THE SCOTTISH DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
THERE is a document of immense age, of supreme interest to British Israelites, but which  is seen  by few, owing to their ignorance of its existence, lying in the Register House at Edinburgh.
his document is a parchment, to which are attached some twenty red and green seals (being the seals of the subscribing Scottish Nobles). It was  drawn up  by Bernard de  Linton, Abbot  of  Aberbrothock and Chancellor of Scotland, in the year 1320; and was sent to Pope John XXII “By the Scottish Estates in Parliament assembled in the Abbey of Aberbrothock under the Presidency of King Robert the Bruce”, and is dated the 6th April, A.D. 1320
Officials of the Register House have described it as “probably Our most precious  possession”, and it may be seen in a shallow glass case in the Register House at Edinburgh.
King Edward II of England had failed in his attempt to subjugate  Scotland,  having met crushing defeat  at the Battle of Bannockburn  in 1317
He enlisted  the support  of the Pope (John XXII), to whom he sent lavish gifts of jewels, as a result of which the Pope refused to acknowledge the Bruce as King of Scotland, and, indeed, sent emissaries to him with a view to securing  his submission to the English King. These Papal messengers-Cardinal Gaucelin  and  Cardinal Luke-were not received  by the Scottish  King, who would not even read their letters; Instead, he summoned the Scottish Parliament, and the document proclaiming the independence of the Scottish people was drawn up and despatched.
The point of particular interest to us is the remarkable testimony which  this document contains concerning the  orig in and  previous  migrations of the  Scottish people-a declaration which, it must be remembered, is attested by the seals of not only King Robert the Bruce, but of  all the  Scottish  Nobles of the  day. It is not, therefore,  a statement by a single  (possibly  fallible) historian but the official declaration of a King and  his Estates in Parliament assembled; consequently being of overwhelming authority.
Space forbids quoting the whole document, or even the full list of the names  of the signatories,  and I  must refer readers to the “Scot’s Magazine”, issued April 1934, in which  an article  by Mr. R. L. Mackie provides  full information, including a facsimile reproduction of the parchment itself, together with a translation.
I will only quote one passage  here, as being the part most interesting to British Israelites; it is written  in medieval Latin in which  “j” and  “i” are  frequently interchangeable, as are also “u” and “n”. The text of this passage follows:
‘Scimus Sanctissime Pater et Domine et ex antiquorunm gestis et libris Colligimus,  quod  inter Ceteras egregias, nostra Scilicet Scottorum Nacio multis preconijs fuerit insignita que  Maiori Schithia per Mare tirenum et Columpnas Herculis transiens, et in Hispania inter  ferocissimos, per  multa  temporum curricula Residens: a nullis quantumcumque barbaricis  poterat allicubi  subiugari, Indeque veniens post  mule  et ducentos annos a transitu populi israelitici, sibi sedes in Occident  quas  nunc optinet.  … In quorum Regno Centum et Tresdecim Reges de ipsorum Regali prosapia nullo alienigena interueniente, Regnauerunt.”
TRANSLATION
” We  know,  Most  Holy Father and  Lord, and  from the  chronicles  and  books  of the  ancients gather,  that among other  illustrious  nations,   ours,  to  wit  the nation  of the  Scots,  has  been  distinguished  by many honours which passing from the greater Scythia through the  Mediterranean  Sea  and  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and sojourning in  Spain  among the  most  savage  tribes through  a  long  course  of  time,   could  nowhere  be subjugated  by   any people  however  barbarous,  and coming thence  one  thousand  two  hundred years after the  outgoing of the  people of  Israel, they, by many victories and  infinite  toil,  acquired  for themselves  the possessions in  the West  which  they now hold. . . . In their  kingdom  one hundred  and  thirteen  kings of their own royal stock, no stranger intervening, have reigned.”
It is surely deeply interesting to have this statement, so unimpeachably attested, that the ancestors of the Scottish people came from Greater  Scythia, sojourned awhile in Spain, – and settled in Scotland 1,200 years after the going out of the people of Israel:
Drawn up by Bernard de Linton, Abbot of Aberbrothock and Chancellor of Scotland, and sent to Pope John XXII by the Scottish Estates in Parliament assembled in the Abbey of Aberbrothock, under the presidency of King Robert the Bruce, on April 6th, A.D. 1320.
Further information concerning it can be obtained from Volume 1 of the Acts of the Parliament of Scotland or Part II Of the National Manuscripts of Scotland. or from the “Scot’s Magazine”. issue April 1934. from which the above illustration is reproduced .
(Reprinted from The National Message)
