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Henry Sinclair, 3rd Lord Sinclair[1]

Male Abt 1465 - 1513  (48 years)


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  • Name Henry Sinclair 
    Suffix 3rd Lord Sinclair 
    Born Abt 1465 
    Address:
    Scotland
    Scotland 
    Gender Male 
    Occupation 3rd Lord of Sinclair 
    Died 9 Sep 1513 
    Address:
    Branxton
    Branxton, England 
    Notes 
    • {geni:about_me} From thePeerage.com:

      '''Henry Sinclair, 3rd Lord Sinclair''' was the son of William Sinclair, 2nd Lord Sinclair and Christina Leslie. He married Margaret Hepburn, daughter of Adam Hepburn, Master of Hailes and Helen Home, before 4 December 1488. He died on 9 September 1513, killed in action.

      Henry Sinclair, 3rd Lord Sinclair succeeded to the title of 3rd Lord Sinclair [S., 1449] in 1487. In 1489 granted by charter a 13 year lease (renewed for 19 years in 1501) of Orkney and Shetland, the Justiciarship thereof and Kirkwall Castle. On 26 January 1488/89 he was decreed by Scots Parliament to be the heir of his father and grandfather and ‘Cheiff of that blude’. He held the office of Master of Artillery in March 1510/11.5 He gained the rank of Captain in 1512 in the service of the ship Great Michael. He fought in the Battle of Flodden on 9 September 1513.

      ===Children of Henry Sinclair, 3rd Lord Sinclair and Margaret Hepburn===

      * Agnes Sinclair+ d. bt 21 Mar 1572 - 22 Feb 1575
      * Katherine Sinclair+
      * Jean Sinclair+ d. bt 1546 - 1562
      * Helen Sinclair+ d. bt 1552 - 1562
      * William Sinclair, 4th Lord Sinclair+ d. a 17 Jul 1570

      From Darryl Lundy's Peerage page on Henry Sinclair:

      http://www.thepeerage.com/p10929.htm#i109283

      Henry Sinclair, 3rd Lord Sinclair [1]
      *M, #109283,
      *d. 9 September 1513
      *Last Edited=9 Feb 2011
      *Consanguinity Index=0.96%

      Henry Sinclair, 3rd Lord Sinclair was the son of William Sinclair, 2nd Lord Sinclair and Christina Leslie.[2]

      He married Margaret Hepburn, daughter of Adam Hepburn, Master of Hailes and Helen Home, before 4 December 1488.[3]

      He died on 9 September 1513, killed in action.[4]

      He succeeded to the title of 3rd Lord Sinclair [S., 1449] in 1487.[1]

      In 1489 granted by charter a 13 year lease (renewed for 19 years in 1501) of Orkney and Shetland, the Justiciarship thereof and Kirkwall Castle.[5]

      On 26 January 1488/89 he was decreed by Scots Parliament to be the heir of his father and grandfather and ‘Cheiff of that blude’.[5]

      He held the office of Master of Artillery in March 1510/11.[5] He gained the rank of Captain in 1512 in the service of the ship Great Michael.[5] He fought in the Battle of Flodden on 9 September 1513.[5]

      Children of Henry Sinclair, 3rd Lord Sinclair and Margaret Hepburn
      *1. Agnes Sinclair+[6] d. bt 21 Mar 1572 - 22 Feb 1575
      *2. Katherine Sinclair+
      *3. Jean Sinclair+[7] d. bt 1546 - 1562
      *4. Helen Sinclair+[1] d. bt 1552 - 1562
      *5. William Sinclair, 4th Lord Sinclair+[3] d. a 17 Jul 1570

      Citations
      *1. [S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume VIII, page 140. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
      *2. [S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003). Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.
      *3. [S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume XI, page 738.
      *4. [S37] Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition, volume 1, page 644.
      *5. [S37] Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition, volume 1, page 642.
      *6. [S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume II, page 239.
      *7. [S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume III, page 514.
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      http://www.clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info/genealogy/TNGWebsite/getperson.php?personID=I1969&tree=CC
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      He was the Third Lord of Sinclair
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      !Scott's Peerage Sinclair, Earl of Caithness pg 330-39+, Sinclair, Earl of Orkney pg 564-71; Sir Henry Sinclair, second Earl, was taken prisoner by the English at the battle of Homildon Hill, 14 Sep 1402, but was soon liberated. He was a hos- tage for the Earl of Douglas, but had a safe-conduct to go to Scotland on his own affairs, 13 Sep 1405, and gave security to re-enter his prison within Durham Castle at Christmas following. King Robert III at that time intrusted to his care his son, Prince James, lest he should be taken away by Robert, Duke of Albany. He, on 14 Feb 1405-06, sailed with the Prince for France, but they were captured by an English merchant-man near Flamborough Head and taken prisoners, 13 Mar 1405-06. He was, however, shortly set free. On 4 Jan 1407-08 he had another safe-conduct for his ship to trade with England, and in 1409 he received a payment for traveling to England on the affairs of the Scottish King. From Archibald, Earl of Douglas, he had a charter to him and Egidia, his spouse, of the barony of Herbertshire, which was confirmed by the Regent Albany on 20 Nov 1407. In 1412 he had a safe-conduct with the Earl of Douglas to come into England and to pass into France or Flanders by the town of Calais. He again had a save-conduct to visit England on 14 Apr 1416

      .Rosslyn Castle Located on a high promontory
      Rosslyn Castle Located on a high promontory which pushes into the River North Esk about a ½ mile (1 km) south east of the village of Roslin in Midlothian. Rosslyn Castle was built in the 14th-century by Henry St. Clair (or Sinclair), Earl of Orkney, who is thought to have discovered America before Columbus. The castle was extended in the 15th-century, to include a drawbridge which effectively isolated it from approach. The keep was originally five storeys high. Fire damaged much of the castle in 1447, as did the sieges of Protector Somerset (the Earl of Hertford) in 1544 and Cromwell in 1650. The castle was partially restored later to become a country house. This is the original home in Scotland of the St. Clair family, since the eleventh century, when William ``the Seemly'' Sinclair accompanied ueen Margaret and the Holy Rood to Edinburgh


      Henry Sinclair lived from about 1345 to 1400. He is known primarily for (possibly) being the man who first discovered the New World, a century ahead of Christopher Columbus. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.

      At the age of 13 in 1358, Henry Sinclair inherited from his father the titles of Baron of Roslyn, Lord Chief Justice of Scotland and Admiral of the Seas. The family seat was at Rosslyn Castle south of Edinburgh close to the site of Rosslyn Chapel, built by his grandson. Meanwhile King Håkon of Norway was having a difficult time resolving the question of succession for the title of Jarl of Orkney. The obvious male lines of succession had died out, and the only available maternal line ran to Henry Sinclair, who as a result was invested as 1st Earl of Orkney by King Håkon on 2 August 1379.
      In return, Håkon expected Sinclair to pacify Orkney and Shetland, which had become increasingly disordered during the period without a Jarl, or Earl. Sinclair built Kirkwall Castle to serve as a base from which he could exercise control over the Northern Isles. By 1390 Sinclair had Orkney under firm control and set out with a fleet of 13 warships to, in effect, reconquer Shetland for King Håkon from the Norse warlords who had taken control. Sinclair was successful in bringing Shetland back under the control of the Norwegian Crown.
      The story so far is relatively uncontroversial. Take a deep breath, because from here on it is anything but... While in Shetland, Sinclair is believed to have rescued two Venetian brothers, Nicolo & Antonio Zeno, whose ship had run aground and who were under threat from the islanders. In return the brothers undertook to put their undoubted seafaring skills at Sinclair's disposal.
      Meantime, a fisherman turned up in Orkney who had been missing for twenty years. He told a remarkable story of having been driven far west by storms and reaching a temperate land peopled by strange natives. Greenland was already known and, indeed, had been claimed by Norway since 1261, and the fisherman's stories suggested that there was somewhere beyond. Sinclair was determined to find out what lay behind these stories, and some time in the late 1390s led an expedition west, accompanied by the Zeno brothers.
      Passing beyond Greenland, they landed in what could well be Newfoundland, before pressing on to "a fertile land, mild and pleasant beyond description". Sinclair returned to Orkney in 1399, telling stories of the land he had found and making plans to return on a more organized scale. It was not to be: he died fighting English raiders in Orkney in 1400.
      It would be fair to say that this story is far from universally accepted. The main documentary evidence comes from letters supposedly written between the Zeno brothers in around 1400, which some regard as forgeries from the 1500s. Even if the letters are genuine, the story hangs on the man they refer to throughout as Zucchini being Henry Sinclair. There are also geographic problems with the letters: they refer to islands off the east coast of Iceland that do not exist, and there are other discrepancies.
      On the other hand, the Micmac tribe of Nova Scotia tell a traditional story about a king who had three daughters who travelled from an island far across the sea with many soldiers, stayed for a year and left again: a story that fits exactly with the Zeno brothers' account of events. There is also, at Westford in Massachusetts, a rock with a strange design on it. In the right light, this can look like the outline of an armored knight, complete with a shield bearing the crest of the Clan Gunn. This is claimed to be the memorial to Sir James Gunn, presumably lost on the expedition during an effort to explore the interior of the New World. The modern stone nearby reads: "Prince Henry First Sinclair of Orkney Born in Scotland made a voyage of discovery to North America in 1398. After wintering in Nova Scotia, he sailed to Massachusetts and on an inland expedition in 1399 to Prospect Hill to view the surrounding countryside, one of the party died. The punch-hole armorial effigy, which adorns this ledge is a memorial to this knight."
      Supporters of this theory point also to the presence of Newport Tower in Rhode Island, a stone structure of indeterminate but clearly pretty considerable age. They also note that in 1849 a cannon of Venetian design allegedly dating back to the late 1300s was dredged from the harbor of Louisberg on Cape Breton Island: exactly the sort of cannon that would have been carried on their ship by the Zeno brothers and salvaged by Sinclair from the wreck as highly valuable.
      Non-believers will tell you that the "Westport Knight" is an image formed largely from natural weathering of the rock, with some superimposed carving from the 1800s; and that the Newport Tower was originally a mill dating back to the 1600s.
      Part of the continuing mystery finds a home - perhaps inevitably - in Rosslyn Chapel. Built by Sinclair's grandson, this includes carvings of what look very like Indian corn or maize, and cactus plants, both supposedly unknown at the time. How could these images appear in the Rosslyn Chapel if Henry Sinclair had not made his voyage to the New World? As ever, proving a negative is impossible, and in the absence of truly conclusive positive proof, it is up to each of us to make up our own minds. It's a nice story, though...
    Person ID I6000000011223170669  Ancestors of Donald Ross
    Last Modified 25 Oct 2020 

    Father William "the Waster" Sinclair, 2nd Lord Sinclair,   b. Abt 1433,   d. Aft 14 Jul 1487  (Age > 54 years) 
    Mother Christian Leslie, Countess of Orkney,   b. Abt 1432,   d. Bef 16 Mar 1501, Dinkheatt Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age < 69 years) 
    Family ID F6000000012348455742  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Margaret Hepburn,   b. Abt 1471,   d. 8 Nov 1542  (Age 71 years) 
    Married Abt 4 Dec 1488 
    Children 
     1. Helen Sinclair,   b. Apr 1495,   d. 9 Oct 1540  (Age 45 years)
    Last Modified 14 Mar 2021 
    Family ID F6000000012978499399  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart