Treaty of Falaise

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The Treaty of Falaise was an agreement made in December 1174 by the captive William 1 King of Scots, and the English King Henry II.

Having been captured in Battle at Alnwick, William was being held in Falaise in Normandy, while Henry sent and army north and took several Scottish Castles, including Berwick, and Edinburgh. With no heir, William had no option but to bargain for release, or see the end of the Scottish line of kings.

William therefore had to swear an oath of allegiance to his neighbouring monarch. English soldiers continued garrisonning Scotland's castles, and Scotland was heavily taxed to pay for their upkeep. The treaty was cancelled 15 years later when Richard the Lionheart, the new English king effectively sold Scotland back to the Scottish king to help fund Richard's Crusade in the Holy Land