Hiya I'm Bruce Fummey. It's the 23rd of October and I'm outside the French Consulate in Edinburgh.
You see it was on this day in 1295 that the world's oldest alliance was made between Scotland
and France. Now originally I was going to make a video on the winners and losers in that alliance
through the centuries, but that's going to have to wait for another day, because what I found out in
my research blew ... my ... mind! If you're like me, this video completely changed the way that you view
the old alliance. If you're interested in the people, places and events in Scottish history then
hit the subscribe button at the bottom right hand side of the screen at any time during this video
for more information, books, links, how to buy me a coffee or become a member,
that's all in the description below. In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
So I thought I knew about about the Old Alliance; Scotland's ancient treaty with France, but I didn't
understand at all, and I think by the time we're finished you might see things differently too.
Here's how I used to think about the Old Alliance. In 1266, Alexander the Third of Scotland died without
surviving children. His nearest heir was his little granddaughter, Margaret, the Maid of Norway.
Now Margaret's mum had also died and little Margaret lived in Norway with her dad Eric the Second
of Norway. Now sadly the new child Queen had also died on her way to Scotland to be crowned, and into
the chaos of competing claims for the empty throne, Edward the First of England offered to mediate, in
what was called 'The Great Cause', but first he forced the claimants to swear fealty to him.
Now John Baliol turned out to be the winner, but he was humiliated by Edward. The Scots nobles had
had enough of it, and they made a treaty with the French for mutual protection in case of attack
by the English, and over the next few hundred years it led to the Battle of Neville's Cross,
Flodden, Scots fighting with Joan of Arc, the Garde Écossaise protecting the French King,
Mary Queen of Scots, Jacobite support and led Charles de Gaulle to say on a visit to Edinburgh,
"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 the men of France, and what Frenchmen feel,
is that no people has ever been more generous than yours, with its friendship".
Mais, par contre, cependent, toutefois, en revanche, d’autre part ... however!
I spent some time in Montpellier earlier this year trying to improve my French, so I thought
I'd do a bit of digging from a French point of view. I had no idea, what I learned blew my mind ...
mon cerveau a éclaté! You see the Scottish landscape gives us a distorted picture. We Scots tend to look
at everything through the thorn-stained spectacles of our relationship with the English. The way we
see it, John Baliol, along with other claimants of the empty Scottish throne was put under pressure
to submit to Edward of England rather than give up his claim. Edward used this as a ploy to bend
Scotland to his will. Baliol signing a treaty with France was him finally standing up to England
and reiterating Scotland's independence, but take a step back, think about it from a French perspective.
Baliol also had lands in France. He may have sworn fealty to Edward but, he was a vassal of the French
King for his French lands, and when conflict broke out between France and England, chivalry
made him duty-bound to fight the English, yet he'd also sworn fealty to Edward, so he was duty-bound
to fight the French. It's like when a waiter asks you to choose between cheesecake and sticky toffee
pudding! It's an impossible situation into which no honourable man should be put, but there you have it.
It was as I watched a French program about this Franco-Scottish Alliance, that things took an
unexpected turn, which brought me here. This is the Norwegian Consulate in Edinburgh, you see this 1295
Alliance was in actual fact a treaty that France made with Scotland AND Norway. What!? Norwegians?
Let me explain. In May 1293, a conflict flared up between England and France with a naval exchange
that led to some English attack in the port of Larochelle. As punishment, the French King stripped
Edward Longshanks of his lands in Gascony and these two great powers started gearing up for
a fight. The English sought their allies, and the French sought theirs. Whose side are you on?
It turns out that the Old Alliance wasn't a treaty made between Scotland and France.
No, in fact it was one of a group of treaties made over two days on the 22nd and 23rd of October 1295
including France, Scotland, Norway and Aragon. That is the Spanish Consulate.
As you'll see when I eventually get round to making the video that I originally intended, the
Scots kept their side of the bargain, and despite huge depredations and loss of life over centuries,
hence the Flodden wall here. The Norwegians had forgotten their commitments within a few years,
but that's all stuff for another day, the point is that France made a treaty with Scotland and also
with Norway, so the Scots would attack England from the north and the Norwegians would provide up to
200 ships and men to fight the English in the North Sea. Obviously the French didn't want their
two allies arguing with each other, so an agreement between Scotland and Norway was part of the deal.
The Norwegians and the Scots had to put aside their disagreements so that they could help the
French fight the English. What? I'm wanting William Wallace against Edward Longshanks,
and you're giving me John Baliol against Olaf and Eric! What were these disagreements anyway?
Well if you've watched my video how Scotland got its borders, I'll leave a link at the end,
you must watch it okay, Scotland had gained The Hebrides from, you know the Western Isles?
They'd gained them from Norway in the Treaty of Perth, 1266, with Alexander the Third and Magnus,
but part of the deal was that Scotland had to pay Norway 100 mercs a year in perpetuity.
Now remember what started this latest debacle was the death of Alexander the Third without children.
Turns out when he died, Scotland stopped making payments for the Western Isles.
Of course the Norwegian King felt if the Scots didn't keep up the
payments, then he was entitled to the Western Isles
back, but that wasn't the only source of dispute.
Remember when Alexander the Third died, his granddaughter, the Maid of Norway,
was to come to Scotland to become a child Queen, but she died too. The thing is that when Alexander
the Third's daughter, the Maid's mother, had married Eric the Second of Norway, a dowry had been agreed.
That's right, those payments hadn't been kept up to date either! It was worse than that though,
you know the Great Cause, the debate about who was going to be King after Alexander the Third? Well, we
Scots always get caught up in the debate between the two claimants, of Bruce the Contender, the
granddad of Robert the Bruce and John Baliol, but whilst they had the strongest claim to the throne,
there were quite a few other claimants as well, and one of them was the King of Norway. As father of
the recently deceased child Queen, he felt that he had the rightful claim. It never rains, but it pours!
I already said that before Edward decided the Great Cause, he made everyone swear fealty to him,
subjugating Scotland in legal parchment before they even reached a battlefield. Now if you're the
Norwegian King, this is a no-brainer, but to swear fealty for land that you don't control anyway?
The islands to which you gave up your claim decades ago would take a war to get back,
but if you can just get Edward to make whoever wins the Scottish throne give you your money,
then the Scots can have the islands, I mean obviously you'll keep your holiday home in
Skye, you know what I mean? You're not going to give that up, but apart from that it doesn't matter to
you if John Baliol was chosen as the King of Scots, Edward's the man who put him there and Edward is
the man that you pester constantly about the money that the Scots owe you. You pester Edward and you
pester him, but progress seems slow and now he's got bigger fish to fry; impending war with France.
So Edward didn't make you King of Scots, and he hasn't managed to get you your cash,
and now he's ignoring you because of his war with France. Well if Edward won't get you the
cash, then maybe the King of France will, so you decide to put aside your differences with the
Scots in the meantime, and a treaty is agreed with you and France in return for a huge down
payment for the boats that you promised. It's a good each way bet; if France wins you can harass
Philippe for the money from the Scots, if England wins then you go back to Edward and in 700 years
nobody will remember that it was you that stirred the pot. Norway couldn't lose. The Scots however,
signing that treaty, signed the death warrant of thousands of Scots. When Edward heard about the
Scots signing the treaty, his retribution was swift: he sacked Berwick, slaughtered his people
invaded what he saw as his vassal lands in Scotland. The Scots paid a heavy price for their
alliance with France then, and many times after. Charles de Gaulle was right on that one at least.
So the Norwegians, having received a huge bag of cash from the French, sat on the side-lines and after
Scotland had been incorporated into England, then they swiftly forgot their part of the three-way
treaty with Scotland and France and they went back to Edward. Humans like things simple don't they?
It's easy to blame all our woes on the English and don't think I won't in future episodes, but it turns
out that the Norwegians, those socially responsible, benefit sharing, holiday cabin dwelling, Nobel prize
awarding, international mediating, aurora watching, fjord cruising, oily fish eating, seven pound a
pint charging, duplicitous, two-faced backstabbing, blood-sucking, interfering Viking pirates,
played more of a role than you might realise! I'm just saying I hadn't realised that about
the Old Alliance. Do things look just a wee bit different now? The video about how Scotland got
its borders comes next. Watch it! Now you can also buy me a coffee, or support the channel
in the description below. In the meantime Tha mi an dochas bum bith lath math leibh. Tiorridh an drasda.