The ‘conciliar’ front of the Hundred Years’ War: Scotland, France and England at the Council of Pavia-Siena, 1423–4

This article offers the first analysis of Anglo-Scottish tension at the general ecclesiastical council of Pavia-Siena (1423–4), where Thomas Murray, abbot of Paisley, spearheaded attacks on the English delegation in the name of the French and Scottish kingdoms with Castilian and Italian allies. Murray’s attacks illustrate how the council formed a front line in the ongoing Anglo-French conflict and that the tensions between the kingdoms of Scotland and England played out on a European stage wider than is usually recognized. While it is often dismissed as a non-event, the article establishes that Pavia-Siena formed a more significant centre for international diplomacy than historians have allowed.