[MR] Wikipedia: Declaration of Arbroath

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots,

Today is the 700th anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath, often
referred to as the Scottish Declaration of Independence. Although I've
posted on this in past years, how could I not comment again, especially on
so momentous an anniversary year?

The Declaration of Arbroath was a letter composed in Latin by Bernard of
Kilwinning, a Tironensian monk who was abbot of Arbroath Abbey, who just
happened to also be Chancellor of Scotland, to Pope John XXII. The letter
sets out a series of grievances against English attempts to conquer
Scotland.

In the Declaration, the Scots make their most stirring statement:
 "... 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."

The letter also states of King Robert I (Robert the Bruce): "Yet if he
should give up what he has begun, seeking to make us or our kingdom subject
to the King of England or the English, we should exert ourselves at once to
drive him out as our enemy and a subverter of his own right and ours, and
make some other man who was well able to defend us our King . . . " This
has often been interpreted as a statement of "popular sovreignty", one must
remember this was the nobility talking here, not the common people.

The Declaration mentions eight earls and some 40 barrons by title. It
originally included some 50 seal impressions (some not mentioned in the
text), though not all remain today.

The letter is actually a file copy, and now is preserved in the Scottish
National Archives. The real letter sent to the Pope is not known to exist,
possibly because Pope John XXII was seated at Avignon, not Rome, and may
have been lost in the eventual return of the seat to the Vatican. In
addition, there were other letters known to have been sent at the same
time, one from King Robert himself, and another from the Scottish bishops.
None of these survive.

Pope John was initially impressed. Then a crusade got the way. John was
planning a crusade in the Holy Land, and he needed English support. This
caused him to backslide on his promises to the Scots, thus justifying
further English meddling in Scottish affairs. The crusade never happened.

More about the Declaration can be found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Arbroath .

The National Records of Scotland also maintains a page at
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/Declaration .

A complete Latin transcription and an English translation is available at
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//research/declaration-of-arbroath/declaration-of-arbroath-transcription-and-translation.pdf
.

Today is generally known as International Tartan Day, and the Saltire
 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿  will be flying outside Mallard Lodge all day, weather
permitting.

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge 🦆