"The Auld Alliance has not been written on a ewe skin parchment, but engraved on human skin, traced not in
ink but in blood ".
Alain Chartier, 15th century
"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".
Charles de Gaulle, Edinburgh, 1942
The history of the old alliance between France and Scotland, better known as the “Auld Alliance”, is unique in the history of nations because there is no equivalence in terms of duration and intensty.
The formal part of this alliance is mainly linked to a succession of military treaties, renewed reign after reign (20 times between 1326 and 1558). The culmination was during the Hundred Years War and particularly with the Scots troops who disembarked at la Rochelle (up to 30 000 soldiers) in the period 1419-1429 and played a major role, beside the dauphin Charles and Joan of Arc, in the recovery of the French territory.
But in 1295, date of the oldest
treaty recorded in Paris
National Archives, the name was
already “Auld Alliance”, and
this shows that this alliance
was far older. Some historians claim that it went back to the VIII th century with Charles Martel and Charlemagne.
This alliance also had cultural and commercial aspects. The Scottish students came to French universities such as Paris, Orléans, Bourges, Montpellier, and the first Scottish universities, Saint Andrews and Aberdeen, were designed upon French university model.
the XVIth century and through
general letters of naturality,
granted by kings of France and kings
of Scots, French and Scots living
abroad had dual nationality.
Scotland was at that time one of the major commercial partners of France, especially regarding the Bordeaux wine called “Claret”, and had a low tax status.
Nowadays France is a major
commercial partner for Scotland
especially concerning Scotch Whisky.
Over the centuries and still today, France and Scotland have enjoyed strong connections, recently demonstrated by numerous French and Scottish twined towns.