Highwayman - Knowledge (XXG)

758:, a quasi-religious group that robbed travellers on Indian roads until the cult was systematically eradicated in the mid-1800s by British colonial administrators. Thugees would befriend large road caravans and gain their confidence, before strangling them to death and robbing their valuables. According to some estimates the Thuggees murdered a million people between 1740 and 1840. More generally, armed bands known colloquially as " 530: 49: 2754: 64: 687:). Until the 1830s they were mainly simply regarded as criminals but an increasing public appetite for betyar songs, ballads and stories gradually gave a romantic image to these armed and usually mounted robbers. Several of the betyárs have become legendary figures who in the public mind fought for social justice. Hungarian betyárs included 843: 150:

and French wars. What favoured them most was the lack of governance and absence of a police force: parish constables were almost entirely ineffective, while detection and arrest were very difficult. Most of the highwaymen held up travellers and took their money. Some had channels by which they could

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In England the causes of the decline are more controversial. After about 1815, mounted robbers are recorded only rarely, the last recorded robbery by a mounted highwayman having occurred in 1831. The decline in highwayman activity also occurred during the period in which repeating handguns, notably

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described the use of direct, physical action as a hallmark of public and political life: "From the rough-house of the crowd to the dragoons' musket volley, violence was as English as plum pudding. Force was used not just criminally, but as a matter of routine to achieve social and political goals,

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of 1773 was followed by a sharp decline in highway robberies; stone walls falling over the open range like a net, confined the escaping highwaymen to the roads themselves, which now had walls on both sides and were better patrolled. The dramatic population increase which began with the

738:: Hajdú) also originated in Hungary. They were formed from large numbers of Hungarians forced out of Syrmia and the Banates (Banate of Srebrenik, Banate of Nándorfehérvár, Banat of Macsó), moving upwords to central Hungary because of the Turkish attacks (they are replaced by the 1113:" tells the story of an Irish highwayman who robs an army captain and includes the lines "I first produced me pistol, then I drew me rapier. Said 'Stand and deliver, for you are a bold deceiver'." The hit single version recorded in 1973 by Irish rock band 252:, who was shot at in Hyde Park, wrote that "One is forced to travel, even at noon, as if one was going to battle." During this period, crime was rife and encounters with highwaymen or women could be bloody if the victim attempted to resist. The historian 2220: 616:

Cities such as London were becoming much better policed: in 1805 a body of mounted police began to patrol the districts around the city at night. London was growing rapidly, and some of the most dangerous open spaces near the city, such as

613:, made it all but impossible for a highwayman to escape notice while making his getaway, but he could easily avoid such systems and use other roads, almost all of which outside the cities were flanked by open country. 1720:, Highwaymen appear as an elite type of enemy which works alongside bandits and makes use of speed and agility over brute strength. It is also possible for players to dress as Highwaymen. There is an enemy type in 2227: 621:, were being covered with buildings. However, this only moved the robbers' operating area further out, to the new exterior of an expanded city, and does not therefore explain decline. A greater use of 1124:" recounts the deeds and death of a highwayman who robbed "the lords and ladies bright". The traditional Irish song "Brennan on the Moor" describes an escapade of the "bold, undaunted robber". 774:

in the early 19th century. Along with his close friend Ithikkarappkki from the nearby Ithikkara village, he is said to have stolen from the rich and given to the poor. With the help of an

1892:, p. 14: "Road-agent is the name applied in the mountains to a ruffian who has given up honest work in the store, in the mine, in the ranch, for the perils and profits of the highway." 1255:

a highwayman holds up a stagecoach with pistols – in order to wash the coach in exchange for small monies in the manner of a modern-day unsolicited car window washer in traffic. In

762:" have long wreaked havoc on many parts of the country. In recent times this has often served as a way to fund various regional and political insurgencies that includes the Maoist 942:

From the early 18th century, collections of short stories of highwaymen and other notorious criminals became very popular. The earliest of these is Captain Alexander Smith's

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smudging hard-and-fast distinctions between the worlds of criminality and politics... Highwaymen were romanticized, with a hidden irony, as 'gentlemen of the road.'"

798:(Hajduci, Хајдуци, Хайдути), rebels who opposed Ottoman rule and acted as a guerilla force, also instrumental in the many wars against the Ottomans, especially the 1934:

A Full and Impartial Account of all the Robberies Committed by John Hawkins, George Sympson (lately Executed for Robbing the Bristol Mails) and their Companions

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about highwaymen; these were often written to be sold on the occasion of a famous robber's execution. A number of highwaymen ballads have remained current in

569:. Highwaymen who went to the gallows laughing and joking, or at least showing no fear, are said to have been admired by many of the people who came to watch. 151:

dispose of bills of exchange. Others had a 'racket' on the road transport of an extensive district; carriers regularly paid them a ransom to go unmolested.

1129: 2252: 2101: 170:!" (sometimes in forms such as "Stand and deliver your purse!" "Stand and deliver your money!") was in use from the 17th century to the 19th century: 1147:, recounts a romantic encounter between a highwayman and his female victim. In the end, the highwayman is hanged over the objections of his victim. 2454: 1564: 1644: 1348: 577:

During the 18th century French rural roads were generally safer from highwaymen than those of England, an advantage credited by the historian

2741: 2727: 2713: 2655: 2631: 2617: 2582: 2568: 2540: 2526: 2512: 2504: 2478: 655:(κλέφτες), Greeks who had taken refuge in the inaccessible mountains. The klephts, who acted as a guerilla force, were instrumental in the 122:–esque slant) what was often an especially violent form of stealing. In the 19th-century American West, highwaymen were sometimes known as 605:

is sometimes cited as a factor, but highwaymen were already obsolete before the railway network was built. The expansion of the system of

589:. In England this force was often confused with the regular army and as such cited as an instrument of royal tyranny not to be imitated. 1285: 1191: 1060:

was originally a gag-a-day about a failed highwayman called Gilles, but the character later evolved into a resistance fighter with the

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on a man whom he met on the Road, by bidding him Stand and Deliver, but to little purpose; for the Traveller had no more Money than a

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also meant, quite simply, that there were more eyes around, and the concept of remote place became a thing of the past in England.

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is a highwayman, and part of the action of the play concerns a robbery committed by him and his companions. Another highwayman in

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There is a long history of treating highway robbers as heroes. They were admired by many as bold men who confronted their victims

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where horse races and sporting events became popular with the elite from 1625. Later in the 18th century the road from London to

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Evidence of John Mawson: "As I was coming home, in company with Mr. Andrews, within two fields of the new road that is by the

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such as "knights of the road" and "gentlemen of the road" were sometimes used by people interested in romanticizing (with a

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there is a playable character named Highwayman who is dressed in Victorian clothing and represents the hero archetype. In

1604: 1508: 1444: 1276: 310: 1884:, 1898, defines road-agent as "A highwayman in the mountain districts of North America," citing the generation earlier, 1484: 1476: 1468: 1251: 380: 357:. From the mid-17th century onwards, highwaymen who harassed the British authorities were known as 'tories' (from Irish 143: 1320: 1811: 1722: 1676: 1660: 1210: 754:

The Indian Subcontinent has had a long and documented history of organised robbery for millennia. These included the

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who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads. Such

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did not stop immediately one of the two highwaymen fired at him (They had guns at the time) – It was at the end of

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English highwaymen often laid in wait on the main roads radiating from London. They usually chose lonely areas of

2368: 1796: 656: 266: 207:, we were met by two men; they attacked us both: the man who attacked me I have never seen since. He clapped a 746:

settling in the region). By the end of the 16th century they had developed into a significant military force.

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To the south of London, highwaymen sought to attack wealthy travellers on the roads leading to and from the

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Outlaws and Highwaymen: The Cult of the Robber in England from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century

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