William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness
- William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness
William Sinclair (1410–1484), 1st
Earl of Caithness (1455–1476), 3rdEarl of Orkney (1455–1470),Baron of Roslin was a Scottish nobleman and the builder ofRosslyn Chapel , inMidlothian .He was the grandson of the explorer
Henry Sinclair, 1st Earl of Orkney and son ofHenry Sinclair, 2nd Earl of Orkney , for a time protector of the young James Stuart, the laterJames I of Scotland . He wasLord High Admiral of Scotland , and wasLord Chancellor of Scotland from 1454 to 1456. He wasFirst Lord St. Clair in Scotland 1449.King James III gained theEarldom of Orkney for the Scottish Crown in 1470 (seeHistory of Orkney ), and William Sinclair was thereafterEarl of Caithness alone until he resigned the Earldom in favour of his son William in 1476.In 1471 James bestowed the castle and lands of Ravenscraig in
Fife on William Sinclair [ [http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/kirkcaldy/ravenscraigcastle/index.html Ravenscraig Castle Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland ] ] , in exchange for all his rights to the earldom of Orkney, which, by an Act of theParliament of Scotland , passed onFebruary 20 ,1472 , was annexed to the Scottish crown.Family
He was married three times, first to Lady Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas; secondly to Marjory Sutherland, daughter of Alexander Sutherland, and lastly to Janet Yeman.
He fathered two known children with Lady Elizabeth Douglas. Their son (William Sinclair, 2nd Lord St. Clair) was, in the opinion of the father, a wastrel, whereby he was disinherited consequently. His family received only the Castle of Ravenscraig. Their daughter (Elizabeth Sinclair) would marry Andrew Leslie, Master of Rothes.
He fathered four known children with Marjory Sutherland; Eleanor Sinclair, Catherine Sinclair, Sir Oliver Sinclair, and William Sinclair, 2nd Earl of Caithness.
The earl's third son (William Sinclair, 2nd Earl of Caithness), of his second marriage became the designated heir of the Earldom of Caithness, and continued that title. The Barony of Roslin went to his second son (Sir Oliver Sinclair).
All in all, the Sinclair ancestry is well represented in Scottish and British high nobility, thanks to marriages of his daughters and other descendants.
William's daughter of his second marriage, Lady Eleanor Sinclair, married
John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl , a relative of the kings. Lord Henry Darnley and his sonJames I of England descend from Eleanor, and through them, quite a many royal house of Europe. His other daughter by this marriage, Catherine Sinclair, marriedAlexander Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany .References
Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
Earl of Caithness — The title Earl of Caithness has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland, and has a very complex history. Its first grant, in the modern sense as to have been counted in strict lists of peerages, is now generally held to have taken… … Wikipedia
Bishop of Caithness — The Bishop of Caithness was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Caithness, one of Scotland s 13 medieval bishoprics. The first referenced bishop of Caithness was Aindréas, a Gael who appears in sources between 1146 and 1151 as bishop.… … Wikipedia
Lord Lieutenant of Caithness — The Lord Lieutenant of Caithness, is the British monarch s personal representative in an area which has been defined since 1975 as consisting of the local government district of Caithness, in Scotland, and this definition was renewed by the Lord… … Wikipedia
Mormaer of Caithness — The Mormaer of Caithness ruled a distinct mormaerdom in medieval Scotland in that it generally was held by a foreign prince, the Norse Earl of Orkney, the ruler of neighboring Norwegian province. Caithness was intermittently held, presumably… … Wikipedia
Earl of Orkney — See also: Earldom of Orkney The Earl of Orkney was originally a Norse jarl ruling Orkney, Shetland and parts of Caithness and Sutherland. The Earls were periodically subject to the kings of Norway for the Northern Isles, and later also to the… … Wikipedia
Sinclair (surname) — Sinclair Family name Revela Domino opera tua Meaning Taken from the hermit saint; this derivation of the St. Claire surname … Wikipedia
Earl of Breadalbane and Holland — Arms of the Earl and Marquess of Breadalbane … Wikipedia
Clan Sinclair — Crest badge … Wikipedia
John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland — (1636 ndash;19 March 1717), son of Sir John Campbell of Glen Orchy, and of the Lady Mary Graham, daughter of William Graham, 1st Earl of Airth, was a member of Scottish nobility during the Glorious Revolution and Jacobite risings and also known… … Wikipedia
Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney — and feudal baron of Roslin (c. 1345 ndash; c. 1400), was a Scottish nobleman. He is sometimes identified by another spelling of his surname, St. Clair. He was the grandfather of William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, the builder of Rosslyn… … Wikipedia
