Q&A
How old is the Auld Alliance?
• SHORT ANSWER
More than 700 years ago, France and Scotland came together in their shared anti-Englishness
• LONG ANSWER
The purpose of France and Scotland forming the Auld Alliance can be summed up by the adage: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Forged on 23 October 1295 by King of Scots John Balliol and Philip IV of France, it stated that if either country was attacked by England, the other would retaliate.
At the time, the Scots were in desperate need of allies to curb the expansionist aims of their neighbour to the south. In practice, the Auld Alliance did not offer the fullest of protections – Edward I of England invaded the following year – but Scots continued to honour their pledge whenever the French got embroiled in one of their many wars with the English. Scottish soldiers could be found on battlefields throughout the Hundred Years’ War. In fact, the alliance was renewed by essentially all the monarchs of the two countries well into the 16th century (even if neither were actually at war with England).
Traditionally, the end of the Auld Alliance is dated to the Treaty of Edinburgh in 1560, when all French troops left Scotland for good. But in one of those technical quirks with historic treaties, it was never actually revoked, arguably making it the world’s oldest international alliance.