The connection between Scotland and France is one of the most important in Scottish history and today we’re giving it a look.
France is up there as one of the most significant countries for the Scots. I haven’t yet formulated a list of most important countries for us but it is definitely top 5. Maybe it is a little less pronounced a connection in the present day, but for least 600 years of our history France was our friend, our protector from the English, and every now and again we got married and weird things happened. Follow on for a complicated love story.
Geopolitics
So much of history, politics, economics and culture becomes clearer when you look at a map.
Here we have a map of West Europe. France was the biggest, mostly unified, kingdom in Europe, while Britain had two significant kingdoms, England and Scotland. England was the largest in terms of population, economy and size. Scotland meanwhile lagged considerably, being almost a fifth of the population during the First War of Independence (1296 -1328). England was much smaller than France in size and population terms at the time, but was powerful due to the protection of the English Channel and the strength of her navy. England and France were rivals while Scotland was in a weak position as being attached to our greatest enemy. France and Scotland saw an opportunity in being friends.
The First War of Independence was a response to Scotland becoming friendly with the French. England attempted to conquer Scotland during that war. The King of England, Edward I, known as “longshanks” in Scotland because he was tall, had imposed a weak king named John Balliol on Scotland. Balliol became known as the “toom tabard”, which is Scots Language and means “empty coat” – an amazing political insult we should bring back. Part of King Edward I’s motivation in securing a weak monarch on the Scottish throne was so that he could fight the French. In 1295, Balliol showed he meant business and signed an alliance with the French against the English. This became known as the Auld Alliance. (Auld is Scots for old).
What was the Auld Alliance about?
The ‘Auld Alliance’ is not written on parchment in ink,
but engraved on the living flesh of man’s skin in blood
- Alain Chartier, 15th century poet from Elizabeth Bonner.
The Auld Alliance was really very simple. Whenever England attacked either Scotland or France, the other would respond. In this way, Scotland could not be dominated by England because we had our big ally across the water giving them a hard time. Similarly, the English could not harm the French with their full force as they would always need to hold something back in anticipation of the Scots.
This alliance was to develop into a relationship. Even though it is said to have formally dissolved in 1560, there was significant connection between Scotland and France well into the 20th-century and beyond.
Why did the Auld Alliance dwindle?
Basically, we got too close and got married.
Mary, Queen of Scots was a literal baby when she became Queen in 1542. She was less than a week old. The English once again began their shenanigans and wanted to take over Scotland by marrying the baby. The Scots sort of said “aye, but no”, which the English diplomats took to mean a staunch acceptance.
In 1544, the English started burning down all our places. This was a period of history known to the Scots as “the rough wooing”. It was the worst Tinder date ever. Edinburgh was mostly taken down to foundations outwith the Castle. Mary, QOS, and her mum, Mary of Guise, were holed up in Stirling Castle, praying for a miracle. That miracle was to come from France.
The French sailed up to the Port of Leith and said to the English, “Non, arretez, Brexitez-vous“. They effectively put an end to England’s campaign to conquer Scotland, a campaign which is noted for the ferocity of plunder and ruin it did to Scotland. Before the war there were some Scots who supported the English claim, primarily because they supported a Protestant monarchy, but it’s hard to justify supporting a people who are blowing you and your friends up while destroying all your property.
France came armed with an army and a wedding ring, and Mary, QOS, got betrothed at the age of 5. Mary, QOS, moved to France, became plus French in manner, attitude, and accent, married a very short child (14) while she was a very tall teen (16), her boy husband died of an ear infection, and she wound up a widow.
This was effectively the formal end of the Auld Alliance as a main geopolitical prop for both Scotland and France. Though elements of the connection between Scotland and France are found elsewhere.
Military Links
Linked to the Auld Alliance connection between Scotland and France but by no means the same thing, the military links between the two are very cool.
First War of Independence
The Scots fought the English during the Wars of Independence, and the second most famous fighter in this was Robert the Bruce. To put his name as he’d more accurately put it, Robert de Brus. The Bruce was an Anglo-Norman noble of English and French stock, with a wee bit of Norse mixed in there for the Norman bit. The fact that one of our great heroes is mixed is certainly suggestive of how close we are.
Another cool feature of this war is that the French military has a song about it. March de Soldats de Robert Bruce is a march which is said to be the song played before the Battle of Bannockburn, though also said to have entered the French canon at the liberation of Orléans.
Hundred Years War (1337 – 1435)
Picture the scene: the English king has a claim on the French throne and wants to keep it. This meant he had to start a war to be recognised as a potential leader.
The King of England is so keen on this French claim he changes his logo from being lions to adding in the French fleur-de-lis.
The French lost significantly at the Battle of Crecy (1346), and asked the Scots to help. Our king headed an army, got captured, and spent 11 years in prison. (That guy, David II, is probably amongst the worst kings we ever had. Another topic for another day, we are bad at monarchy).
It’s a long war and its history is the topic of many books, how else do the Scots fit in? The City of Orléans, one of France’s most important, was defended in part by Scottish soldiers during the siege of 1428-29. The Battle of Herrings, where Scots tried to break the siege, while bringing fish, helped Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc led an army with a large number of Scots into Orléans.
As Pope Martin V said, “the Scots are a well-known antidote to the English”.
The Scottish Guard
Le Garde Ecossais were an elite Scottish bodyguard for the French Royals, established in 1419. The protected the French monarchy until the French Revolution.
Side-note, did the Scots have a part to play in the French Revolution?
We did sort of help cause it by the Scottish financier and gambler John Law creating a system that impoverished the French crown in the early 1700s, partly leading to its later failure. We were mostly on the other side of fighting in this one.
The First World War
A huge number of war dead across France are testament to our continued support in the 20th-century. But that’s not my main focus here. I want to talk about a connection between Scotland and France that many will not know.
Elsie Inglis
Eliza Maud “Elsie” Inglis is famous in Edinburgh for having had a maternity hospital. But what I’ve learnt which I adore very much is that she is an international hero in multiple countries, several who celebrate her to this day. She’s appeared on Street Historians before.
Inglis worked with fellow suffragists to make a medical auxiliary for the British Army only to be told “go home and sit still”. Not happy to do just that, she went to France and was able to convince them to take her on.
She wound up in charge of hundreds of women doctors across Europe, becoming something of a legend. It would have been much more difficult if she didn’t get support from our Auld Alliance buddies in France.
The Second World War
Once again Scotland and France found ourselves on the same team in the Second World War, and we shared struggles.
One significant engagement involving the Scots was the 51st Highland Division at St. Valery. They were informed over the radio that the British Expeditionary Force had been successfully evacuated at Dunkirk, and were meanwhile facing extinction. They joined many French soldiers in prison camps. More about these experiences can be read about in Sean Longden’s Dunkirk: the Men They Left Behind.
There were also significant numbers of Scots who found their way into the French Resistance. The Reverend Donald Caskie of the Scots Kirk would be a cardinal example (which is ironic because he was Protestant). He helped people escape from the Nazis.
Scots were involved in D-Day and the liberation of France, too.
As Charles de Gaulle said in a speech to Edinburgh in 1942: “In every battle 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. What the French think of you is that never has a people shown itself to be more generous in its friendship than yours . ” You can’t really get more French than that.
But war can be a bit much for some, so let’s move on to something else.
The Cultural Connection Between Scotland and France
A lot of the most significant connections were made in the past, but some of them are still relevant to this day.
The linguistic connection between Scotland and France
There are some words in Scots which are from French. One that I find especially fun I became aware of from Liz Lochhead’s Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off. Corby, is a Scots word that means crow. It’s from the French word corbeille.
This leads to one of my favourite architectural features in Edinburgh, the corby step.
The step looking feature you find on so many buildings across Scotland, but particularly in Edinburgh. It’s common across northern Europe. It is called a crow-stepped gable in most architecture but is known as the “corby step” in Scots.
Place names
There are a couple of places which show the connection between Scotland and France. Notably, in Edinburgh the area where the Royal Infirmary is called Little France because it is where Mary, QOS’ French courtiers lived. There is also a Delfrankie in Aberdeenshire which seems like a Gaelic ‘French field’. There’s also a Beauly in Inverness which is from beau lieu which means beautiful place. There’s a town in France known as ‘The City of the Stuarts’, it’s Aubigny-sur-Nère.
But now we come to the reason I wrote this, sports.
The Sports Connection between Scotland and France
These numbers will be out of date by tomorrow because we are due to play them at rugby, but it’s fascinating how balanced we are.
In association football (soccer, for Yanks), Scotland has 8 wins against 9 losses that I can see.
The bigger sport for us together is rugby. This is because both Scotland and France have been core members of the 6 Nations Championship (formerly the 5 Nations Championship) since France entered in 1910. We’ve played each other at rugby a total of 104 times as of 2025. France has won 61 while Scotland has won 40, with 3 draws.
For comparison, this is a similar ratio Scotland has against Wales. These days France has become possibly the greatest team in the northern hemisphere. So for the 2026 6 Nations match, many are predicting a Scottish rout. That being said, Scotland are good at surprises and a lot can happen on a playing field.
What I can say is that tomorrow will be cordial and the fans will have a great time. Scotland and France have a well-established connection and we get on very well together. We’ve been necessary in each others history and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
La ecrateur de les article veux un croissant et un tasse de vin.
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