The Arbrot Declaration ( born Declaration of Arbroath , 1320 ) is the declaration of the independence of Scotland during the War of Independence from England .
In response to the support of the papacy of the English conquest of Scotland and the excommunication of King Robert I of Bruce and his supporters, the clergy and barons of Scotland, led by the abbot of the Arbrot monastery, Chancellor of the Scott Kingdom, Bernard de Linton, issued a declaration addressed to Pope John XXII by the declaration of the sovereignty of Scotland. Based on the country's history, the authors of the declaration affirmed the right of Scotland to sovereignty and independence from England, as well as the right to the Scottish throne of King Robert Bruce, elected by the people. The fact that the Arbrotic Declaration was based on the principle of popular sovereignty (according to the document, the Scottish people themselves, not the king himself, has the right to independence and its defense) sharply distinguishes it among the social and political monuments of the Middle Ages. The declaration played an important role in the development of the national identity of the Scottish people and influenced the development of social thought in other countries.
On the day of signing the declaration, Tartan Day is annually celebrated.
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"To the Most Holy Father in Christ and to the Lord John, Divine Providence to the Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman and Universal Church, his humble and faithful sons: Duncan, Count Fife; Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, Lord Man and Ennandeyl; Patrick Danbar, Earl March, Malis graph, Strathern; Malcolm, Earl of Lennox; William, Earl of Ross; Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney; William, Earl of Sutherland; Walter, Seneschal of Scotland; William Sowles, Butler of Scotland; James, Lord Douglas; Roger Mowbray; David, Lord Brichin; ; Ingers Amfraville; John Mentit, keeper of counties Menthus; Alexander Fraser; Gilbert Hay, Constable of Scotland; Robert Keith, Marshal of Scotland; Henry St. Clair; John Graham; David Lindsay; William Oliphant; Patrick Graham; John Fenton; William Ebernathy; David Weems; William Ebernety; David Wims; Maxwell; William Ramsay; William Mowat; Alan Morey; Donald Campbell; Beat; stop it.
We know, Holy Father and Master, and conclude from ancient legends and books that among the other glorious peoples of ours, the Scottish, the people were marked by many praises. Having crossed from the Great Scythia through the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelling for a long time in Spain among the fiercest tribes, he could never be conquered by any of them, however barbaric they might be. Moving away from there after a thousand and two hundred years after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, he gained many limits in the west by many victories and tireless labor, which he still inhabits today, expelling the Britons and completely exterminating the Picts, and, despite the constant attacks of the Norwegians, Danes and English, always kept them free from all service, as evidenced by ancient legends.
In the kingdom, their [Scots] were ruled by one hundred and thirteen kings from their royal family without any foreign interference. Their valor and merit, even if they were not revealed from anything else, clearly shone from the fact that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Jesus Christ, after the passions and Resurrection, were among the first to call them, who inhabited the extreme limits of the earth, to His most holy faith . He desired to establish them in this faith by none other than His first Apostle by vocation, although by the position of the second or third, it was Andrew, the gracious brother of St. Peter, whom He commanded to always remain their Patron. Carefully considering this, Your Holiness, your predecessors, bestowed this Kingdom and the people, as the property of Brother St. Peter, with frequent favors and many privileges.
So our people, under their protection, until now lived freely and peacefully, when this famous sovereign, King of England Edward, the father of what now rules, under the guise of a friend and ally disturbed like an enemy our Kingdom and the headless people, not suspecting any evil and deception and more not accustomed to wars and invasions. Those injustices, murder, violence, robbery, arson, imprisonment of prelates, burning of monasteries, ruin and beating of clerics and other exorbitant atrocities that he caused to this people without sparing anyone's age, gender, dignity and dignity, no one could describe and become fully aware if you did not experience it yourself.
With the help of Him who heals and heals wounds, we are freed from these countless disasters by the most glorious sovereign, our king and lord Robert, who in the name of delivering people and his inheritance from the hands of the enemies gladly endured labors and hardships, hunger and dangers like the new Maccabee and Joshua. Divine Providence, as well as our laws and customs, which we will defend to death, the inheritance right and our due consent and approval have made it sovereign and our king, who, as a benefactor of the people, both in his rights and in merit, we are in everything We will be faithful to protect our freedom. If he had abandoned the work he had begun, wanting us and our Kingdom to subordinate to the English king and the English, we would immediately try to expel him as our enemy and destroyer of our and our rights, and would choose another king capable of protecting us. For as long as at least one hundred of us remain alive, we will never and in no way subjugate us to English rule. After all, we are not fighting for glory, wealth, or honor, but only for the sake of freedom, by which every good person will lose only with life.
That's what, Honorable Father and Sir, we humbly and kneel ask Your Holiness with all perseverance. Since you, sincerely and with pious mind, having thought that for Him Whose service you carry on earth, there is no superiority and difference between Jews and Greeks, Scots or English, look with paternal glances at the misfortunes and sorrows caused by the English to us and the Church of the Lord, to instruct and induce the English king (who should be content with what he has, for the land in England was enough for seven or more kings before) to leave us in the world living in poor Scotland, there’s no inhabited land wanting nothing stranger. We, for the sake of achieving our peace, will readily do for him what we can, while maintaining respect for our dignity.
To do this, Holy Father, is all the more important for you, as you see how infuriating infidels against Christians are rampant in punishment for their sins, and Christian possessions are diminishing every day. You care so that no one insults the memory of Your Holiness if (God forbid!) Any part of the Church suffers damage or unhappiness at your time. Convince the Christian sovereigns, so that they do not invent a pretext that they can not go to the deliverance of the Holy Land because of the wars with its neighbors. The real reason for this is that in wars with small neighbors, they believe the immediate benefit and the weakest opposition. But the One, from Whom nothing is hidden, knows with what joyful heart our lord remembered the king and we will go there if the king of English leaves us alone. We proclaim and affirm this to the vicar of Christ and the whole Christian world.
But if Your Holiness sincerely does not believe this and, having heeded too easily the libel of the English, will not refuse to support them to our dismay, we will consider that the Almighty will impute you to death the dead bodies, the ruined souls and other things that they and we have caused. For what we possess, we now and in the future are ready to please you, the governor of the Lord, in all things, like your obedient sons. To him, as the supreme Vladyka and Judge, we entrust the defense of our cause, lay our minds on Him and firmly hope that He will instill in us the courage and reduce our enemies.
May the Almighty preserve Your Holiness for His Holy Church in good health for a long time. Given at the Arbroath monastery, in Scotland, the month of April of the sixth day of the year of Mercy, one thousand three hundred and twentieth, in the year of the same reign of the aforementioned king the fifteenth.
(Translation by DG Fedosov) [1]
Notes
Literature
- Cowan, Edward J. For Freedom Alone: The Declaration of Arbroath, 1320. Birlinn Publishers, 2008. ISBN 1-84158-632-3
- Fergusson, James. The Declaration of Arbroath. University Press, 1970. ISBN 0-85224-181-X
- Nicholson, Ranald. Scotland: the later middle ages. Mercat Press, 1997
- Fedosov D.G. Born in battles. Scotland until the end of the XIV century. SPb. –M., 2014. (with Russian translation of the Declaration).
Links
- Declaration of Arbroath (eng.)