Scotland

Scotland enters the account chiefly as the setting for a French military expedition in 1385. The campaign’s raids drew English forces north, away from London, but the intended two-front attack on England was never carried through; Scotland thus marks both an active theater of war and the limits of the French strategy described in the book.

Strategic Setting

The French expedition was led by Admiral Vienne and included knights and squires, among them Jean de Carrouges. Its purpose in the wider strategy was diversionary: French forces burned and pillaged in the border counties, prompting King Richard II and his troops to move north and away from London. A second French invasion from the south was planned, but was never launched. The projected attack on England from two directions was abandoned.

Campaign and Scottish Response

The account records Scottish complaints and demands from King Robert in connection with the expedition, without detailing their substance. Its brief campaign outline also notes that the Scots granted the French free passage, after which the French force withdrew; English forces were then at Edinburgh. These compressed details place Scottish actions within the expedition’s shifting passage through the region, but do not establish a fuller account of the negotiations or movements involved.

Place in the Wider Narrative

Scotland’s role is chiefly strategic rather than descriptive: the account focuses on what the expedition did to the balance of forces around England, not on a sustained portrayal of Scottish places or society. The failed southern invasion and abandoned two-front plan also contrast with the larger invasion proposed the following year by Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Charles VI approved that later plan and prepared to sail from Sluys with an armada of more than a thousand ships. The 1385 expedition to Scotland therefore stands as an earlier, unsuccessful attempt to draw English forces away before a broader assault.