Scots Guards is the name of a well-known regiment of Guards (q.v.) in the British army. But the name has most national interest as that of the Scottish force which served the kings of France. The alliance of the Scots and the French, never, perhaps, very cordial and spontaneous on either side, lasted, nevertheless, for a very long period, and was maintained by common interest and reciprocal benefits, and is still distinctly traceable in the Scottish language, laws, and institutions. This alliance originated and developed in the persistent efforts of the Edwards and their successors to subdue both France and Scotland to the English crown. In no outward fact, however, does this alliance appear more conspicuously and interestingly than in the history of the Scots Guards or Scottish Archers in France, extending over 400 years, from 1418 till 1830. All Scotland and all Europe is familiar with the vivid picture of that theme presented by Walter Scott in Quentin Durward, in Le Balafré, in the veteran Lindsay, and in the other living figures of that romance, which is mainly based on fact.
In the distracted, almost hopeless, state to which Henry V. of England reduced France in the time of Charles VI. the Scotch archers, who then began to flock thither in large numbers by way of La Rochelle, the only port at that time not yet in possession of the English, distinguished themselves as the staunchest element in the French forces, as the rallying centre of a new army. From 7000 to 10,000 landed in 1419 under the command of the Earl of Buchan. The great victory of Charles VII. at Bauge on 22d March 1421, celebrated in the French court by a whole month's rejoicings, was the achievement of Scotch valour. In that engagement the Duke of Clarence was unhorsed by Sir John Swinton, and had his death-blow dealt him by the Earl of Buchan, who was rewarded with the highest military office in France—that of Constable. At Verneuil in 1424 the Scots fought to the last with stubborn determination, but the English gained a bloody victory. Soon after this the Scottish gentlemen were constituted the king's special bodyguard, and Archibald, Earl of Douglas, who had come over from Scotland at the invitation of the king, was created Duke of Touraine. Of the fifteen companies of men-at-arms, the beginning of a standing army, formed by Charles VII. two were composed exclusively of Scotsmen—'Les Gendarmes Ecossais' and 'La compagnie Ecossaise de la Garde du Corps du Roi.' Subsequently Louis XII. solemnly recognised 'that the institution of the Scots Men-at-arms and the Scots Lifeguards was an acknowledgment of their services and their great loyalty and virtue.' To the league against his father the Dauphin (afterwards Louis XI.) tried in vain to gain over the Scots Guards, and after his own accession to the throne Louis XI. rewarded their constancy by increased pay and privileges. And assuredly he had no cause to regret his favour towards them, for on two occasions he had them to thank for his personal safety; the first time, after the drawn battle of Montlhéry, when 'the Scots Guards, considering the danger the king was in, took his majesty, who had been in arms all day without eating or drinking, and carried him safe to the castle of Montlhéry;' the second time, when Louis XI. would have fallen in the furious night sortie of the Liégeois against the besieging forces of France and Burgundy but for the valiant defence of the Scots Guards. In the field of Seminara, when the French cavalry were culbuté and the Italian rear-guard had fled, the Scots still stood their ground, refusing to fly or surrender, and preferring to be hewn down, as they were to the number of 400. In the wars of Charles VIII., Louis XII., and Francis I. the Scots took a leading part.
After Scotland became Protestant the alliance with France naturally declined. Yet in the war of Richelieu with the Spanish monarchy we find, besides the Scots men-at-arms under Lord Gordon, the regiment of the Gardes Ecossaises, Sir John Hepburn's famous regiment, Forbes's corps of infantry and cavalry, and Colonel Douglas' regiment—all purely Scottish; and under Louis XIV. the Scots continued to take precedence of the rest of the army, heading the French in all the great battles of that reign, Minden, fought on 1st August 1759, being the last in which they figured. After this time the regiments, though they retained the Scottish name, were recruited mainly by French youths; and at the Revolution Scots guards and men-at-arms were, of course, disbanded. Reinstated again in their old privileges, they finally disappeared with the old monarchy in 1830.
See Father William Forbes-Leith, S.J., The Scots Men-at-Arms and Lif-guards in France (2 vols. 1882).