The Auld Alliance (Scots for "Old Alliance"; French: Vieille Alliance; Scottish Gaelic: An Seann-chaidreachas[1]) was an alliance made in 1295 between the kingdoms of Scotland and France. The alliance was formed for the purpose of controlling England's numerous invasions. The Scots word auld, meaning old, has become a partly affectionate term for the long-lasting alliance between the two countries. It remained until the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh in 1560.[2]
The alliance played a significant role in the relations between Scotland, France and England from its beginning in 1295 to 1560. The alliance was renewed by all the French and Scottish monarchs of that period except Louis XI.[3] By the late 14th century, the renewal occurred regardless of whether either kingdom was in a war with England at the time.[4]
The dynastic turmoil caused by the death of Scotland's seven-year-old queen, Margaret, left the covetous king Edward I of England with an irresistible opportunity to assert his authority over Scotland. By 1295 it was clear that Edward was on a course for total subjugation of Scotland. In response the Council of Twelve who had taken over the government of Scotland temporarily, sought alliances wherever they could be found. With France and England close to war following Philippe IV's declaration of England's possession of Gascony forfeit in 1293, alliance with France was a clear course to take. In October 1295, a Scottish embassy to Philippe agreed to the Treaty of Paris.[5]
As with all subsequent renewals of what became the Auld Alliance, the treaty slightly favoured France more than Scotland. The French were required to do no more than continue their struggle against the English in Gascony. However, the cost of any outright 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 more symbolic than actual, the benefits of the alliance mattered greatly to Scotland.[6]
In the short term however, the treaty proved to have 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 attack the Scots. Scotland, in the end, owed its eventual survival to the military acumen and inspiration of Robert the Bruce and the mistakes of Edward II, rather than its Auld Alliance with France.
In 1326, Robert the Bruce renewed the alliance, with the Treaty of Corbeil. The motive for this renewal was precautionary more than anything: neither realm seemed to have much to fear from England at the time. This, however, rapidly changed after 1330 when Edward III set out to complete his conquest of Scotland and to reassert his power in France. For the first time the Franco-Scottish alliance had been given a sense of emergency.
In 1346, Edward overwhelmed French forces at the Battle of Crécy. Two months later, David II of Scotland was captured at the Battle of Neville's Cross, in a botched invasion of Northern England. His 11-year absence as Edward's prisoner only increased the internal turmoil and power struggles of Scotland. David II was forced to reach a deal with Edward III to gain his freedom. Even after his release in 1357, David spent most of his remaining reign attempting to further English interests in Scotland.[6]
The alliance was renewed between the two kingdoms in 1371, with the embassy of the Bishop of Glasgow and the Lord of Galloway to France. The treaty was signed by Charles V at the Château de Vincennes on 30 June, and at Edinburgh Castle by Robert II on 28 October.[7] The accession of pro-French Robert II led to the immediate renewal of the alliance; however, the benefits to Scotland were mixed. Plans were drawn up in 1385 for a Franco-Scottish invasion of England. This included the dispatch of a small French force to Scotland for the first time. These plans never came to any form of action after the French invasion failed to materialise. The deteriorating relations between France and Scotland were summed up by the French Chronicler Jean Froissart who "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".[8]
Yet it was necessity that had driven the two kingdoms together and the need to resist aggressive new Lancastrian Kings of England that kept the alliance together in the 15th century. In 1418, with France on the brink of surrendering to the forces of Henry 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.[9][10]
French and Scottish forces together won against the English at the Battle of Baugé in 1421. As it marked the turning point of the Hundred Years War, the significance of this battle was great. However, their victory was a short-lived one: at Verneuil in 1424, the Scots army was defeated. Despite this defeat, the Scots had given France a valuable breathing space, effectively saving the country from English domination.[6]
In addition, in 1429 Scots came to the aid of Joan of Arc in her famous relief of Orléans. Scottish soldiers also served in the Garde Écossaise, the loyal bodyguard of the French monarchy. 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.[3]
Through the rest of the 15th century the alliance was formally renewed four times.[6] The eventual victory of France in the Hundred Years War combined with the turmoil in England following the War of the Roses meant that the English threat was greatly reduced, thus rendering the alliance almost obsolete. But it didn't stop the Auld Alliance from taking part in the war, and from it, they gained the advantage of taking many strongholds and a few possessions such as Jersey and Berwick-On-Tweed from England, in exchange of helping to support the Lancastrian causes against the Yorkists during the war, and, despite the Yorkists winning and managing to regain the possessions given to them, they were still supportive to England's rebels against Yorkist rule, even supporting the last Lancastrian, Henry VII in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. As the 16th Century began, the marriage of Henry VII's daughters Margaret Tudor to James IV of Scotland and Mary Tudor to Louis XII of France, as a sign of peace from England, appeared to have finally ended the Franco-Scottish alliance for good.
It underwent a dramatic revival in 1512 when it was formally reviewed (as it was again in 1517 and 1548). Both soon petered out but Scotland still suffered badly following the death of James IV and most of his nobles at Flodden in 1513. Periodic Anglo-French and Anglo-Scottish conflict throughout the 15th century continued, but the certainties that had driven the Auld Alliance were disappearing. As Protestantism gained ground in Scotland opinion grew there that favoured closer links with England than with France.[6]
In 1558 the alliance between the two kingdoms was finally revived with the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the future Francis II of France, but only until 1560.[11] After Mary's exile in 1568 to England, Scotland was transformed by its new king James VI, who was heir to the English throne as well as Scotland's, to a Protestant nation. His desire to form close links with England 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 the Treaty of Edinburgh.[12] With the Scottish Reformation, Scotland was declared Protestant, and allied itself with Protestant England instead. During the Reformation, the Protestant Lords of the Congregation had rejected the Auld Alliance and brokered English military support with their treaty of Berwick against the French Regent Mary of Guise. Two hundred Scottish soldiers were sent to Normandy in 1562 to aid the French Huguenots in their struggle against royal authority during the French Wars of Religion. The Garde Écossaise, however, continued until 1830 when Charles X of France abdicated.
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:[16]
"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 for the 700th anniversary of the beginning of the alliance.[4]
In 2011, British historian Siobhan Talbott published the result of her research on this matter and concluded accordingly that the Auld Alliance has never been revoked.[17]
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
David II of Scotland
David II was King of Scots for over 41 years, from 1329 until his death in 1371. He was the last male of the House of Bruce. Although David spent long periods in exile or captivity, he managed to resist English attempts to annex his kingdom, and left the monarchy in a strong position.
Mary of Guelders was the queen consort of Scotland by marriage to King James II of Scotland. She served as regent of Scotland from 1460 to 1463.
Anglo-Scottish Wars
The Anglo-Scottish Wars comprise the various battles which continued to be fought between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland from the time of the Wars of Independence in the early 14th century through to the latter years of the 16th century.
Hundred Years' War (1415–53)
The Lancastrian War was the third and final phase of the Anglo-French Hundred Years' War. It lasted from 1415, when King Henry V of England invaded Normandy, to 1453, when the English lost Bordeaux. It followed a long period of peace from the end of the Caroline War in 1389. The phase was named after the House of Lancaster, the ruling house of the Kingdom of England, to which Henry V belonged.
Treaty of Berwick (1560)
The Treaty of Berwick was negotiated on 27 February 1560 at Berwick-upon-Tweed. It was an agreement made by the representative of Queen Elizabeth I of England, the Duke of Norfolk, and the group of rebellious nobles known as the Scottish Lords of the Congregation. The purpose was to agree the terms under which an English fleet and army would come to Scotland to expel the French troops who were defending the Regency of Mary of Guise. The Lords were trying both to expel the French and to effect the Scottish Reformation, and this had led from rioting to armed conflict.
Rough Wooing
The Rough Wooing was a war between Scotland and England. Following its break with Rome, England decided to attack Scotland, partly to destroy the Auld Alliance, and prevent Scotland being used as a springboard for future invasion by France, partly to weaken Scotland, and partly to force Scotland to agree to a marriage alliance between its child Queen Mary and the English heir apparent Edward, son of King Henry VIII. An invasion of France was also contemplated. War was declared by Henry in an attempt to force the Scots to agree to a marriage between Edward and the infant queen, thereby creating a new alliance between Scotland and England. Edward, crowned king in 1547 at the age of nine, continued the war for a time under the direction of the Duke of Somerset before Somerset's removal from power in 1549 and replacement by the Duke of Northumberland, who wished for a less costly foreign policy than his predecessor. It was the last major conflict between Scotland and England before the Union of the Crowns in 1603, excepting perhaps the English intervention at the Siege of Leith in 1560, and was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century.
Henri Cleutin
Henri Cleutin, seigneur d'Oisel et de Villeparisis, was the representative of France in Scotland from 1546 to 1560, a Gentleman of the Chamber of the King of France, and a diplomat in Rome 1564-1566 during the French Wars of Religion.
Jacques de la Brosse
Jacques de la Brosse,, cupbearer to the king, was a sixteenth-century French soldier and diplomat. He is remembered in Scotland for his missions in 1543 and 1560 in support of the Auld Alliance.
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of English civil wars for control of the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the House of Lancaster, associated with a red rose, and the House of York, whose symbol was a white rose. Eventually, the wars eliminated the male lines of both families. The conflict lasted through many sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1487, but there was related fighting before and after this period between the parties. The power struggle ignited around social and financial troubles following the Hundred Years' War, unfolding the structural problems of feudalism, combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of King Henry VI which revived interest in Richard of York's claim to the throne. Historians disagree on which of these factors to identify as the main reason for the wars.
Treaty of York (1464)
The Treaty of York (1464) was made between England and Scotland on 1 June 1464 at York and was intended to establish 15 years of peace. Previously Scotland had supported the defeated House of Lancaster in the English civil War of the Roses.
