During the medieval period the county had been defined in law by violence and cruel punishments. It played a large part in various civil wars and gave rise to Lollardism. A fiercely independent folk and a position on the border with Wales gave the county a reputation for a frontier mentality. Many were hanged for hayrick burning, owing to the relatively low agricultural wage, during the Swing Riots and later. However, in contrast to Norfolk, for example, it did not form a militant agricultural workers' union.