no image
Privacy Level: Open (White)

William (St Clair) Sinclair (abt. 1045 - abt. 1098)

William "the Seemly" Sinclair formerly St Clair aka de St Clair, St Clair
Born about in St Lo, Normandy, Francemap
Ancestors ancestors
Son of and [mother unknown]
Brother of [half] and
Husband of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Father of
Died about at about age 53 in Scotlandmap
Problems/Questions Profile manager: Scotland Project WikiTree private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 6 May 2012
This page has been accessed 4,975 times.
Medieval Scotland
William (St Clair) Sinclair was an inhabitant of Medieval Scotland.
Join: Scotland Project
Discuss: Scotland

Contents

Biography

William St. Clair was the second son of Waldron (St Clair) de Sinclair (abt.1019-).[1][2] Born in Normandy about 1045, he arrived in England in 1066 with his first cousin, Guillaume (Normandie) de Normandie (abt.1027-1087).[3][4]

He married Dorothy Agnes (Dunbar) de St Clair (abt.1065-), daughter of Gospatric (Dunbar) Dunbar First Earl of Dunbar (abt.1040-abt.1074).[5]

He received a grant for the lands of Roslin from Malcolm (Dunkeld) King of Scots (abt.1031-1093) and was made Warden of the Southern Borders.[1]

He was made cup-bearer to Margaret (Wessex) Queen of Scots (-abt.1093) and granted the Barony of Rosslyn in 1070. He was also made Warden of the Southern Marches with responsibility for defending Scotland’s border against the frequent attacks of the English, and on one of these expeditions he was killed.[3]

Children

He and his wife had one known child:

Disambiguation

This profile is frequently and erroneously confused with William (St Clair) Sinclair Ist of Rosslyn (abt.1230-1297) born some 200 years later, due to Balfour Paul's statement that he supposedly married Agnes Dunbar. At present it is unclear whether the two Williams are related.

Please see: Untangling the Medieval Sinclair Profiles for current status of research. Crawford-15512 00:11, 26 September 2022 (UTC)

Research Notes

As with all early profiles, it is important to keep in mind that errors are often repeated across generations. The Clan Sinclair website has shared this position on the origins of the Sinclairs in Scotland

Sources

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Hay, Richard Augustine; Genealogie of the Saintclairs of Rosslyn; (T. G. Stevenson, Edinburgh, 1835); pg. 2
  2. ↑ Saint Clair, R W; The Saint-Clairs of the Isles; being a history of the sea-kings of Orkney and their Scottish successors of the sirname of Sinclair; (H Brett; Auckland, NZ, 1898); pg. 266
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 St. Clair Family - The Official Roslin Chapel Website; St Clair Family; citing: William the Seemly St Clair came to England with his first cousin, William the Conqueror, and fought with him at the Battle of Hastings in 1066; accessed 23 Sept 2022
  4. ↑ Saint Clair, R W; The Saint-Clairs of the Isles; being a history of the sea-kings of Orkney and their Scottish successors of the sirname of Sinclair; (H Brett; Auckland, NZ, 1898); pg. 278
  5. ↑ Hay, Richard Augustine; Genealogie of the Saintclairs of Rosslyn; (T. G. Stevenson, Edinburgh, 1835); pg. 5




Is William your ancestor? Please don't go away!
 star icon Login to collaborate or comment, or
 star icon contact private message the profile manager, or
 star icon ask our community of genealogists a question.
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com

DNA
No known carriers of William's DNA have taken a DNA test.

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.



Comments: 3

Leave a message for others who see this profile.
There are no comments yet.
Login to post a comment.
Robert Goff
Father Richard Augustine Hay (cited above) recognized that the above genealogy was not accurate, saying, "All what is above recorded by the Genealogists doth not agree with the Evidences, Historys, Registers, and other privat Memoirs I have found in Gentlemen’s hands." Hay, Genealogie, p. 34. https://archive.org/details/genealogieofsain1835hayr/page/34/mode/2up In other words, the primary sources reviewed by Father Hay (including the Rosslyn cartulary) did not match the genealogy he recited from William Lithgow (1628) and Frederick van Bassan (1680s). Notably, a Ralph son of William (not Walderne or Waldron) held Saint-Clair-Sur-Elle near St. Lo in 1066-1087. Monasticon, vol. 7, p. 1074, column 2. https://archive.org/details/b30455832_0007/page/1074/mode/2up
posted by Robert Goff
edited by Robert Goff
Crawford-15512 Amy (Crawford) Gilpin
Sinclair-2363 and St Clair-200 appear to represent the same person because: Outstanding postponed merge discovered while cleaning up this family on behalf of the Scotland Project.

Edited to add: Merge and adoption completed on behalf of the Scotland Project. Please continue to manage as before.

posted by Amy (Crawford) Gilpin
edited by Amy (Crawford) Gilpin
John Macdonald
The legend of Sinclairs putative coming to Scotland has the first Sinclair accompanying St Margaret, ie after 1066 The first recorded Sinclair in Scotland is in 1162. There is no way this person was born in Scotland
posted on Sinclair-2363 (merged) by John Macdonald

Rejected matches › William Marion St.Clair (abt.1860-) › William St.Clair (1909-1981) › William Sinclair

Featured National Park champion connections: William is 24 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 29 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 24 degrees from George Catlin, 26 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 33 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 25 degrees from George Grinnell, 28 degrees from Anton Kröller, 25 degrees from Stephen Mather, 30 degrees from Kara McKean, 28 degrees from John Muir, 23 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 35 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.

S  >  St Clair  |  S  >  Sinclair  >  William (St Clair) Sinclair

Categories: Scotland Project Managed Medieval Profiles