Franco-Scottish alliance against England one of longest in history

A University of Manchester historian has uncovered evidence which shows how a defensive alliance against England between Scotland and France might never have formally ended - potentially making it the longest in history. In a paper to be published next year, Siobhan Talbott argues 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. Trade, she says, is a major reason for its longevity. The prevailing view of historians that Scotland sided with the English, moving away from her friendship with France after 1560, when the country converted to Protestantism, is also disputed by Talbott. J. Macpherson, published in Scottish Field in 1967, says Talbott, showed that France refused to accept Westminster's abrogation of the Scottish side of the Auld Alliance in 1906, following the Entente Cordiale between Britain and France. By French law, a Scotsman born before 1907 still possesses the full rights and privileges of Franco-Scottish nationality. The 716-year-old citizenship and trading privileges enjoyed by Scots in France, she suggests, are possibly intact today.