Robert the Bruce and the Declaration of Arbroath
In Robert the Bruce’s day, battles were short but wars were long. The First War of Scottish Independence, with England, lasted thirty-two years, from 1296 until 1328. Scotland, which had long understood itself as independent, kept having to repel the English, who disagreed. The Second War of Scottish Independence, still with England, ran for another twenty-five years. During these decades, the Pope served as a mediating figure, handing out punishments for unruly rulers. Pope John XXII would have liked the…