Notes:

From Doug Hickling
"William, The Seemly, 1st Baron of Rosslyn, born 1028 - died 1070.
Married Dorothy Agnes Dunbar. William accompanied the family of Edwardthe Atheling from Hungary to England 1057. Fought then for Malcolm IIIwith the English rebels who supported Edgar the Atheling for King ofEngland. He was with Margaret's group as she fled England on the wayback to a Hungarian nunnery. He was later killed by troops of his cousinWilliam the Conqueror on the Scottish borders in Northumberland. GivenRosslyn by Malcolm for life rent."


Doug Hickling writes:
"I mentioned what THE SCOTS PEERAGE had to say about the earlySinclairs. It says in relevant part:

William (Sir) Sinclair, according to Father Hay, was the son ofRobert de Saintclair in Normandy, and his wife Eleanor, relict of Hugh,Lord of Chateauneuf, daughter to Robert, second Comte de Dreux, inFrance by Joland of Coucy, his wife.

THE SCOTS PEERAGE account says nothing of any connection with Blanche ofNavarre or Eleanor of Aquitaine. Father Richard Augustin Hay lived inthe 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 outthat Hay's work is sometimes flawed, does not show the lines as cited byTHE SCOTS PEERAGE. In fact, this version of Hay's genealogy of theSinclairs, at 2-3, shows the descent of the Sinclairs to be from "oneWilliam (Sir) Sinclare, second sone to Woldonius or Wildernus, in France,whose mother ws daughter to Duke Richard"--an uncle of William theConqueror. No mention is made of the de Dreux family or of Blanche ofNavarre. It is, of course, possible that the editor chose to correctwhat he regarded as Hay's mistakes, but, because the text is in 17thcentury 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 theseaccounts 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 RolandWilliam Saint-Claire, published in 1898, which, at page 277, shows thesame information, apparently from the same source that was relied uponseveral years later in THE SCOTS PEERAGE, but with a dotted line fromRobert de Saintclair to William (Sir) De St Clair, indicating a possible,but doubtful, father-son connection. The same chart shows the De Dreuxconnection but does not suggest any descent from Blanche of Navarre orEleanor of Aquitaine.

All of the other sources show that William (Sir) was descended fromMauger or Malger, an uncle of William the Conqueror. Thus, the highlyrespected HISTORY OF THE SINCLAIR FAMILY IN EUROPE AND AMERICA, byLeonard Allison Morrison, published in 1896 and which is currentlyavailable in a reprint, refers to Walderne Sinclair as the "father ofWilliam Sinclair, founder of the Sinclairs of Scotland, and shows hisline of descent as "Malger 5, Richard 4, William Longsword 3, Rollo 2,Rogenwald 1."

The Sinclair family has a very elaborate website atwww.clansinclairusa.org, that has a great many articles and genealogicalhistories of the Sinclairs.
Detailed family lineage charts are entitled THE NORSE YEARS, THE NORMANDYYEARS, THE CRUSADER YEARS, THE NORMANDY YEARS, AND THE TEMPLAR YEARS,after which the line divides. The line shown on the Clan Sinclairwebsite starts with Fornjot b. c. 610.

I will pick up the line starting with Rognvald:

1. Rognvald, 1st Earl of Orkney born c. 830. Married Ragnhilda,daughter of Sea King Rolf Nefia.

2. Hrolf (Rollo) 860-933, 1st Duke of Normandy. Married Poppa, daughterof Count Berenger of Bayeaux.

3. Duke William, Longsword, 2nd Duke of Normandy, born c. 870 - died c.942, murdered by Arnulf of Flanders.

4. Duke Richard I, the Fearless, 3rd Duke of Normandy, born c. 925 -died 20 November 996. Married Emma, sister of King Hugh Capet ofFrance. Emma's mother was the daughter of the King of England. MarriedGunnor (Albereda), daughter of Danish settlers.

5. Mauger, Count of Mortain & Corbuel, born c. 986 - died 1040. Do not
confuse this Mauger with his nephew Mauger, the son of Duke Richard II(our Mauger's brother), who was the 6th Archbishop of Rouen.

6. Walderne, Lord of St Clair, born c. 1004 - d. 1047. Married Helene,a natural daughter of Duke Richard II.

7. William, The Seemly, 1st Baron of Rosslyn, born 1028 - died 1070.
Married Dorothy Agnes Dunbar. William accompanied the family of Edwardthe Atheling from Hungary to England 1057. Fought then for Malcolm IIIwith the English rebels who supported Edgar the Atheling for King ofEngland. He was with Margaret's group as she fled England on the wayback to a Hungarian nunnery. He was later killed by troops of his cousinWilliam the Conqueror on the Scottish borders in Northumberland. GivenRosslyn by Malcolm for life rent.

8. Henry (Sir) Sinclair, 2nd Baron of Rosslyn, born 1060 - died c.1110.
Married Rosabel Forteith, daughter of Earl of Strathern. Given Rosslyn
forever.

9. Henry (Sir) Sinclair, 3rd Baron of Rosslyn, born c. 1100 - died c.1180. Married Margaret Grathenay.

10. William Sinclair, 4th Baron of Rosslyn, born c.1130 - died 1214.
Married Agnes Dunbar, daughter of Earl Patrick March.

11. Henry Sinclair, not a baron as the baronship passes over him to hisson Henry. Born c. 1160. Married Katherine, daughter of the Earl ofStrathern.

12. Henry Sinclair, 5th Baron of Rosslyn, born c. 1190 - died 1270.Married Margaret, daughter of the Earl of Mar.

13. William Sinclair, 6th Baron of Rosslyn, born c. 1240 - died 1297 atthe Tower of London. Married (2) Matilda, daughter of Magnus V of Orkney(Nisbet). Their daughter Annabel married David (Sir) Wemyss.

14. Henry, 7th Baron of Rosslyn, born c. 1275 - died 1336. MarriedAlice de Fenton. Led Knights Templar to victory at Bannockburn.

15. William Sinclair, born c. 1300 - died 25 August 1330 with hisbrother John at Teba, Spain, while fighting the Moors while with James(Sir) Douglas carrying King Bruce's heart to the Holy Land. MarriedRosabelle. He died before his father so he did not become Baron.

16. William, 8th Baron of Rosslyn, born c. 1327 died c. 1359 inLithuania with the Teutonic Knights. Married Isabella, daughter ofMalise II, 20th Earl of Orkney.

17. Prince Henry, 9th Baron of Rosslyn, 1st Sinclair Earl of Orkney,born c. 1345 - died c. 1402. Married (2) Janet Haliburton, daughter ofThomas (Sir) Halyburton, Lord of Dirleton Castle. On June 2, 1398, hearrived with 12 boatloads of Templars at Chadebucto Bay, Nova Scotia.Went on to Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

NOTE: I am doubtful of the website's listing of Thomas (Sir) Halyburton
instead of Walter (Sir) Halyburton of Dirleton as the father of Henry'swife.
THE SCOTS PEERAGE, volume 6, at 569, says that it was Walter (Sir). Iwill look into it.

18. Henry, 10th Baron of Rosslyn, 2nd Sinclair Earl of Orkney, born 1369- died 1420. Married Egidia Douglas, daughter of William Douglas ofNithsdale and Princess Egidia Stewart.

Of course, the website materials continue on through the Sinclair Earlsof Caithness, etc. As much as I would like to confirm the Sinclairconnection with Eleanor of Aquitaine, I am sure that all of the Sinclairresearchers would have the same intereSt If none of these researchershas been able to make the connection, I would tend to think that there isno support for it other than hope.

As you know, there is no recent history of the Sinclair family. Fromlooking at the ClanSinclairusa website, it appears that the recentlydeceased Clan genealogist, H. S. Cummings, wrote and published throughHigginson Books of Salem MA two books. One is entitled THE GENEALOGY OFPRINCE HENRY SINCLAIR, and is supposed to cover 26 generations."

Family/Spouse: Dorothy Agnes Dunbar. Dorothy and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Rosabel Forteith of Strathearn. Rosabel (daughter of Malise 1st Earl of Strathearn and Ada of Huntington) and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Margaret Grathenay. Margaret and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Agnes (of March) Dunbar. Agnes (daughter of Waletheof (Patrick Earl of Dunbar) Dunbar and Aline) and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]