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The name derives from Saint-Clair-sur-Elle in in Normandy, and was established in Scotland when
Henry de St. Clair was granted lands in Lothian in 1162. His descendant Sir William became guardian to Alexander III’s heir and was granted
the barony of Rosslyn in 1280. Alexander’s heir died; the King himself fell over a cliff and was killed in 1286; his infant grandchild, the Maid of Norway, perished during the sea journey to her kingdom. When Robert Bruce finally restored the independence of the kingdom at Bannockburn,
Sir Henry Sinclair of Rosslyn fought with him upon that field.
It was Sir Henry’s son who married Isabel, co-heiress of the earldom of Orkney, and their son who became premier Earl of Norway by right of his inheritance. It altogether eclipsed Sinclair’s status in the Scottish Lowlands. The Orkney dynasty descended from the noble house of Møre in Norway, and had intermarried with the royal house of Scotland. Thorfinn the Mighty belonged to its dynasty, and the builders of Kirkwall Cathedral. In 1379 this became Henry Sinclair’s inheritance.His grandson William was the last Norwegian earl, and in 1455 he became the first to hold Caithness as a Scottish earldom. It was also he who rivalled his ancestors by building that other wonder of Scottish mediaeval architecture, Rosslyn Chapel. Nothing could present a greater contrast than the castle, which the earls of Caithness built for themselves a mile north of Wick. The fortress of Girnigo is perched on a precipitous rock promontory approached by a narrow causeway. It appears impregnable, and it needed to be, because by the 16th century the predatory Gordons had penetrated to the far north. Here the 5th Earl of Caithness 1566-1643 fought his long rearguard action against them until he was forced to flee, leaving Girnigo and all its muniments to that destroyer and fabricator of historical evidence, Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun. In happier days the Earl had built a more modern mansion opposite Girnigo; inspired, perhaps, by the Stewart palace of Kirkwall that he had captured on the King’s instructions. At any rate, he was the first to leave his comment on this fine example of Scottish renaissance building. “ I assure your lordship it is one of the greatest houses in Britain,” he wrote in his elegant hand. His own castles were to share its fate, though the Gordons failed to get possession of his earldom. The ruins of Girnigo still belong to the 20th Sinclair Earl. The Sinclair connection with Norway ended dramatically. In 1607 James VI permitted his subjects to serve as mercenary soldiers in Sweden. One of those who raised a contingent in Caithness was Colonel George Sinclair, and in 1612 he attempted to reach Sweden by the shortest route, sailing to Norway and marching his men through Gudbrandsdal. But while his men passed through the narrow defiles, Norwegian peasants waited above with rocks and stones, which they released in an avalanche upon the Scottish soldiers. A monument still marks the spot where they perished, “smashed to pieces like potter’s vessels by the country people”, as the inscription runs. It is the subject of a Norwegian ballad, and of the dance tune that Grieg used with such dramatic effect in one of his suites. Since then it is the Sinclairs of Ulster who have given greatest distinction to the name – an illegitimate branch descending from the 4th Earl, Sir John of Ulster ( 1754 – 1836 ) was one of the most advanced pioneers of scientific agriculture in British history.. It was he who influenced William Pitt to set up the first Board of Agriculture, with himself as President. Scottish Clans and Tartans by Ian Grimble 1973 ISBN 0 947782 28 1 |
