Auld Alliance

Auld Alliance
Formation23 October 1295
Founded atParis
Dissolved15 July 1560
PurposeDefence pact
Membership
 Kingdom of Scotland
 Kingdom of France
Official language
French
Scots
Scottish Gaelic
Foreign alliances of France
Frankish–Abbasid alliance 777–800s
Franco-Mongol alliance 1220–1316
Franco-Scottish alliance 1295–1560
Franco-Polish alliance 1524–1526
Franco-Hungarian alliance 1528–1552
Franco-Ottoman alliance 1536–1798
Franco-English alliance 1657–1660
Franco-Indian alliance 1603–1763
Franco-British alliance 1716–1731
Franco-Spanish alliance 1733–1792
Franco-Prussian alliance 1741–1756
Franco-Austrian alliance 1756–1792
Franco-Indian Alliances 1700s
Franco-Vietnamese
alliance
1777–1820
Franco-American alliance 1778–1794
Franco-Persian alliance 1807–1809
Franco-Prussian alliance 1812–1813
Franco-Austrian alliance 1812–1813
Franco-Russian alliance 1892–1917
Entente Cordiale 1904–present
Franco-Polish alliance 1921–1940
Franco-Italian alliance 1935
Franco-Soviet alliance 1936–1939
Treaty of Dunkirk 1947–1997
Western Union 1948–1954
North Atlantic Alliance 1949–present
Western European Union 1954–2011
European Defence Union 1993–present
Regional relations

The Auld Alliance (Scots for "Old Alliance")[1][2] was an alliance between the kingdoms of Scotland and France against England made in 1295. The Scots word auld, meaning old, 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 the Treaty 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 the French and Scottish monarchs of that period except Louis 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 by John Balliol and Philip IV of France in 1295 against Edward 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 1513 Battle 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 the Wars of Scottish Independence, the Hundred Years' War, the War of the League of Cambrai, and the Rough Wooing.

  1. ^ French: Vieille Alliance; Scottish Gaelic: An Seann-chaidreachas
  2. ^ "FR01 – Auld Alliance". www.scottishdiasporatapestry.org. Archived from the original on 16 July 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  3. ^ "In a paper Dr Siobhan Talbott has argued the Franco-Scottish Auld Alliance of 1295 survived centuries of enmity and war between Britain and France – even after the Act of Union was signed in 1707". Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  4. ^ "Beyond "The Antiseptic Realm of Theoretical Economic Models": New Perspectives on Franco-Scottish Commerce and the Auld Alliance in the Long Seventeenth Century". www.academia.edu. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  5. ^ Tanner, Roland, "Franco-Scottish Alliance," in The Oxford Companion to British History . Oxford University Press, 2009. pp. 390–91.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference naturalisation was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ BONNER, ELIZABETH. “Scotland’s ‘Auld Alliance’ with France, 1295–1560.” History, vol. 84, no. 273, Wiley, 1999, pp. 5–30, JSTOR 24424506.