 What is said in the 1320 Declaration of Arboroth? Have you ever read the full declaration? As the document contains so many interesting elements, I thought I would read the full declaration of Arboroth to celebrate the fact that it was written 702 years ago, on the 6th of April 1320. The declaration was a letter written to Pope John the 22nd, the head of the Catholic Church at the time. It is thought to have been written in Arboroth Abbey on behalf of the Barons of Scotland by Bernard of Kilwinning, an abbot and the Chancellor of the Kingdom of Scotland. Given that the first paragraph mentions a long list of names, I will skip over them in this reading as they won't mean much to most people and allow those interested to look into them for themselves. The declaration of Arboroth states that To the Most Holy Father and Lord in Christ, the Lord John, by divine Providence, Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman and Universal Church, his humble and devout sons, and the other Barons and free holders, and the whole community of the realm of Scotland, sent all manner of filial reverence with devout kisses on his blessed feet. To the Holy Father, we know and from the chronicles and books of the ancients, we find that among other famous nations, our own, the Scots, have been graced with widespread renown, adjourned from Greater Sitia by way of the Terranian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage peoples, but nowhere could it be subdued by any people, however barbarous. Since it came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to its home in the west where it still lives today. The Britons at first drove out, the Picts it utterly destroyed, and even though very often assailed by the Norwegians, the Danes and the English, it took possession of that home with many victories and untold efforts, and as the histories of old time bear witness, they have held it free of all servitude 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 merits of these people, worthy not otherwise manifest, shine forth clearly enough from this, that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, our Lord Jesus Christ, after his passion and resurrection, called them, even though settled in the utter most parts of the earth, almost the first to his most holy faith, nor did he wish them to be confirmed in that faith by merely anyone but by the first of his apostles. By calling, though second or third in rank, 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 holy fathers, your predecessors, gave careful heed to these things and strengthened this same kingdom and people with many favours and numerous privileges, as being the special charge of the blessed Peter's brother. Thus our people, under the 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 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 through he afflicts, yet heals and restores, but 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, more cheerfully toil and fatigue, hunger and peril, like other Maccabees or Joshua. Him too, divine providence, the succession to his right according to our laws and customs, which we shall maintain to the death, and the due consent and a sense of us all have made a prince and king. To him, as to the man by whom salvation has been wrought unto our people, we are bound to him by his right and by his merits, that our freedom may still be maintained, and by him come what may, we mean to stand. Yet if we 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 is well able to defend us or king, for as long as a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any occasions be subjected to the lordship of the English. It is in truth not for glory nor riches nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself. Therefore it is, reverent Father and Lord, that we beseech your holiness with our most earnest prayers and suppliant hearts, inasmuch as you will in your sincerity and goodness consider all this, that, since with him, whose vice gerent on earth you are there, is neither weighing or distinction of Jew and Greek, Scotsman or Englishman, you will look with the eyes of a father on the troubles and provisions brought by the English upon us and upon the Church of God. 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 use 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. We are sincerely willing to do anything for him, having regard to our condition that we can to win peace for ourselves. This truly concerns you, Holy Father, since you see the savagery of the heathen raging against the Christians, as the sins of Christians have indeed deserved, and the frontiers of Christendom being pressed inward every day. And how much it would tarnish your holiness's memory, if, which God forbid, the Church suffers a clips or scandal in any branch of it during your time, you must perceive. Then rouse the Christian princes, who for false reasons, pretend that they cannot go to the help of the Holy Land, because of wars they have on hand with their neighbours. The real reason that prevents them is that in making war on their smaller neighbours, they find a readyer advantage and weaker resistance. And how cheerfully our Lord the King and we too would go there, if the King of the English would leave us in peace, 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 undoing, 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. 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 fully trusting that he will inspire us with courage and bring our enemies to nothing. May the most high preserve, you to his holy church, and holiness and health for many days to come, given at the monastery of a broth in Scotland on the sixth day of the month of April and the year of grace, 1320 and the fifteenth year of the reign of our King aforesaid. What do you make of the declaration of our broth? Is it an inspired document, largely overhyped, medieval propaganda, or something else altogether? Why does it reference Greater Scythia as the origin of the Scots, and do you think it contains a revolutionary sentiment, when it states that Robert the Bruce will be removed as King of Scots, if you make Scotland subject to the King of England? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for watching, please subscribe and hit the bell to turn on notifications. You can also support this work through buymeacoffee.com and Patreon, all the links are in the description below.