"For Freedom Alone": The Declaration of Arbroath, 1320

The Declaration of Arbroath has, over a period of almost 700 years, acquired a near-mythic status as it has come to be regarded as inextricably linked to Scottish identity and nationalism. But there was no gathering at Arbroath in 1320, no great ceremony at which the glitterati of Scotland stepped forward to sign a document which they somehow were aware would be known in future years as a type of early Scottish constitution. The National Trust for Scotland, self-appointed keeper of the nation's soul, in depicting the Scottish nobility armed to the teeth and attacking the document with a quill pen, in its Bannockburn exhibit, is guilty of historical amnesia, bogus distortion and heritage creationism. The author argues that Scotland was on the cutting edge of political thinking; that this was one of the most remarkable documents to be produced in medieval Europe.