Oliver Sinclair
Sir Oliver Sinclair of Pitcairnis and Whitekirk (died circa 1576) was a favourite courtier of James V of Scotland. He was a Sheriff of Orkney.[1] A contemporary story tells that James V gave him the battle standard and command at the Battle of Solway Moss. Another story tells how at the end of his life he shamed the haughty servant of Regent Morton by showing him how his own prosperity had faded.
Life
At the royal court
Oliver Sinclair was the third son of George Sinclair, eldest son and heir-apparent of
Sinclair's official role at court was cupbearer, and he was given livery clothes at Christmas time to the value of £20. This was the second tier; the clothes of the two Masters of the Household cost £50, the laundress Maus Atkinson's (John Tennent's wife) livery was £13-6s-8d, and the outfits of the men who turned the spit in kitchen cost 26 shillings and eightpence.[5] When the King's mother Margaret Tudor was dying in October 1538, Oliver and John Tennent rode with the King to her at Methven Castle. She had died when they arrived, and Oliver and John were ordered to parcel up her belongings.[6]
Solway Moss and after
Oliver Sinclair was captured by the English at the
Cleisburn's son was still a prisoner after the
David Hume of Godscroft writing around 1600 gives the usual story of Oliver deserted by the nobility of Scotland at Solway (Solemne-Mosse), but adds an epilogue to his career. Regent Morton, in the 1570s, had a servant, George Auchinleck of Balmanno, who controlled access to his master and thereby justice. One day Sinclair came to Edinburgh Tollbooth and caught Auchinleck's attention, and when he came over and asked his business, all the old man said was, "I am Oliver Sinclair", then slipped away. Hume of Godscroft explains that Sinclair meant that Auchinleck would all too soon become insignificant, and the incident was much discussed at the time.[10]
Stories of Solway Moss
George Douglas of Pittensreich's account of the events before Solway was that after James V had left the Scottish army, Oliver Sinclair was appointed commander instead of Lord Maxwell. Some Scots who would not accept Oliver's authority then refused to fight and the battle was lost. This account was accepted by subsequent sixteenth-century Scottish chronicle writers. However, writing about 80 years after, the author and poet William Drummond of Hawthornden collated an alternative version of events. Hawthornden attributed the defeat to a misunderstanding; Sinclair was tasked only to deliver the message that Maxwell was in command, and when he was raised up to speak, the anxious army thought he had been made leader. During their confusion the English attacked.[11]
Family
Oliver married Katherine Bellenden.[12] Their daughter Isobel married James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, who assassinated Regent Moray in 1570.
References
- ^ Peter Anderson & John Ballantyne, Personal Correspondence of Sir John Bellenden of Auchnoul (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2023), 4: Alison Cathcart, 'Kingship in the Reign of James V', Steven J. Reid, Rethinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland (Boydell, 2024), 119.
- ^ Katie Stevenson, Chivalry and Knighthood in Scotland, 1424-1513 (Boydell, 2006), pp. 100-1: Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 16, 22, 41, 429.
- ^ Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 115
- ^ Henry Ellis, 'Household Book of James the Fifth', Archaeologia, vol. 22 (London, 1829), p. 7.
- ^ Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 125.
- ^ State Papers Henry VIII, vol. 5 part 2 cont., (London, 1836), pp. 193-4, Ray to Privy Council.
- ^ Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, vol. 1 (London, 1838), p. 24.
- ^ Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol. 17 (London, 1900), no. 1194.
- ^ John Roche Dasent, ed., Acts of the Privy Council, vol. 2 (HMSO, London, 890), pp. 171, 543.
- ^ Reid, David, ed., David Hume of Godscroft, History of the House of Angus, vol. 1 STS, (2005), 104, 231, Hume's anecdote relates to the motto 'Hodie mihi: Cras Tibi' Today it's me; tomorrow it will be you.
- ^ Drummond of Hawthornden, William, History of Scotland: History of the five Jameses (London, 1655), pp. 226-7.
- ^ Accounts of the Lord Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (1907), 248.
Sources
- Cameron, Jamie, James V, Tuckwell, (1998), (see pp. 273–275, 293–294, 316–321)
- Sinclair, G. A., 'The Scots at Solway Moss, Scottish Historical Review, vol. 2 (1905), pp. 357–377.