The Legacy of the Declaration of Arbroath,
April 6, 1320

tanding as one of Scotland’s most significant historical documents and the world’s first written declaration of independence, the little known Declaration of Arbroath was a powerful assertion of national identity and sovereignty written in the years following Scotland’s wars for independence from England, made famous the world over by her champions Wallace and Bruce. Crafted as a letter from Scottish nobles to Pope John XXII, it was a diplomatic masterstroke with a legacy more cultural than legal, but no less powerful for it.

Reproduction of the “Tyninghame” (1320 A.D) copy of the Declaration of Arbroath

Firstly, it boldly articulated Scotland’s independence, famously stating, “For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule.” This was not mere rhetoric; it was a defiant rejection of King Edward I and Edward II’s claims over Scotland, rooted in the aftermath of the First War of Scottish Independence. The document framed this not as mere rebellion but as a defense of a historic, sovereign nation, tracing Scotland’s lineage back to antiquity—a clever appeal to both pride and legitimacy.

Secondly, it was a strategic play for papal support. Sent amid excommunications and English pressure on the Pope, the Declaration sought to secure Scotland’s position in Christendom, citing their original evangelism wrought by Saint Andrew himself, and framing the conflict as a moral cause.

This c.1500 wood carving in the National Museum of Scotland is of Andrew—disciple of Jesus and brother of Peter—who is hailed as the Patron Saint of Scotland

Thirdly, and most significantly, it introduced what was, for the time, a groundbreaking political idea: the conditional nature of kingship. As King John’s nobles had done for English rights and law with the drafting the Magna Carta, Scotland’s own Declaration asserted that King Robert the Bruce ruled with the consent of the Scottish people, and if he failed them—say, by submitting to England—they’d replace him.

Robert Bruce being crowned King of Scotland by the will of the poeple

Such a concept, centuries ahead of its time, challenged the “divine right” of monarchies that dominated medieval Europe. Scotland would maintain this attitude of freedom throughout the ages, notable instances being with the Covenanters in the 1600s and Reverend Chalmer’s leadership in breaking away from established forms with the Free Church of Scotland in the 1800s. Both movements produced documents of their own, stirring artifacts we make sure to see each time Landmark Events tours Edinburgh.

Landmark Events leads a one-of-a-kind history tour of the land of Scotland. We follow the footsteps of Wallace and Bruce to their battlefields, castles, and memorials; we recite the history of the godly Covenanters. Our paths lead us to the Lowlands, the Highlands, and the isles.

Historically, the Declaration of Abroath’s immediate impact was quite limited—Scotland’s sovereignty and peace wasn’t formalized until the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328—but its legacy endures. It has been seen through the centuries as a cornerstone of Scottish identity, a symbol of resistance to tyranny foreign or domestic, and a predecessor of the doctrine of national self-determination. Esteemed scholar of all things Scotland, G.W.S. Barrow, argued it was less a legal document than a passionate manifesto, yet its influence echoes in later independence movements and even the American Declaration of Independence. In short, the Declaration of Arbroath wasn’t just a medieval plea; it was a timeless claim to freedom and nationhood.

The bottom half of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton of 1328—it was cut in half with a wavy line so that the two halves could be matched if their authenticity was ever questioned

Originally written in Latin, portions of the English translation of the Declaration of Arbroath are below:

“. . . Most Holy Father and Lord, we know and from the chronicles and books of the ancients we find that among other famous nations our own, the Scots, has been graced with widespread renown. They journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage tribes, but nowhere could they be subdued by any race, however barbarous. Thence they came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to their home in the west where they still live today.

The Britons they first drove out, the Picts they utterly destroyed, and, even though very often assailed by the Norwegians, the Danes and the English, they took possession of that home with many victories and untold efforts; and, as the historians of old time bear witness, they have held it free of all bondage ever since. In their kingdom there have reigned one hundred and thirteen kings of their own royal stock, the line unbroken by a single foreigner. The high qualities and deserts of these people, were they not otherwise manifest, gain glory enough from this: that the King of kings and Lord of lords, our Lord Jesus Christ, after His Passion and Resurrection, called them, even though settled in the uttermost parts of the earth, almost the first to His most holy faith. Nor would He have them confirmed in that faith by merely anyone but by the first of His Apostles, the most gentle Saint Andrew, the Blessed Peter’s brother, and desired him to keep them under his protection as their patron forever.

The most-cited passages of the Declaration, translated from the Latin original, are displayed on the walls of the National Museum of Scotland

The Most Holy Fathers your predecessors gave careful heed to these things and bestowed many favours and numerous privileges on this same kingdom and people, as being the special charge of the Blessed Peter’s brother. Thus our nation under their protection did indeed live in freedom and peace up to the time when that mighty prince the King of the English, Edward, the father of the one who reigns today, when our kingdom had no head and our people harboured no malice or treachery and were then unused to wars or invasions, came in the guise of a friend and ally to harass them as an enemy. The deeds of cruelty, massacre, violence, pillage, arson, imprisoning prelates, burning down monasteries, robbing and killing monks and nuns, and yet other outrages without number which he committed against our people, sparing neither age nor sex, religion nor rank, no one could describe nor fully imagine unless he had seen them with his own eyes.

But from these countless evils we have been set free, by the help of Him Who though He afflicts yet heals and restores, by our most tireless Prince, King and Lord, the Lord Robert. He, that his people and his heritage might be delivered out of the hands of our enemies, met toil and fatigue, hunger and peril, like another Macabaeus or Joshua and bore them cheerfully. Him, too, divine providence, his right of succession according to our laws and customs which we shall maintain to the death, and the due consent and assent of us all have made our Prince and King. To him, as to the man by whom salvation has been wrought unto our people, we are bound both by law and by his merits that our freedom may be still maintained, and by him, come what may, we mean to stand.

The most-cited passages of the Declaration, translated from the Latin original, are displayed on the walls of the National Museum of Scotland

Yet if he should give up what he has begun, and agree 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 rights and ours, and make some other man who was well able to defend us our King; 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. . .

Therefore . . . may it please you to admonish and exhort the King of the English, who ought to be satisfied with what belongs to him since England used once to be enough for seven kings or more, to leave us Scots in peace, who live in this poor little Scotland, beyond which there is no dwelling-place at all, and covet nothing but our own. He from Whom nothing is hidden well knows; and we profess and declare it to you as the Vicar of Christ and to all Christendom. But if your Holiness puts too much faith in the tales the English tell and will not give sincere belief to all this, nor refrain from favouring them to our prejudice, then the slaughter of bodies, the perdition of souls, and all the other misfortunes that will follow, inflicted by them on us and by us on them, will, we believe, be surely laid by the Most High to your charge. . .

The Declaration of Arbroath included in the text of the Scotichronicon—a 15th-century chronicle by the Scottish historian Walter Bower is a continuation of an earlier work Chronica Gentis Scotorum beginning with the founding of Ireland and thereby Scotland—in the British Library

To conclude, we are and shall ever be, as far as duty calls us, ready to do your will in all things, as obedient sons to you as His Vicar; and to Him as the Supreme King and Judge we commit the maintenance of our cause, casting our cares upon Him and firmly trusting that He will inspire us with courage and bring our enemies to naught. May the Most High preserve you to His Holy Church in holiness and health and grant you length of days.

Given at the monastery of Arbroath in Scotland on the sixth day of the month of April in the year of grace thirteen hundred and twenty and the fifteenth year of the reign of our King aforesaid.”

The remains of Arbroath Abbey, where the Declaration was written

Image Credits: 1 Declaration of Arbroath (wikipedia.org) 2 Edward I (wikipedia.org) 3 Edward II (wikipedia.org) 4 St. Andrew (wikipedia.org) 5 Coronation of Robert Bruce (wikipedia.org) 6 Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton (scottisharchivesforschools.org) 7 Museum Quote 1 (wikipedia.org) 8 Museum Quote 2 (wikipedia.org) 9 Pope John XXII (wikipedia.org) 10 Scotichronicon (wikipedia.org) 11 Arbroath Abbey (wikipedia.org)