695|Moss Troopers Act 1700|Moss Troopers Act 1712}}

| repealing_legislation = Statute Law Revision Act 1863

| related_legislation =

| status = Repealed

| original_text = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol6/p15

| collapsed = yes

}}

{{Infobox UK legislation

| short_title = Moss Troopers Act 1695

| type = Act

| parliament = Parliament of England

| long_title = An Act to continue Foure former Acts for preventing Theft and Rapine upon the Northerne Borders of England.

| year = 1695

| citation = 7 & 8 Will. 3. c. 17

| territorial_extent = England and Wales

| royal_assent = 10 April 1696

| commencement = 22 November 1695{{efn|Start of session.}}

| expiry_date =

| repeal_date = 15 July 1867

| amends = {{ubli|Moss Troopers Act 1662|Moss Troopers Act 1666|Moss Troopers Act 1677|Moss Troopers Act 1685|Moss Troopers Act 1712}}

| amendments = Moss Troopers Act 1700

| repealing_legislation = Statute Law Revision Act 1867

| related_legislation =

| status = Repealed

| original_text = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol7/p86

| collapsed = yes

}}

{{Infobox UK legislation

| short_title = Moss Troopers Act 1712

| type = Act

| parliament = Parliament of Great Britain

| long_title = An Act for continuing the Acts therein mentioned, for preventing Theft and Rapine upon the Northern Borders of England.

| year = 1712

| citation = {{ubli|12 Ann. c. 10{{efn|This is the citation in The Statutes of the Realm.}}|12 Ann. St. 1. c. 10{{efn|This is the citation in The Statutes at Large.}}}}

| territorial_extent = Great Britain

| royal_assent = 6 July 1713

| commencement = 9 April 1713{{efn|Start of session.}}

| repeal_date = 15 July 1867

| amends = {{ubli|Moss Troopers Act 1662|Moss Troopers Act 1666|Moss Troopers Act 1677|Moss Troopers Act 1685|Moss Troopers Act 1695|Moss Troopers Act 1700}}

| related_legislation =

| repealing_legislation = Statute Law Revision Act 1867

| status = Repealed

| original_text = https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UrouAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA26

| collapsed = yes

}}

File:Thomas Jones Barker - The Moss-trooper.jpg]]

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.

Much like the earlier border reivers who had operated in the lawless region during the 16th century and were dealt with,See: Border reivers#Legislation 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp417-418|title=Charles II, 1662: An Act for preventing of Theft and Rapine upon the Northern Borders of England | British History Online|website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}

In the Scots language, "moss" refers to marsh, bog, or soft wet ground.{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/moss|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: moss}}

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".{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/p598|title=Charles II, 1666: An Act to continue a former Act for preventing of Thefte and Rapine upon the Northerne Borders of England. | British History Online|website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}[https://archive.org/stream/statutesatlarge20unkngoog#page/n587/mode/2up Statutes at Large, Volume 24, Index for acts passed before 1 Geo. 3] p.581

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.{{cite book |editor-first=Norman |editor-last=Penney |title=The Short Journal and Itinerary Journals of George Fox |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=1925|page=33}} 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 inline|date=March 2011}} 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.