Scotland's ‘Auld Alliance’ with France, 1295–1560

Abstract

To a greater or lesser degree all historical phenomena have their realities and myths, the facts and fables that surround them and are inherent within them. But the ‘Auld Alliance’, as the Scots referred to their relationship with France, is more than usually endowed with fable, while the facts have often been obscured, selectively refined or omitted altogether. The ‘Auld Alliance’ has generally been held to have ended with the death on 5 December 1560 of Mary, Queen of Scots' first husband, Francis II, who was the first and last king of both France and Scotland. The origins of the Anglo‐Franco‐Scottish relationship are to be found in 1295 when the Scots formed the first defensive/offensive alliance with France against the English king, Edward I. But from its very shaky beginnings, as a mutually offensive/defensive military alliance against England, the ‘Auld Alliance’ gradually developed other familial, personal, social and cultural associations which did not die with Francis II, nor entirely ever disappeared. However, it was the advent of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Anglo‐French competition for her hand in marriage; the treaties, alliances and military engagements this provoked; the resulting role of France in the government of Scotland, culminating in the union of the French and Scottish crowns; and the effects of the Habsburg/Valois conflicts of the 1550s, which inevitably included England and Scotland, which ultimately led to the end of the formal military ‘Auld Alliance’ in 1560.