page_title: Clan Sinclair
section_title: 17th century and Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Clan Sinclair / History / 17th century and Civil War
caption_attribution_description: "Sinclair". A plate illustrated by R. R. McIan, from James Logan's The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, published in 1845.
context_page_description: Clan Sinclair is a Highland Scottish clan who held lands in Caithness, the Orkney Islands, and the Lothians. The chiefs of the clan were the Barons of Roslin and later the Earls of Orkney and Earls of Caithness. The Sinclairs are believed to have come from Normandy to England during the Norman conquest of England, before arriving in Scotland in the 11th century. The Sinclairs supported the Scottish Crown during the Scottish–Norwegian War and the Wars of Scottish Independence. The chiefs were originally Barons of Roslin, Midlothian and William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness and Baron of Roslin founded the famous Rosslyn Chapel in the 15th century. He split the family lands, disinheriting his eldest son from his first marriage, William, who later became the second Lord Sinclair, instead giving the lands of Caithness to the second son from his second marriage, William Sinclair, 2nd Earl of Caithness, in 1476, and the lands at Roslin to his eldest son from his second marriage, Sir Oliver Sinclair. In the 16th century the Sinclairs fought against England during the Anglo-Scottish Wars and also feuded with their neighbors the Clan Sutherland.
context_section_description: On 21 October 1601, Henry 5th Lord Sinclair died and was succeeded by grandson Henry. In 1606, George 5th Earl of Caithness, was by an Act of Parliament allowed to change the name of Girnigoe Castle to Sinclair Castle. See: Castle Sinclair Girnigoe.
  The Battle of Kringen took place on 26 August 1612 in Otta, Norway. George Sinclair was killed with most of his men in an ambush.
  In 1650 Major Sinclair assisted James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose at the Battle of Carbisdale where they were defeated. They escaped to Ardvreck Castle, but there they were betrayed by MacLeod of Assynt and were executed. Sir William Sinclair of Rosslyn was killed at the Battle of Dunbar (1650) and was the last knight to be buried in full armour below Rosslyn Chapel. General Monck sacked Rosslyn Castle but the Chapel was spared. In 1651, at the Battle of Worcester, John 9th Lord Sinclair was captured by Cromwell's forces and imprisoned in the Tower of London and then at Windsor Castle until 1660 when he was liberated by General Monck. In 1657, George Sinclair 6th Earl of Caithness was present when Oliver Cromwell was proclaimed Chief Magistrate of the three nations in Edinburgh.
  In 1680 a feud took place between George Sinclair of Keiss and Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy over the right to the lands and title of the earldom of Caithness. This resulted in the Battle of Altimarlach, where, legend has it that so many Sinclairs were killed that the Campbells were able to cross the river without getting their feet wet. Clearly, however, the Sinclairs had influence in high places as only a few years later, in 1681, they regained the earldom by an order of Parliament. In 1698, George Sinclair 7th Earl of Caithness died. He was succeeded by John Sinclair of Murchill (Murkle) 8th Earl, his cousin.
caption: A Victorian era, romanticised depiction of a member of the clan by R. R. McIan, from The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, published in 1845.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2007:12:04 21:41:23", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4493", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "336", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "589"}