Dear All: A snippet from Scottie: Declaration of Arbroath The National Archives of Scotland holds a copy of the Declaration of Arbroath which was made in 1320 (the original was sent to the Pope in Rome, asking him, in rousing terms, to acknowledge Scotland as an independent nation and to reject the claims of the English king). The National Archives have produced a limited edition print of the document, showing it as it was before parts of the text were damaged in the 1800s. One of the prints is being presented to the Scottish Parliament and another was presented to Arbroath Abbey this week - on 6 April. It is thought that the Declaration was drafted by Bernard, the Abbot of Arbroath and the Chancellor of Scotland. Rampant Scotland - the largest directory of Scottish links! http://www.RampantScotland.com Comments by JAH The Declaration was drafted and signed in 1320. The battle of Bannockburn was 1314. King Robert the Bruce was still under attack by the English over the following years. The Pope was still in agreement with the English Royalty about the ownership of Scotland and had refused to acknowledge the rights of King Robert the Bruce to be the King of Scotland. The Declaration of Arbroath was considered a significant event due to the Clans Chiefs stating the King Robert the Bruce was King only because he agreed with the people and was not ruler by a divine heritage. The major precedence was thence that a leader of any people had to lead by following the choice of the people and that freedom was the more valuable than life itself. It thus served as a model for our both the Declaration of Independence and the following constitution of the new United States of America. See the background at : http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/scotland/arbroath.html Here is the most famous clause that has carried through these many years: The "He" below is referring to King Robert the Bruce. His right to rule is based entirely on his being willing to maintain the freedom 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." The Magna Carta in 1215 had stated certain rights that people had BUT that these rights were granted by the King himself. The Declaration of Arbroath stated that these rights and the leadership of their country belonged to the people and not the King. However, the Magna Carta then served as the foundation of the Bill of Rights. It's been interesting to me to follow and assemble the impact of the Scottish and English Ancestors on the formation of our own framework of the ideals that evolved in our culture. Best Regards John A Hansen jahansen@qwest.net List Admin