TODAY’S column is the second in a short series on the powers behind the throne, the most influential figures in Scottish history who were never monarchs of Scotland. These men and women changed the course of Scottish history without ever taking the throne, though as we shall see in later columns, some did covet the title of King of Scots.

Last week, I started the series with Bishop Robert Wishart of Glasgow, and showed how he was one of the most influential figures in the Wars of Independence. Today I will be writing about his episcopal colleague William de Lamberton, often simply called Lamberton, Wishart’s protegé and the Bishop of St Andrews at the time of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. I will also be writing about Abbot Bernard of Arbroath, and will show why I believe he was the overall author of words that resonate in Scotland to this day – the Declaration of Arbroath.

That Wishart, de Lamberton and Abbot Bernard were powers behind the most important occupant of the throne in Scottish history is unarguable, in my view. Their high place in Scotland at the time of the Wars of Independence was due to the power of the Church at a time when Christian belief involved acceptance of the spiritual and sometimes the secular superiority of the Pope and his bishops.

Faith in God was straightforward back then – there was Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory, and if you were excommunicated by the Pope or a bishop, you really believed you were bound for Hell for eternity while, by contrast, an indulgence granted by the Pope would get you time off your sentence in Purgatory, a sort of halfway house short of Hell. If you uttered heresy you were burned at the stake, but if you donated some land or money to a church or monastery, the clerical occupants of such institutions would pray for the repose of your soul.

The state of the soul of King Robert the Bruce was a major issue during the Wars of Independence, not least because he committed sacrilege, and then refused to obey the Pope so that he was twice excommunicated and Scotland was placed under papal interdict – a kind of enforced spiritual lockdown which meant every subject of King Robert should genuinely fear for their chance of salvation. Resolutely by King Robert’s side, from before his coronation until shortly before Bruce’s death in 1329, was Bishop William de Lamberton (I prefer to use the older version of his name).

READ MORE: Sean Connery Picasso to be auctioned for Scottish charities

Like so many figures from that era, we know almost nothing about his parents, his birthdate, or exactly where he was born, but we do know that his family owned lands, probably in Stirlingshire, because he was given a good education, possibly completed on the Continent, and most likely in France, as he was a fluent French speaker.

His first appearance in history was in 1293, when he became a canon of the church under the direction of his mentor Bishop Robert Wishart of Glasgow. Wishart soon made him Chancellor of Glasgow Cathedral, which meant he attended the parliament held by King John Baliol. De Lamberton clearly made an impression at court, as he seems to have been one of the clerics negotiating the treaty with France in 1295 we now know of as “the Auld Alliance”.

Under Wishart’s guidance, and fearing that the church in Scotland would be made subservient to English control, de Lamberton and other clerics supported William Wallace in his uprising in 1297. Wallace was made Guardian of Scotland after the victory over the English at Stirling Bridge, and one of his Guardianship acts that we definitely know about was his approval of the appointment of de Lamberton as Bishop of St Andrews – he was consecrated in Rome on June 1, 1298. De Lamberton now had the income of Scotland’s richest see, and used it for the cause of independence.

Though only in his twenties, we know how much of an influence Lamberton became, because King Edward I of England wrote to Pope Boniface VIII to clype on him. Longshanks wrote: “Being thus made bishop, Lamberton continued at the Court of France with the other great men of Scotland, the King’s enemies, labouring continually to do all the harm and injury in his power against his liege lord, until the peace was finally concluded between France and England. And after the conclusion of such treaty, he, Lamberton, by letters-patent under his seal, urged and excited the prelates, earls, barons, and all the commonality of Scotland (these being the King’s enemies), to carry on the war vigorously until the bishop and the other lords in France could return to Scotland.

“The bishop addressed his special letters, sealed with his seal, to the traitor Wallace, and prayed that, for the love of him the bishop, he, Wallace, would do all possible hurt and damage to the King of England. And Lamberton also wrote to his officers in Scotland to employ a portion of his own provision for the sustenance of Wallace.”

What a ringing endorsement of the patriotic bishop who became a Guardian of Scotland himself in 1299, and thus got to know fellow guardian, Robert the Bruce. De Lamberton’s strong attachment to Bruce and the cause of independence was displayed in a written bond of mutual support between the two men, which they sealed in 1304. De Lamberton also gave one of his pages into the service of Bruce – none other than the mighty warrior who would become Sir James “the Black” Douglas. De Lamberton disapproved of Bruce’s murder of John Comyn at Greyfriars in Dumfries, which was regarded as sacrilege. Excommunication by the pope was inevitable, and was indeed imposed later.

The National: William de Lamberton, sometimes modernized as William LambertonWilliam de Lamberton, sometimes modernized as William Lamberton

No doubt influenced by Bishop Wishart’s decision to give Bruce absolution, de Lamberton nevertheless supported Robert’s acquisition of the throne at Scone in March, 1306. At the coronation, he jointly officiated with Bishop Wishart and thus threw the support of the whole Scottish clergy behind the new king – a massive endorsement in those days.

Captured after the Battle of Methven less than three months after the coronation, de Lamberton was imprisoned by Longshanks for his part in crowning Bruce, and spent more than two years in English house arrest. He swore fealty to Edward II, but later revoked his oath as it was taken under duress.

As well as being head of the Scottish church – he consecrated St Andrews Cathedral in 1318 – de Lamberton became King Robert’s closest advisor and for doing so was himself excommunicated by Pope John XXII in 1320. It was one of the letters to the Pope about this matter that became known as the Declaration of Arbroath.

It took a while, but Pope John XXII relented, and the excommunication of Bruce and the Scottish clergy was lifted. Bishop de Lamberton lived to see the completion of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, which guaranteed Scotland’s independence, dying on May 20, 1328, just 18 days after the Treaty was confirmed.

Remarkably, it was only seven years ago that a medieval seal matrix which belonged to Bishop de Lamberton was found in Boarhills in Fife – it was reported to the Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer and was allocated to Fife Cultural Trust.

Which brings me to another senior churchman who knew both Bishops Wishart and de Lamberton. Bernard, Abbot of Arbroath, and Chancellor of Scotland in 1320, is now accepted by most historians as the man in charge of the composition of the Declaration of Arbroath.

The only remaining copy of the Declaration – the original has long been lost – is the most famous historical document held by the National Records of Scotland (NRS).

NRS explain: “The Declaration is a letter written in 1320 by the barons and whole community of the kingdom of Scotland to the pope (John XXII) asking him to recognise Scotland’s independence and acknowledge Robert the Bruce as the country’s lawful king.” They did so because Edward II of England had written to Pope John XXII, demanding that Bruce’s excommunication for killing Comyn should be renewed because he had attacked Berwick-upon-Tweed in contravention of a papal truce.

READ MORE: Scotland's top stargazing spots this International Dark Sky Week

The Declaration was written in Latin and was sealed rather than signed by eight earls and between 30 and 40 barons. According to NRS “only 19 seals now remain of what might have been 50 originally, and many are in poor condition”.

Bernard of Kilwinning, and not Bernard de Linton, is acknowledged by most historians as the author, though some professional historians claim the scholar Alexander de Kininmund was the writer. I suspect that it was a collaborative effort – certain words and phrases in Latin suggest several inputs. Certainly there was a meeting of Bruce’s closest counsellors at Newbattle Abbey near Dalkeith just a short while before the Declaration was uttered at Arbroath on April 6, 1320.

There is one piece of text which gives the clue that this was not a wholly original work by Abbot Bernard and his scribes.

You will recall that I wrote last week: “On May 10, 1291, at Norham-on-Tweed, Edward (Longshanks) called a meeting of the senior Scottish clergy plus the barons and the claimants for the crown.

“After he haughtily declared himself Lord Paramount, it was Bishop Wishart who gave the Scots’ reply: ‘But where it pleased the King to speak of a right of supremacy over the Kingdom of Scotland, it was sufficiently known that Scotland from the first foundation of the State had been a free and independent kingdom, and not subject to any other power whatsoever.

Howbeit, the present occasion hath bred some distinction of minds, all true-hearted Scots will stand for the liberty of their country to the death, for they esteem their liberty more precious than their lives, and in that quarrel will neither separate nor divide.”

The National: National Extra Scottish politics newsletter banner

Now compare Wishart’s last paragraph to the best known lines of the Declaration: “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.”

Others have cited the ancient Roman writer Sallust for originating the “liberty or death” concept, but I suspect that one of the clerics who wrote the Declaration was well aware of what Bishop Wishart had told Longshanks almost 30 years previously and reproduced it.

Given its influence, the Declaration stands as Bernard of Kilwinning’s greatest work, but he was also an important administrator for Robert the Bruce, and acted as an ambassador for the king, most notably to Norway’s King Haakon V, a mission which ended with the Treaty of Inverness of 1312. This much neglected treaty, which basically sorted out disputes between Scotland and Norway, was definitely Abbot Bernard’s work and was principally aimed at cementing Bruce’s position as King of Scots and recognised as such by a foreign kingdom – the first such recognition for Bruce. It no doubt helped that Bruce’s elder sister Isabella had married King Eric II of Norway in 1293 and thus was Haakon’s sister-in-law.

As a reward for his service, Abbot Bernard was made Bishop of the Isles in 1327 and held the position until his death in 1331, two years after Robert the Bruce himself died.