Latest / The Story of Scotland: Clans, Crowns, and the Fight for Identity — Fexingo History / The Declaration of Arbroath: Scotland's Letter to the Pope
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about battles — Bannockburn, Killiecrankie, all the way through the Wars of Independence. But today I want to look at something very different: a piece of paper. Arguably the most famous piece of paper in Scottish history. Luna: You mean the Declaration of Arbroath? Lucas: Exactly. The 1320 letter to Pope John XXII. Now, most people know it as this stirring statement of Scottish freedom — 'it is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we fight, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.' That line has echoed down the centuries. But what's less talked about is the political tightrope the Scots were walking when they wrote it. Lucas: Let's set the scene. It's 1320 — six years after Bannockburn. Robert the Bruce is king, but his position is far from secure. He's been excommunicated for killing John Comyn in a church back in 1306. The Pope has placed Scotland under interdict — no church services, no sacraments. And Edward II of England is pushing Rome to recognise Bruce as a rebel and a usurper. Luna: So the declaration was basically a plea to the Pope to drop the excommunication? Lucas: Part of it, yes. But it was also a bold assertion of Scotland's ancient nationhood. The nobles who signed it — and we know at least 39 of them by name, with their seals attached — were declaring that Scotland had always been independent, that it had never owed allegiance to England, and that if Bruce failed them, they'd replace him. That last bit's often forgotten: 'if he should try to subject us or our kingdom to the King of England, we would drive him out as our enemy.' Lucas: The letter was written in Latin, probably drafted by Bernard of Linton, the Abbot of Arbroath and Bruce's chancellor. Bernard was a key figure — he'd been with Bruce since the beginning, even wrote a verse chronicle about the wars. He knew how to frame an argument for a papal audience. Luna: And the Pope was actually listening? Lucas: In the short term, not really. John XXII had already written to Bruce calling him 'the self-styled king of Scots'. But the declaration put the Scottish case on the record. It was a propaganda victory. And it laid the groundwork for the eventual Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328, where England finally recognised Scotland's independence. Lucas: There's also a fascinating detail about the opening of the declaration. The Scots traced their origins back to Scythia — a region around the Black Sea — and claimed they'd been in Scotland since before the Picts. That's a myth, but it shows how medieval people used legendary history to justify political claims. Luna: So it's a bit like the Magna Carta — more important for its symbolism than its immediate effect? Lucas: Great comparison. The Magna Carta was annulled by the Pope within months. The declaration didn't sway John XXII either. But both documents became touchstones. When the Covenanters fought in the 17th century, they cited it. When the American colonists drafted their own declaration, they echoed its language. That phrase about 'freedom alone' — it's universal. Lucas: Now, one thing I want to focus on is the actual manuscript. The original document, with all 39 seals, was kept at Arbroath Abbey. During the Reformation, the abbey was destroyed, but the declaration survived — it ended up in the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh. And in 2009, it was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World register. Luna: I love that it's still around. So many medieval documents were lost. Lucas: Exactly. And it's not just the declaration itself — we also have a letter from the Scottish clergy, written at the same time, backing up the nobles' claims. So there was a coordinated campaign. Bruce knew he had to win the propaganda war as well as the military one. Lucas: If today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just a thought. Luna: Yeah, it's a nice way to keep things going. Lucas: Okay, back to the declaration. Let's look at the signatories. We have names like Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray — he'd been Bruce's right hand at Bannockburn. James Douglas, the Black Douglas. Walter the Steward, whose grandson later became the first Stuart king. These weren't just nobles; they were the men who had fought and bled for Bruce. Luna: And they were all willing to say they'd depose him if he betrayed them. That's a strong statement. Lucas: It is. And it shows that Bruce's kingship, even after Bannockburn, was conditional. The nobles saw themselves as the community of the realm, with the right to choose their king. That idea would resurface in later Scottish political thought. Lucas: There's also a practical side: the declaration was sent to the Pope with a delegation led by Sir Adam Gordon. But the Pope was in Avignon, not Rome, and the journey took months. When the delegation arrived, they found that the English had already poisoned the well — they'd sent their own letters calling Bruce a murderer. Luna: So it was an uphill battle from the start. Lucas: Absolutely. But the declaration succeeded in one key thing: it established a written record. When later Scottish historians like John of Fordun and Walter Bower compiled their chronicles, they used the declaration as a source. And those chronicles shaped how Scots saw their past. Lucas: Let's also talk about the seals. Each of the 39 barons had a personal seal — a coat of arms or a symbol — attached to the document by parchment strips. The seals aren't all intact today, but the ones that survive give us a glimpse of medieval heraldry. The Declaration of Arbroath is as much a visual artifact as a textual one. Luna: And it's still in Scotland? Not taken to England? Lucas: It's in the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh. It survived the destruction of Arbroath Abbey because someone had the foresight to move it to safer keeping. During the Reformation, the abbey was ransacked, but the declaration was already in the hands of the state. Lucas: And there's a funny story: in the 19th century, when the document was being restored, someone accidentally cut off one of the seal tags. They had to stitch it back on. So even the preservation has its own little drama. Luna: That's oddly human. Even historians make mistakes. Lucas: Exactly. Now, let me leave you with this thought. The Declaration of Arbroath is often called the Scottish Declaration of Independence, but it's more than that. It's a statement about what a community owes its leaders, and what leaders owe their community. And that idea — that freedom is worth dying for — has resonated far beyond Scotland's borders. Lucas: Next time, we'll look at what happened after the declaration — the final years of Bruce's reign and the uneasy peace that followed. But for now, I think we've given the old parchment its due. Luna: Thanks, Lucas. That was really illuminating.