| Formation | 23 October 1295 |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Paris |
| Dissolved | 15 July 1560 |
| Purpose | Defence pact |
| Membership |  Kingdom of Scotland Kingdom of France |
Official language | French Scots Scottish Gaelic |
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TheAuld Alliance (Scots for "Old Alliance")[1][2] was an alliance between the kingdoms ofScotland andFrance againstEngland made in 1295. TheScots wordauld, meaningold, has become a partly affectionate term for the long-lasting association between the two countries. The alliance was never formally revoked,[3][4] although it is considered by some to have ended with the signing of theTreaty of Edinburgh in 1560.[5]
The alliance played a significant role in the relations among Scotland, France and England. The alliance was renewed by all theFrench andScottish monarchs of that period exceptLouis XI.[6] By the late 14th century, the renewal occurred regardless of whether either kingdom was at war with England at the time.[7]
The alliance began with the treaty signed byJohn Balliol andPhilip IV of France in 1295 againstEdward I of England. The terms of the treaty stipulated that if either country were attacked by England, the other country would invade English territory. The 1513Battle of Flodden, where the Scots invaded England in response to the English campaign against France, was one such occasion.Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, negotiated the renewal of the alliance in 1326. The alliance played an important role in theWars of Scottish Independence, theHundred Years' War, theWar of the League of Cambrai, and theRough Wooing.
The dynastic turmoil caused by the death in 1290 of Scotland's seven-year-old queen,Margaret, the Maid of Norway, left the covetousEdward I of England with an opportunity to assert his authority overScotland. In response, the Council of Twelve, which had taken over the government of Scotland temporarily, sought alliances wherever they could be found.Philip IV declared England's possession ofGascony forfeit in 1294, bringingFrance andEngland close to war. Alliance with France was a clear course for Scotland to take. In October 1295, a Scottish embassy to France agreed to the Treaty of Paris,[8] which was signed on 23 October.[9]
As with all subsequent renewals of what became the Auld Alliance, the treaty favoured France. The French were required to do no more than continue their struggle against the English in Gascony. The cost of any war between Scotland and England was to be borne entirely by the Scots. Nevertheless, Scotland, as remote and impoverished as it was, was now aligned to a major European power. Even if they were more symbolic than actual, the benefits of the alliance mattered greatly to Scotland.[10]
In the short term, however, the treaty proved to be no protection against Edward, whose swift and devastating invasion of Scotland in 1296 all but eradicated its independence. Furthermore, the cessation of hostilities between England and France in 1299, followed by the treaty of "perpetual peace and friendship," allowed Edward to devote all of his attention and forces to attacking the Scots. In the end, Scotland owed its eventual survival to the military acumen and inspiration ofRobert the Bruce and the mistakes ofEdward II, rather than to its bond with France.[citation needed] In 1326, Robert the Bruce sentThomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray to negotiate renewal of the alliance with theTreaty of Corbeil. The motive for this renewal was precautionary: neither realm seemed to have much to fear from England at the time.
However, this changed after 1332, whenEdward III set out to conquer Scotland and reassert his power in France. For the first time, the Franco-Scottish alliance acquired a sense of emergency.[citation needed] In the winter of 1332,King Philip dispatched a flotilla of ten ships to Scotland with aid, but they were blown off course in a storm and never arrived. In the spring of 1334, £1000 arrived from France to be distributed to the Scottish defenders along with an offer of sanctuary to youngDavid II of Scotland, his queen and members of his court. In May 1334, the two monarchs arrived, along with their confessors, tutors in arts and in arms, the king's sisters, the Douglas children, the late regent's sons, other children of Scottish nobles, a number of clerics, and nobles who would act as envoys between the court in exile, the French and the defenders at home in Scotland. They were given Château Gaillard as a residence. In 1334, peace talks between France and England were proposed, but when King Philip insisted that the Scots be included, King Edward broke off the talks. In addition to sending regular supplies to the Scots, the French paid an annual pension of £2000 for the upkeep of King David's court in exile. In June 1339,William Douglas, Lord of Liddesdale visited King David in France and returned to Scotland, taking with him Arnoul d'Audrehen in command of 200 French troops as well as several ships which aided in the capture of Perth.[11]
In June and again in July 1346, King Philip of France wrote desperate letters to King David begging him to attack England, hoping to draw off the looming English attack in France. In light of this, the Scots planned achevauchee in the north of England. Edward overwhelmed French forces at theBattle of Crécy in August before the planned Scottish attack. Despite that it was too late to help the situation of the French, King David and his advisors decided to go ahead with the chevauchee, possibly believing it would repay a considerable debt to France for their aid. However, the English, even without King Edward, raised an effective defence. King David was captured at theBattle of Neville's Cross.[12]
In March 1355,John II of France commanded Sire Eugene de Garancières to lead a force of sixty knights and their retinues, probably a force of about two hundred men, to Scotland to join the Scots in an attack on northern English strongholds. The Scots did not agree to make the attack until the receipt of the promised payment of 40,000 mouton d’or, which was distributed to the chief leaders of the Scots. They then marched to the vicinity of Norham Castle, where Sir William Ramsay lured the defenders of the castle out by driving away their herds of cattle. He then led the English into an ambush by William, Lord of Douglas and the French. The English were defeated, andThomas Grey (chronicler) was taken prisoner, to be held for a substantial ransom. They then withdrew to Scotland in order to make an approach by sea and land on the beach of Berwick-upon-Tweed. They made an escalade attack on the walls. Although taking the city, they failed to take Berwick Castle.Robert II of Scotland, presently Earl of Strathern and heir to the throne of Scotland, made his only venture south of the English border to order them to withdraw back to Scotland. The French force then returned home.[13]
Some Scottish knights continued, during truces, to go to France to aid their allies.William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas led 200 men-at-arms and forty knights to fight with the French at theBattle of Poitiers. The king's 11-year absence as Edward's prisoner only increased the internal turmoil and power struggles within Scotland.[14] David II was forced to make a deal withEdward III to gain his freedom. After his release in 1357, while resisting more conflict with England, David successfully consolidated royal power in Scotland and cut down the power of the barons who opposed him with the help ofArchibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas.[15]
The accession of pro-FrenchRobert II led to immediaterenewal in 1371, with the embassy of theBishop of Glasgow and theLord of Galloway to France. The treaty was signed byCharles V at theChâteau de Vincennes on 30 June, and atEdinburgh Castle byRobert II on 28 October.[16] The benefits toScotland were mixed. The Scots benefited from the successful raids of the French admiral Jean de Vienne's on the southern coast of England which relieved military pressure on them. In 1385 Vienne used a 180 ship fleet to land an army in Scotland with the intent of invading England, but the force had to withdraw.[17] This caused relations between France and Scotland to deteriorate which was summed up by the French chroniclerJean Froissart when he "wished the King of France would make a truce with the English for two or three years and then march to Scotland and utterly destroy it".[18]
However, necessity had driven the two kingdoms together and the need to resist aggressive new Lancastrian kings kept the alliance together in the 15th century. In 1418, with France on the brink of surrendering to the forces ofHenry V, the Dauphin,Charles VII, called on his Scottish allies for help. Between 1419 and 1424, as many as 15,000 Scottish troops were sent to France.[19][20]
French and Scottish forces together won against the English at theBattle of Baugé in 1421. It marked the turning point of theHundred Years War, but the victory was short-lived for Scotland. The Scots army was defeated atVerneuil in 1424. Despite this defeat, the Scots had given France a valuable breathing space, effectively ensuring the continued power of the French state.[10]
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In 1429, Scots came to the aid ofJoan of Arc in her famousrelief of Orléans, and a large portion of the French Army up until the end of the Loire Valley Campaign was made of Scots men at arms and archers. Scottish soldiers also served in theGarde Écossaise, the loyal bodyguard of the French crown. Many members of the Scottish expeditions to France chose to settle there. Some officers were granted lands and titles in France. In the 15th and 16th centuries, they became naturalised French subjects.[6] Through the rest of the 15th century, the alliance was formally renewed four times,[10] until the eventual victory of France in theHundred Years War.
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The aftermath of theHundred Years War inEngland that led to theWars of the Roses meant that the English threat was greatly reduced, thus rendering the alliance almost obsolete. Scotland and France at first saw England's turmoil as an opportunity to carry out raids without opposition. But Scotland went further by seeing this as its chance of retakingRoxburgh andBerwick in 1460. Despite their victory ofcapturing Roxburgh, it unfortunately costKing James II's life. One of his own Cannon exploded next to him, killing him instantly at the age of 29.[21] While the regents reigned Scotland untilKing James III was old enough to rule,Margaret of Anjou made a compromise by givingBerwick to Scotland in 1461 in exchange that they would aid the Lancastrian cause in the war. Scotland agreed and together they gained their victory in theBattle of Wakefield with the death ofRichard of York.Margaret of Anjou made a similar compromise the same year with Scotland's ally, France by giving themJersey in exchange for support for the Lancastrian cause and thus, the Auld Alliance in a way was engaging in a war that they've caused by their own victory in theHundred Years War.
The true reasoning for the alliance's existence is to fight against the English, not end up aiding one side in their enemy's own civil war. Their reason being was that the Yorkist had sided with theBurgundian State, and with the Yorkists on the throne meant that the English would return to fight France through Burgundy. NeitherFrance norScotland had the stomach to fight after theHundred Years War that the former was recovering from. To prevent England from becoming strong enough to fight against them, the allies created aproxy war out of it by siding with their former enemy in the last phases of theHundred Years War, and Yorkists enemy, the Lancastrians. Not wanting a repeat of Wakefield whenHenry VI and Margret fled to Scotland in 1464,Edward IV made a peace with Scotland with theTreaty of York. That peace however was short lived because once the Yorkists won the war and exterminated the Lancastrians, the Yorkists managed to regain England's lost possessions of Jersey from France in 1468 andBerwick from Scotland in 1482. Around the same time, with theTreaty of Arras, the Burgundy threat to France was subdued. After the Lancastrians became extinct,Henry Tudor had been in exile inBrittany. From there, he made attempts to take the throne but failed. But when Henry went to exile inFrance to escape pro-Yorkists supporters, Henry was able to gain French and Scottish support fromKing Charles VII of France. Together, they landed in Wales and with Welsh allies defeated the YorkistKing Richard III at theBattle of Bosworth Field in 1485. When Henry VII marriedElizabeth of York, it ended England's turmoiled war and began its gradual recovery with theTudor Dynasty.[22] To maintain peace with the Franco-Scottish alliance as the sixteenth century began, Henry VII gave to marriage his eldest daughter,Margaret Tudor toJames IV of Scotland and his younger daughter,Mary Tudor toLouis XII of France. The former's lineage would inevitably give rise to the joint ruler of both Scotland and England in 1603,King James VI & I, 43 years after the Auld Alliance was abolished.
The alliance underwent a dramatic revival when it was formally reviewed in 1512 and again in 1517 and 1548.Scotland still suffered badly following the death ofJames IV and most of his nobles atFlodden in 1513. Periodic Anglo-French and Anglo-Scottish conflict throughout the sixteenth century continued, but the certainties that had driven the Auld Alliance were disappearing. AsProtestantism gained ground in Scotland, more and more people favoured closer links withEngland than withFrance.[10]
In 1558, the alliance between the two kingdoms was revived with the marriage ofMary, Queen of Scots to the futureFrancis II of France, but it lasted only until 1560 when Francis died prematurely.[23] At the same year of the marriage, the French successfully retook their last position ofCalais and driven the English off the continent once and for all from ever retaking it in 1563. In order to make England recognise France's claim over Calais, they gaveQueen Elizabeth I 120,000 crowns as a barter. After Mary's exile to England in 1568, Scotland was transformed into aProtestant nation by its new king,James VI, who was also heir to the English throne. His desire to form close ties with England, and England's complete removal from the French mainland after Calais, meant that the alliance had outlived its usefulness. In the 1560s, after more than 250 years, formal treaties between Scotland and France were officially ended by theTreaty of Edinburgh.[24] With theScottish Reformation, Scotland was declaredProtestant, and allied itself with Protestant England instead. During the Reformation, the ProtestantLords of the Congregation rejected the Auld Alliance and brokered English military support with theirtreaty of Berwick, aimed against the French RegentMary of Guise. Two hundred Scottish soldiers were sent to Normandy in 1562 to aid the FrenchHuguenots in their struggle against royal authority during theFrench Wars of Religion.
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The Auld Alliance still lived on with theCatholic Scots. Throughout the seventeenth century since theHouse of Stuart acquired the English throne, aside from theWars of the Three Kingdoms andOliver Cromwell's short-lived Commonwealth, relations between England and Scotland, including France for the most part, was neutral. That all changed in theWilliamite War when the Stuart Catholic KingJames VII and II was deposed in favour of the ProtestantWilliam of Orange, husband to James's eldest daughter,Mary II. After losing in Ireland, and Scotland before the century came to a close, James went into exile in France, and through his lineage there would try to retake the crown with their Catholic Scots and French backed allies in theJacobite Wars throughout the early and mid eighteenth century, with the closest fromBonnie Prince Charlie getting as far south asSwarkestone Bridge nearDerby before retreating back to Scotland. AfterCulloden in 1746 and theHighland Clearances soon after, some of the exiled Jacobites in the New World aided their French ally in theSeven Years' War, even on the side of thePatriots in theAmerican War of Independence, an echo to when the Auld Alliance started almost 500 years ago. TheGarde Écossaise, since their founding in 1418 continued to protect the kings of France until 412 years later in 1830, whenCharles X of France abdicated. In 1848, France abolished themonarchy after restoring it in 1815 after theFrench Revolution and theNapoleonic War, and once more became aRepublic underNapoleon III.
The Auld Alliance extended into the lives of the Scottish population in a number of ways, affectingarchitecture,law, theScots language, andcuisine, among other things. Scottish soldiers served within the French army; there were reciprocal dual nationality agreements;[25] and France granted privileges to Scottishvintners.[25] Many Scots studied at French universities, something which continued up until theNapoleonic Wars.[26]David de Moravia, the 14th-centuryBishop of Moray, helped found theScots College of theUniversity of Paris in 1333. Among those who studied or taught at French universities were: the poetsJohn Barbour andGeorge Buchanan; the historianHector Boece; the founder ofSt Andrews University,Henry Wardlaw; the founder ofAberdeen University,William Elphinstone; the founder of theAdvocates Library,George Mackenzie, and the noted translator ofRabelais, SirThomas Urquhart. Scottish castles built with French construction in mind includeBothwell andKildrummy.[citation needed]
In a speech which he delivered in Edinburgh in June 1942,Charles de Gaulle described the alliance between Scotland and France as "the oldest alliance in the world". He also declared that:[27]
In every combat where for five centuries the destiny of France was at stake, there were always men of Scotland to fight side by side with men of France, and what Frenchmen feel is that no people has ever been more generous than yours with its friendship.
In 1995, celebrations were held in both countries marking the 700th anniversary of the beginning of the alliance.[7]
In theSix Nations Championship, arugby union tournament played between England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy, theAuld Alliance Trophy is played for when Scotland and France play their match.
After extensive research, British historian Siobhan Talbott concluded that the Auld Alliance had never been formally revoked and that it endured and thrived long after theActs of Union in 1707 and theEntente Cordiale of 1904.[28][29]
