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The Auld Alliance

Browse this article:

  1. 1. Overview
  2. 2. Challenges
  3. 3. Resources

Listen to the Auld Alliance recording below which focuses on the military, cultural and commercial treaty established in the medieval period between Scotland and France.

With a focus on literacy, learners will investigate – through the medium of a short video relating the opening of Robert Henryson's medieval Scots poem 'The Twa Myis' – the spelling and sound of words, in the English language we use today, and the way they were spelt and sounded in medieval Scots. They could also compare it to a modern, animated version of the same fable, in French.

PDF file: Scots and French overview (181 KB)Word file: Scots and French overview (1.5 MB)

The Auld Allliance

The Scots and the French have a long history of friendship. For hundreds of years students and soldiers, merchants and monarchs, have travelled between Scotland and France and lived in both countries.

You may be surprised at which Scottish traditions have come from France: find out more from this recording.

Download Adobe Flash Player to listen to the audio online.

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PDF: Auld Alliance transcript (166 KB)

Life and work of Robert Henryson

This video dramatises some of the work of this medieval poet who translated Aesop's Fables into Scots. He also studied law in France.

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