Sir William Sinclair of Roslin, 6th Lord of Rosslyn

Sir William Sinclair of Roslin, of the territorial Barony, of which he was granted a charter by Alexander II 14 Sep 1280 on the resignation of Henry de Roskelyn (probably Sir William's father in law); opposed Edward I's invasion of Scotland 1296-99; married Amicia, (probably) daughter of Henry de Roskelyn, and died (probably as a prisoner in the Tower of London). [Burke's Peerage]

Note that Burke's Peerage does not mention a second marriage to Matilda of Orkney.

Burke's Peerage indicates that the parent of William Sinclair is Robert Sinclair, a Norman, and not Henry Sinclair of Rosslyn as much of the Rootsweb information on the internet states. However, according to Burke's Peerage, William did marry Amicia daughter of Henry de Roskelyn, lord of Roslin/Rosslyn and was given charter to Rosslyn by Alexander II of Scotland. This puts the name of the entire ancestry of Henry in doubt, but I assume that the persons are the same. Thus I am keeping the same ancestry for Henry de Roskelyn, father-in-law of William, that many people have for Henry Sinclair, father of William.

although I have changed my lines to agree with Burke's Peerage, there is controversy, as indicated by the following copied from Hamish Maclaren's Rootsweb data base (Maclaren in World Connect) Note: other than William's father being Robert of Saint Clair, Normandy and having held Rosslyn in right of his wife, daughter of Henry Sinclair de Roskelyn (instead of William himself as son of Henry), who was possibly a distant cousin name Sinclair I would accept the lineage put forth by Maclaren and others. I don't know why "Blanche of Navarre" and "Eleanor of Aquitaine" are referred to in the following:

"I mentioned what THE SCOTS PEERAGE had to say about the early Sinclairs. It says in relevant part: Sir William Sinclair, according to Father Hay, was the son of Robert de Saintclair in Normandy, and his wife Eleanor, relict of Hugh, Lord of Chateauneuf, daughter to Robert, second Comte de Dreux, in France by Joland of Coucy, his wife.

THE SCOTS PEERAGE account says nothing of any connection with Blanche of Navarre or Eleanor of Aquitaine. Father Richard Augustin Hay lived in the household of the Sinclairs of Rosslyn in the 17th century or so. Interestingly, a copy of his GENEALOGIE OF THE SAINTECLAIRES OF ROSSLYN, published in 1835 with notes by an unidentified editor who points out that Hay's work is sometimes flawed, does not show the lines as cited by THE SCOTS PEERAGE. In fact, this version of Hay's genealogy of theSinclairs, at 2-3, shows the descent of the Sinclairs to be from "one Sir William Sinclare, second sone to Woldonius or Wildernus, in France, whose mother ws daughter to Duke Richard"--an uncle of William the Conqueror. No mention is made of thedeDreux family or of Blanche of Navarre. It is, of course, possible that the editor chose to correct what he regarded as Hay's mistakes, but, because the text is in 17th century English, it appears that the editor did not touch Hay's text.

I have looked at everything I can find on the Sinclairs and none of these accounts give any creedance to the connection with Eleanor of Aquitaine. Indeed, these books do not even show a Robert St. Clair in the line of descent except for one account, SAINT-CLAIRS OF THE ISLES, by Roland William Saint-Claire, published in 1898, which, at page 277, shows the same information, apparently from the same source that was relied upon several years later in THE SCOTS PEERAGE, but with a dotted linefrom Robert de Saintclair to Sir William De St. Clair, indicating a possible, but doubtful, father-son connection. The same chart shows the De Dreux connection but does not suggest any descent from Blanche of Navarre or Eleanor of Aquitaine.

All of the other sources show that Sir William was descended from Mauger or Malger, an uncle of William the Conqueror. Thus, the highly respected HISTORY OF THE SINCLAIR FAMILY IN EUROPE AND AMERICA, by Leonard Allison Morrison, published in 1896and which is currently available in a reprint, refers to Walderne Sinclair as the "father of William Sinclair, founder of the Sinclairs of Scotland, and shows his line of descent as "Malger 5, Richard 4, William Longsword 3, Rollo 2, Rogenwald 1."

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.

http://fionamsinclair.co.uk/genealogy/Isles/LR_01_William.htm