Analysis of the Declaration of Arbroath
History 111, Fall 1997
Alan Baumler

The Declaration of Arbroath was written in 1320 by a group of Scottish nobles and addressed to the Pope. Formally, it asks the Pope to tell the King of England to leave the Scots alone. In reality, the Scots doubtless knew that the Pope was unlikely to give such an order, and the King of England was unlikely to obey it if he did. The Declaration is more a statement of political legitimacy than a real request for help. The Scots are explaining why they (and Robert the Bruce) are the legitimate rulers of Scotland, and in the process explain what they think makes a ruler legitimate.
In the first two paragraphs of the document proper the authors give reasons why the Scots are the rightful rulers of Scotland. First by right of conquest, second, due to the blessings of the Church. The Scots took the land away from the previous inhabitants and have since defended it from all comers. In good early-medieval fashion this gave them the right to the land. They claim to have had one hundred and thirteen kings (pure fiction), so it is also theirs by right of inheritance.
The next claim is that the Scots became Christian before almost anyone else, being converted by St. Andrew. This is also not historically true, but it shows that the Scots are a good Christian people who have served God and the Church well. The English king is just the opposite. Although they say he did lots of awful things, the only ones they mention specifically are imprisoning prelates, burning down monasteries, and killing monks and nuns. Later they suggest that if the King of England were a good Christian he would be off on crusade killing infidels, rather than robbing fellow Christians. Obviously the Pope has to side with the godly Scots against the vile English.
Although the Scots are probably not expecting much practical help from the Pope, they do blackmail him a little towards the end. If the Pope does not do something to stop the English the church will suffer eclipse, and the sins of the English may be laid at the feet of the Pope himself. This is a threat to the legitimacy of the Pope. If he wants to call himself Vicar of Christ on Earth, he has to try to control the behavior of those who call themselves Christians. They also make a fairly meaningless promise to go on crusade if the English would just leave them alone.
The chief interest of the document is in what it says about political legitimacy during this period. Although the older idea of rule by right of conquest is still present, the Scots are really emphasizing the role of the Church and the Pope, as well as inheritance, in legitimizing rule. This is probably in part because they are talking to the Pope, and perhaps also in part because they are loosing the war (and so can't really emphasize rule by right of conquest,) but it is still rather a late-medieval, rather than early medieval, document.
Although it is not very sure, the end of the document may indicate one of the reasons the Scots were losing, and would continue to loose, to the English. It was signed at Arbroath monastery. I'm not sure why that location was chosen for the meeting, but it may be because there were no substantial cites in Scotland at this time. In the long run Scottish protest to the Pope and Highland claymores would be no match for English money.

Note: This is not terribly good, but it does have a fair amount of stuff in it. Notice that I have divided the analysis into three parts, a brief bit on what the document is, a longer part on the specifics of what it says, and then a summary of its greater importance, with a bit of speculation at the end. You don't have to organize yours this way, but it should be organized some way.