Sinclairs
and Mary Queen of Scots
By Laurel Fechner, Clan Historian
Not only did Sean Connery receive the William Wallace Award recently, (see article) he now plans to finance a controversial film about Mary Queen of Scots. This will be the biggest film made in Scotland to date and will present a powerful portrayal of the intrigue that swirled around the court of Scotland from1559 to1567. During her life, before her imprisonment in England, there was hardly a moment when there was not a Sinclair very near her.
Only six days after Mary's birth in 1542 to King James V and Marie Guise, her father died mourning the defeat of his army at Solway Moss. He had cried out "Oh fled Oliver!"1 when he learned that his "favorite" and commander of his troops, Oliver St. Clair, the 4th son of the 12th Baron of Rosslyn was captured along with three of his brothers. This Oliver, Govenor of Orkney, was so despised by his troops that they deserted him. Also he and others were accused by Father Hay of binding James V to the Reformation so that "he made a solemn vow to spare none that was suspected of heresie, although it were his own sone."
In 1546 Marie Guise signed, upon becoming Regent of Scotland, an unusual Bond and Obligation to Sir William Sinclair Baron of Rosslyn (not the Caithness line) for his personal service and binding Queen Marie to Sir William (Grand Master of Scottish Masons). "In likewise that we sall be Leal and trew Maistres to him, his Counsill and Secret shewn to us we sall keep secret--and in all mattres gif to him the best and trewest Counsell we can as we sall be requirite thereto…..and sall be reddy att all tymes to maintain and defend him…." She granted him a royal life-pension of 300 marks and made him Lord Justice General of Scotland.1 He also was appointed Keeper of all the Sacred Treasures of Scotland and Justiciary of the Lothians.
At the age of 9 months, Mary became the seventh youthful sovereign of Scotland in two centuries. By then she already had narrowly escaped betrothal to Prince Edward (VI) of England. His father, Henry VIII continued vicious attacks into Scotland whose only hope now lay with a marriage alliance with France. The French sent a ship of honor to bring 5 year-old Mary and her entrouge of lords and ladies to France. Among the group was Sir William Sinclair of Rosslyn1 and Mary's nurse Jean Sinclair.2 In 1556 Queen Marie sent her trusted Sir William Sinclair to France to ask for more funds. She sent him also to put down the border trouble caused by the Protestant rebels.1
Meanwhile
in 1558, 16 year-old Mary married 14 year-old Francois s/o King Henry II
of France. When Mary Tudor, Queen of England died, Mary of Scotland
was proclaimed "Queen of England, Ireland and Scotland by her
father-in-law. Since King Henry VIII had declared his daughter, Elizabeth
illegitimate, Mary, who was the granddaughter of Henry's sister, Margaret,
had as good a claim to the English throne as Elizabeth. A year later when
Henry II died, Mary became Queen of France also. However, within two
years, Mary was a widow and back in Scotland.
The fierce Protestant attacks on Catholic properties led by John Knox,
whose mother was a Sinclair on both sides, prompted Mary to send the bones
of King Malcolm Canmore and wife, St. Margaret to safety in France. In
1562, the Clan Gunn took part in the Gordons' unsuccessful attempt to
capture Queen Mary.3
Sinclairs in Caithness
caused plenty of trouble also. In
1567, the 10th Earl and Countess of Sutherland were poisoned by his aunt
Isobel Sinclair Gordon in an attempt to gain the earldom for her son.
However, the poison meant for their 15 yr-old son, Alexander, was drunk
instead by Isobel's own son. The conniving Earl George 4th of Caithness
(Sinclair) purchased Alexander's wardship and forced him to marry his 32
year-old daughter, Barbara Sinclair.
Later Alexander divorced her and married the divorced wife of the
Earl of Bothwell who was by then Queen Mary's third husband.4
She made Bothwell, Duke of
Orkney6, the Earldom the Sinclairs lost about 100 years before.1
James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell's, sister, Jean, was married to John Sinclair, the Master of Caithness. This John is the ancestor of many Americans descended from his natural son, Henry, father of John of Exeter, NH. Master John's cruel and vindictive father, George, 4th Earl of Caithness and Justiciar of Caithness, sat at the 1567 trial that acquitted this same James Hepburn, , for the murder of Mary's husband Darnley. James and Jean's mother was Agnes Sinclair.
William Baron
of Rosslyn was succeed by his son, William who boldly protected the
gypsies from the gallows against Mary's wishes."1
A short time
before Mary was imprisoned in England, he rode beside her in a battle at
Langside against the Scottish regent Moray and was taken captive.
This loyalty to the Stewarts continued to put Sinclair lives and
lands in jeopardy for many years to come.
Perhaps actual memories of hawking matches on beautiful Rosslyn
Moor, as imagined later by Sir Walter Scott5, along with
secrets revealed by Baron William helped to sustain Mary during her twenty
years of imprisonment in England.
Now,
armed with this information, I hope that you will view Sir Sean's movie
with a new depth of
understanding concerning the Sinclairs' role in Scottish history.
----------------
1 The Sword and the Grail by Andrew
Sinclair; 2Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser; 3 History of old
Wick Church By Michael J. Gunn; 4A Prospect of Sutherland by
Gilbert T. Bell; 5 The Abbot by Sir Walter Scott, 6Scott's
Pearage
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