Scotland: William Wallace and Robert the Bruce

The Declaration of Arbroath was a document that declared the independence of the Scottish nation to the pope and urged him to acknowledge Scotland as a nation and to convince Edward the 2^nd to cease hostilities with Scotland. The Flores Historiarum was an English account of history written my monks at Westminster. Both these sources can help us understand what the English thought of the Scots during the 14^th century and what the Scots thought of themselves.

The English monks wrote in the Flores Historarium that Scottish heroes like William Wallace and Robert the Bruce were cowardly and murderous. For Wallace they portrayed him as a nightmare figure.

“ William Wallace, an outcast from pity, a robber, a sacrilegious man, an incendiary and a homicide, a man more cruel than the cruelty of Herod, and more insane than the fury of Nero. . . a man who burnt alive boys in schools and churches, in great numbers”(Flores Historarium)

Robert the Bruce is shown to be a traitorous murderer who kills John Comyn because Comyn did not agree to his plan to overthrow the English oppression of Scottish lands. Now this may be true however the text remembering the event seems to be very biased in the favor of John Comyn, it also makes out Bruce to be an ungodly man as John Comyn is written to be “pious” and Robert “wicked”. This source show us that the English did not believe the Scots to have any claim at independence as their heroes who lead the revolutions are shown to be horrible, ungodly men unfit to rule Scotland.

From the Declaration of Arbroath source we can learn the Scottish opinion of their English rulers and of their own nation. In the declaration the Scots make a number of debatable points. They say that the Scots have been masters of their own land for centuries fighting off invaders from overseas like Vikings. They also make a point that their nation had been independent under previous Popes and that Edward the 1^st schemed and made unjust claims to the Scottish lands. They believe that they themselves are the true and rightful rulers of Scotland and that they are pious enough that the pope should grant them this grace.

“Therefore it is, Reverend Father and Lord..., you will look with the eyes of a father on the troubles and privation brought by the English upon us and upon the Church of God. May it please you to admonish and exhort the King of the English, who ought to be satisfied with what belongs to him since England used once to be enough for seven kings or more, to leave us Scots in peace”(The Declaration of Arbroath)