Comrie Probus Club

President David Anderson welcomed a large turnout to the meeting on March 1 before introducing the speaker, Norman MacDougall, who gave a fascinating talk on the Declaration of Arbroath.

Norman was a senior lecturer in Scottish history at the University of St Andrews and has written biographies of Kings James III and IV.

He said that, although it is not actually a declaration and was not definitely made in Arbroath, this letter, is the most famous document in Scottish history. It was sent to Pope John XXII in Avignon, dated April 6, 1320, with the intention of confirming Scotland’s status as an independent sovereign state.

The letter is most likely to have been drafted in Arbroath Abbey. It was part of a broader diplomatic campaign which sought to assert Scotland’s position as an independent kingdom, rather than being controlled by England’s kings, and to lift the excommunication of Robert the Bruce.

It secured a reasonably favourable response from the Pope but the following year he took the side of the English and it was only in 1328 that the interdict on Scotland and the excommunication of its king were finally removed.

There is considerable debate over the Declaration’s significance. For some it is simply a diplomatic document while others see it as a radical movement in western constitutional thought. The American Declaration of Independence is said to be based on the Declaration of Arbroath and the draft date of April 6 has indeed been declared Tartan Day in the USA.

Norman’s talk was very much appreciated by the club members and the vote of thanks was proposed by Peter Innes. The speaker at the next meeting on March 15 is Roger Cartwright on ‘Nelson, Trafalgar and the Scottish Dimension’.

The AGM will take place on March 29 at 10.30am, followed by the annual lunch in Comrie Golf Club at 12.30pm for 1pm.