On This Date...

...in 1320, 

The Declaration of Arbroath was a declaration of Scottish independence, and set out to confirm Scotland's status as an independent, sovereign state and its use of military action when unjustly attacked. It is in the form of a letter submitted to Pope John XXII, dated 6 April 1320. Sealed by fifty-one magnates and nobles, the letter is the sole survivor of three created at the time. The others were a letter from the King of Scots, King Robert I, and a letter from four Scottish bishops which all presumably made similar points.

So what?

The Declaration was part of a broader diplomatic campaign which sought to assert Scotland's position as a kingdom, rather than being a feudal land controlled by England, as well as lift the excommunication of Robert the Bruc. The Pope had recognised Edward I of England's claim to overlordship of Scotland in 1305 and Bruce was excommunicated by the Pope for murdering John Comyn on the altar in Greyfriars Church in Dumfries in 1306.

The Declaration made a number of much-debated rhetorical points: that Scotland had always been independent, indeed for longer than England; that Edward I of England had unjustly attacked Scotland and perpetrated atrocities; that Robert the Bruce had delivered the Scottish nation from this peril; and, most controversially, that the independence of Scotland was the prerogative of the Scots people, rather than the King of Scots. In fact it stated that the nobility would choose someone else to be king if the current one did anything to threaten Scotland's independence.

While often interpreted as an early expression of 'popular sovereignty' – that kings could be chosen by the population rather than by God alone – it can also be argued to have been a means of passing the responsibility for disobeying papal commands from the king to the people. In other words, Robert I was arguing that he was forced to fight an illegal war (as far as the Pope was concerned, since they were meant to be fighting against the Infidel, not each other) or face being deposed. Whatever the true motive, the fact remains that this 14th century document is one of the earliest expressions of a form of Scottish national consciousness yet found and one of the earliest documents in European history to imply that the king is chosen by the people.

Again, so what?

The stirring rhetoric of the Declaration has made it famous both in Scotland and internationally, and it has been suggested that it had some influence on the drafters of the United States Declaration of Independence. 

The full text, translated into English.  (The original was in Latin, not Gaelic.  By the way.)

The following excerpt may be of particular interest:

...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 t-shirts for sale at Highland Games with this passage usually have "English rule" replaced with "tyrannical rule."

Oh, yes, Happy Tartan Day.