Declaration of Arbroath

[1] It constituted King Robert I's response to his excommunication for disobeying the pope's demand in 1317 for a truce in the First War of Scottish Independence.

[1] The Declaration was part of a broader diplomatic campaign, which sought to assert Scotland's position as an independent kingdom,[5] rather than its being a feudal land controlled by England's Norman kings, as well as to lift the excommunication of Robert the Bruce.

[7] In reply, the Declaration was composed and signed and, in response, the papacy rescinded King Robert Bruce's excommunication and thereafter addressed him using his royal title.

In June 1314 the Battle of Bannockburn had secured Robert Bruce's position as King of Scots; Stirling, the Central Belt, and much of Lothian came under Robert's control while the defeated Edward II's power on escaping to England via Berwick weakened under the sway of his cousin Henry, Earl of Lancaster.

[7] King Robert was thus able to consolidate his power, and sent his brother Edward Bruce to claim the Kingdom of Ireland in 1315 with an army landed in Ulster the previous year with the help of Gaelic lords from the Isles.

Thus were the Scots nobles confident in their letters to Pope John of the distinct and independent nature of Scotland's kingdom; the Declaration of Arbroath was one such.

"[8] The text describes the ancient history of Scotland, in particular the Scoti, the Gaelic forebears of the Scots who the Declaration claims have origins in Scythia Major prior to migrating via Spain to Great Britain "1,200 years from the Israelite people's crossing of the Red Sea".

[a] The Declaration describes how the Scots had "thrown out the Britons and completely destroyed the Picts",[b] resisted the invasions of "the Norse, the Danes and the English",[c] and "held itself ever since, free from all slavery".

Some have interpreted this last point as an early expression of popular sovereignty[9] – that government is contractual and that kings can be chosen by the community rather than by God alone.

[5] The Pope heeded the arguments contained in the Declaration, influenced by the offer of support from the Scots for his long-desired crusade if they no longer had to fear English invasion.

However, it did not lead to his recognising Robert as King of Scots, and the following year was again persuaded by the English to take their side and issued six bulls to that effect.

G. W. S. Barrow has shown that one passage in particular, often quoted from the Fergusson translation, was carefully written using different parts of The Conspiracy of Catiline by the Roman author, Sallust (86–35 BC) as the direct source:[20] ... for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule.

It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.Listed below are the signatories of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320.