Scots College at Paris

The Scots College (Latin: Collegium Scoticum; French: Collège des Écossais) was a college of the University of Paris, France, founded by an Act of the Parlement of Paris on 8 July 1333. The act was a ratification of an event that had already taken place, the founding of the Collegium Scoticum, one of a number of national colleges into which the University was divided. The Scots College came to an end in 1793 when the National Convention abolished the colleges and reorganized the University along different lines.

At some time not long before 1323 King Robert the Bruce of Scotland sent an embassy including the Earl of Moray and his kinsman David de Moravia (1299–1326), the Bishop of Moray, "to conclude a treaty of 'confederacy' " renewing the auld alliance between Scotland and France. A passionate benefactor of religious learning, the Bishop in 1323 endowed the lands of Grisy-Suisnes, just outside Paris, on which the Scots College was built. The Collegium Scoticum came into existence in 1325 and its foundation was confirmed by Charles le Bel, King of France, in August 1326. The Parlement of Paris at that time, of course, existed only to carry out the will of the king.

When the Roman Catholic Church was disestablished in Scotland, the Scots College became a centre for Catholic Scots abroad and a political centre for persons who hoped to reconvert Scotland. Mary, Queen of Scots, contributed to it even from prison. Meanwhile, the college buildings at Rue des Fosses de S. Victor became a repository for many valuable Scottish state documents.

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