Sir Henry Sinclair of Roslin, 7th Lord of Roslin

Sir Henry Sinclair of Roslin, 7th Lord of Roslin is your 19th great grandmother's husband's second cousin twice removed

Sir Henry Sinclair of Roslin, (c1265-bef 28 June 1336), Lord of Rosslyn, and Commander of the Knights Templar at Bannockburn (1314).

He supported Robert I the Bruce; signatory to the Scottish Barons' letter to the Pope 1320 declaring Scottish Independence.

Sir Henry Sinclair (d. 1330?) swore fealty with his father to King Edward in 1292, but joined with his father against him and was taken prisoner at Dunbar, and on 16 May 1296 he was removed to St. Briavell's Castle (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, 1272–1307, No. 177), but on 7 April 1299 he was ordered to be exchanged for William FitzWarren (ib. No. 1062). In September 1305 he was appointed by Edward I sheriff of Lanark (ib. No. 1691; Acta Parl. Scot. i. 121). In September 1307 he was ordered to aid against Bruce (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, 1307–57, No. 15). Subsequently he became a friend of Bruce, for whom he fought at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. He signed the letter to the pope in 1320 asserting the independence of Scotland. On 27 Dec. 1328 he received a pension of twenty marks to himself and his heirs until provided with lands of that value (Hay, Genealogy of the Sinclairs of Roslin, p. 52; Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, ii. 209). He died about 1330, leaving, by his wife Alicia de Fenton, a son, Sir William Sinclair or Saint Clair (d. 1330) [q. v.]

[Fordun's Chronicle; Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, 1272–1307; Exchequer Rolls, vol. i. ii.; Documents illustrative of the History of Scotland, ed. Stevenson, vol. i.; Hay's Genealogy of the Sinclairs of Roslin.]

Sir Henry St Clair, 7th Baron of Rosslyn Succeeded 1297, died 1331

Fought with his two sons John and William at Bannockburn. The king, Robert the Bruce, rewarded him for his bravery with the gift of Pentland Moor. He was one of the Scottish nobles who in 1320 signed the Declaration of Arbroath, which proclaimed to the Pope Scottish Independence from England. Henry?s brother William was made Bishop of Dunkeld and displayed great valour in 1317 when he repelled an invasion of the English who had landed on the Fife coast while the King was in Ireland. Thereafter the King referred to William as ?the fighting Bishop?.

After the death of Robert the Bruce, Sir Henry?s two sons, William and John, were chosen along with Sir James Douglas and Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig to carry the King?s heart to Jerusalem and deposit it in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They never reached their destination; during a fierce battle with the Moors at Teba in Spain in 1330, William, his brother John, and Douglas were killed. The Moors were so impressed by the courage of the Scottish Knights that they allowed the survivors to take their dead - and Bruce?s heart - for burial back home.

Source: Robert Sewell, http://www.robertsewell.ca/sinclair.html

Sources

• Burke's Peerage and Baronetage "A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage" by Sir Bernard Burke, 92nd edition. Published by Burke's Peerage Ltd in 1934; 106th edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999.