Declaration of Arbroath Issued

Timeline

1. 1314–1320Scotland and Avignon · Western EuropeAfter Bannockburn, Edward II still refused to recognize Bruce's kingship, and Pope John XXII did not lift the excommunication of Bruce and demanded a Scottish truce. Scotland needed a collective petition addressed to the papacy, arguing the legitimacy of independence in the name of the noble community rather than a single individual.
2. 1320Arbroath Abbey · ScotlandOn April 6, 1320, a team of clerics led by Bernard, Abbot of Arbroath and Chancellor of the Kingdom, completed the Latin letter, and numerous earls and barons affixed their seals. The document claimed that Scotland had never lawfully submitted to England and that Bruce was a king resisting tyranny; were he to subject his people to the English king, the nobles would raise up another who could defend their freedom.
3. 1320–1321Avignon · FranceAfter the document reached Avignon, the pope's attitude toward Scotland gradually softened; although full legal recognition was not immediately granted, it opened space for subsequent diplomacy. The concepts of communal sovereignty and resistance to tyranny expressed in the declaration became a core text of Scottish political culture, and together with the 1328 treaty formed the legal conclusion of the wars of independence.