Declaration of Arbroath

2020, 700th Anniversary

Signing of the Declaration of Arbroath,

A letter sealed by fifty-one magnates and nobles, of the 51 seals only 19 have survived.

The Declaration of Arbroath (letter) is held in the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The letter makes the case for Scottish Independence and asks to acknowledge Robert the Bruce as Scotland’s lawful king.

The letter was sent to Pope John XXII, on the 6 April 1320, written in Latin by, Bernard, Abbot of Arbroath Abbey, and Chancellor of Scotland at Newbattle Abbey.

The most famous of the words written in the declaration are; “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”.

King Edward I was intent on the conquer of Scotland after the deaths of Alexander III and his granddaughter Margaret, Maid of Norway in 1296 which left Scotland with no monarch.

In the struggle for Scotland, William Wallace defeated Edward at Stirling Bridge,1297.

Robert the Bruce who had taken the throne in 1306 defeated Edward II in 1314 at Bannockburn.

It was not until 1328 that Scotland’s Independence was acknowledge with the Treaty of Edinburgh between Robert I and Edward III that ended the 30 year Wars of Independence between England and Scotland.