Treaty: Northampton-Edinburgh of 1328

For most Braveheart loving Scots, the First War of Scottish Independence was won and done at Bannockburn in 1314.  Purists would argue not so fast.  The war actually ended in 1328 with the Treaty of Northampton-Edinburgh of 1328.  The First Scottish War of Independence was in reality a succession war, fought between adherents of the Bruces and Balliols who had, to their peril, urged Edward I of England to become involve.  He invaded Scotland in 1396 in support of the Balliol candidate and it would take William Wallace, Robert Bruce and hundreds of very determined Scots to get the English back on their side of the border.

But there was no guarantee that they would stay there.  A piece of paper wouldn't change English ambitions to unite the Isle of Britain.  Any treaty was only as good as the paper it was written on, unless it was sweetened with a bribe.  For 100,000 pounds sterling, the British agreed to recognize Scotland as fully independent, to recognize Robert Bruce and his heirs as the rightful rulers of Scotland, and to maintain the border as it stood under the reign of Alexander III, whose untimely and childless demise touched off the conflict in the first place.  Edward III's advisors, acting on his behalf, agreed to the union of 7 year old Princess Joan of the Tower with 4 year old Prince David Bruce of Scotland. 

The treaty was written in French, with two copies made top and bottom on a single large sheet of paper.  After the ambassadors for both England and Scotland attested the terms as correct, the treaty was cut through the middle along a wavy line.  If the validity of the document was ever questioned, the two halves could be matched up to authenticate it.  Later, both Robert Bruce and Edward III affixed their seals to straps on the bottom half of the document, which remained in Edinburgh.  It's in the possession of the Scottish National Archives today, minus the wax seals which have long gone.  Within 5 years, David and Joan would be on the run to France and England and Scotland back at war.  The feuding wouldn't stop until Flodden Field in 1514, and the personal union between England and Scotland in 1603 with the reign of James I and VI, who had Bruce, Plantagenet, Stuart and Tudor descent.