Orkney and Shetland Families

[Niven Sinclair <niven@niven.co.uk>]

Correction:  I should have said the only recognised "sept" is LINKLATER.
The others, not having a tartan of their own and because they were
'subjects' of the St Clairs/Sinclairs, who
held semi-regal state in Orkney and Shetland, would be entitled to wear the
Sinclair hunting
or green tartan just as other Scots (who have no tartan of their own) can
wear the Royal Stewart.

It must be remembered that there is no family in Europe, below the rank of
Royalty, which
can boast a higher antiquity, a nobler lineage or more romantic interest
than 'the lordly line of high St Clair'.


Although a Scottish Clan, the Sinclairs have always had a European
dimension in as much as they were to be found in every Province of France,
in Alsace, in Norway, Denmark and
Sweden.  Within three generations of the NoRman Conquest, the Sinclairs
were to be found
in 43 English counties and in Wales.  Let me give you one quotation:

					"In leaden coffins at the Chapel at Danbury, five miles
					  from Chelmsford, were buries severakl knightly St Clairs
					  who had followed the standard of the cross in Crusades
					  to the Holy Land.
					"The hill of Dabury in Essex ,by the Thames, beneath London
					  is a landmark and a tower to this lineage, as it has been to the 
					  World's greatest city, and its chapel will always stand fixed to
					  memory as something notable that has been.
					"All that was highest in marriage, lands or office they had in
					  England for nearly a Century after the Conquest and the glow
					  of their fame and their physical and intellectual powers kept them
					  high for centuries afterwards in a way which was rare to any one
					  particular lineage".

As I have detailed elsewhere there were 9 St Clair Knights at the Battle of
Hastings -
the largest single contingent in William's army.

If Poland had a Royal Family today, it would be of the St. Clair line.  A
professor of the Moscow State University stated; "The Sinclairs were one of
the two most important families in European history".  The other?  The
Hapsburgs.

Regrettably, Sinclairs know very little about their own history although,
in Prince Henry Sinclair, they had one of the greatest men of the 14th
Century or, for that matter, of any other Century.

Over the next few months, I will be writing articles on notable Sinclairs -
beginning with
General Sir John St Clair.  These will be appearing in the newsleter of the
Clan Sinclair of
the United States but, I am sure, if Brad Sinclair agrees, there will be no
objection to these
articles being seen by the wider family of Sinclairs through the medium of
your web-site.

Niven Sinclair


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