The Declaration of Arbroath was drawn up - On this day in history

On 6 April 1320, the Declaration of Arbroath was drawn up at Arbroath Abbey. The Declaration was addressed to Pope John XXII and was intended to confirm that Scotland was an independent state which had the right to defend itself.

The original Declaration that was sent to the Pope has been lost but a copy is held at the National Archives in Edinburgh. Sir James Ferguson made the best-known English translation of the Declaration, part of which reads:

...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.'

Further reading

For Freedom Alone: The Declaration of Arbroath by Edward J Cowan