Declaration of Arbroath, 6 APR 1320

Clan Stirling Online! Research Library Article:
"'WE FIGHT NOT FOR GLORY, NOR FOR WEALTH NOR HONOURS, BUT ONLY AND ALONE WE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, WHICH NO GOOD MAN SURRENDERS BUT WITH HIS LIFE...'"

I find that my education has yet again proved deficient. I stumbled on this remarkable document while researching a column on a wholly different subject which I intended to post here.

The Declaration of Arbraoth was a missive written in Latin by the Chancellor of Scotland, subscribed to by over forty members of the Scottish nobility, and addressed to Pope John XXII at Avignon. Along with similar letters from King Robert and the clergy, which are now lost to history, it set forth the case for Scottish independence from England. Follow the link to read the full text in English.

It is said to have been among a handful of source documents for our own Declaration of Independence. In support of this view, it is said that nine of the 13 governors in the US and a sizable proportion of the delegates to the Second Continental Congress in 1776 - including the Declaration's chief draftsman Thomas Jefferson - were of Scottish descent.

It also contains some interesting historical claims. For example: "... 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."

While hardly exactly parallel, the two declarations share several features including a list of outrages laid to the charge of the king of England.

The nearest to a set of parallel passages may be these:

From the Declaration of Arbraoth -
"... 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 nought."

From the Declatation of Independence -
"... appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, ... And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."