Perhaps the high point in the history of Arbroath Abbey occurred in April 1320. Bernard, Abbot of Arbroath, who was also Chancellor of Scotland under Robert the Bruce, oversaw the drafting of the “Declaration of Arbroath”, thought by many to be the most important and influential document in Scottish history. This was a letter written to Pope John XXII on behalf of Robert, and signed by most of the great and good of early 14th Century Scotland. It asked the Pope to put pressure on Edward II of England to recognise Robert as the legitimate King of Scotland; and it also asked him to remove the excommunication that had been placed on Robert after he had murdered the Red Comyn in a Dumfries church in 1306.

The Declaration is famous for one phrase in particular: “For, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.” Much more historically significant was the implication elsewhere in the declaration that in future the King of Scotland could only rule with the approval of the people of Scotland. It was the first time anyone, anywhere, had thought about royalty in this way.