Today is the 700th Anniversary of the signing of the #DeclarationofArbroath on the 6th April 1320. Here's a wee thread listing some of its #EastLothian connections.

Did you know that the document that survives today in the @NatRecordsScot is called the "Tyninghame Copy"? (1/12)

This parchment was actually the 'file copy' of the three original versions and it was kept with the rest of the Scottish national records in Edinburgh Castle while the others went to their intended recipients. (2/12)

In the 17thC, while work was being done in the Castle, the official in charge of records took the Declaration to his home in Tyninghame where it remained until 1829 when it was returned to Edinburgh into the hands of the predecessor of the Keeper of the Records of Scotland (3/12)

Unfortunately, it's time in Tyninghame was not a happy one and the document was greatly damaged by damp during its stay in East Lothian.

Happily, it is now carefully conserved by @NatRecordsScot, as befitting a document listed in UNESCO's "Memory of the World Programme." (4/12)

Other local links can be found among the signatories. At least 3 have East Lothian Links. Alexander Seton, William de Abernethy, 2nd Baron Saltoun and Patrick de Dunbar, Earl of March.

Only the last is probably remembered today and only because of his more famous wife! (5/12)

18 years after its signing, the amazing "Black" Agnes, Countess of Dunbar held her castle for weeks against a besieging army led by Earl of Salisbury. She is long and rightly remembered for how she rallied her own forces by taunting the enemy below! (6/12)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes,_Countess_of_Dunbar

Historians have long argued over the #DeclarationofArbroath's original intended aims and individuals with competing contemporary national philosophies continue to argue over its significance & meaning today. This debate will undoubtedly rumble & rage on for decades to come (7/12)

For my part, I agree with those that see its significance not in terms of establishing a land boundary but in its early statement of the fundamental right of a people to choose their leader.

Democracy as we understand it was a long, LONG way off, but from tiny acorns... (8/12)

I bought this hand-written copy of #DeclarationOfArbroath in Scots at a jumble sale as a teen. Its words resonated with me then as they do now.

"We arnae fechtin fur gloar nor geir nor hoanours, but for freedom alain, that nae guid man wull lat lowss binns wi lyf itcsel" (9/12)

In English: "It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."

You can find out more with a fab free booklet from @NatRecordsScot. Download it here:
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/declaration#downloadable-resource 10/12

Or you can watch this wonderful new short documentary made by the broadcaster @LesleyRiddoch, that's full of interviews, reconstructions and readings of excerpts of the #DeclarationofArbroath by Scots today. (11/12)
Watch it free here: https://vimeo.com/401599947 

The film also contains one final fabulous link between the Declaration & East Lothian.

It gives the first public unveiling of a triptych tapestry designed by local artist @AndrewCrummy to commemorate the #DeclarationofArbroath700.

Have a wee watch with a cuppa tonight! (12/12)