Henry Sinclair (1508–1565) was a Scottish lord-president of the

court of session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

and bishop of Ross. Henry Sinclair was brother of

Oliver Sinclair Sir Oliver Sinclair of Pitcairnis (died 1576?) was a favourite courtier of James V of Scotland. 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 h ...

. He studied at St. Leonard's College, St. Andrews and was appointed lord of session in 1537. In 1541 he was named abbot or perpetual

commendator In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical ...

of the abbey of Kilwinning. He was the negotiator of a peace treaty between Flanders and Scotland in 1548 and was appointed dean of Glasgow in 1550. Between 1550 and 1554 he was in France. He was a commissioner for the Treaty of Carlisle in 1556, and for that of Upsettlington in 1559. He was appointed President of the Court of Session, and Bishop of Ross. In 1561 he became a member of Queen Mary's privy council. Denounced by

John Knox John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgat ...

, he maintained a neutral religious attitude. He wrote additions to Boece's ''History of Scotland''. Sinclair died at Paris in January 1565.

Life

Henry Sinclair was the second son of Sir Oliver Sinclair of Roslin brother of John Sinclair (died 1566),

bishop of Brechin The Bishop of Brechin is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Brechin or angus, Scotland, Angus, based at Dundee. Brechin Cathedral, Brechin is a parish church of the established (presbyterian) Church of Scotland. The diocese had a long-es ...

, and uncle of

, general at

Solway Moss Solway Moss, also known as Solway Flow, is a moss (lowland peat bog), in the City of Carlisle in Cumbria, England near the Scottish border and less than west of Longtown at . In 2005 the moss was the subject of a campaign by organisations incl ...

. It seems probable that he was born well before 1508 (as given in some sources). Henry's parents were married after 1485 (when his mother was only about 15) and probably closer to 1490 (first note of his eldest brother George is in 1491). He studied at the

University of St. Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, being incorporated in St. Leonard's College in 1521. Having gained the special favour of

James V James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, and duri ...

, he was admitted on 13 November 1537 an ordinary

lord of session The senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court of Session) ...

. On 16 December of the same year he obtained the

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

y of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

from Archbishop Dunbar; in 1541 he was named abbot or perpetual

of the abbey of Kilwinning; and in 1550 he exchanged this office with Gavin Hamilton for the

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

of Glasgow. While he was dean he bought and sold some land from Melrose Abbey making a good profit. In 1548 he was sent into

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

to treat for a peace between Flanders and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. On 11 August 1550, he obtained a

safe-conduct Safe conduct, safe passage, or letters of transit, is the situation in time of international conflict or war where one state, a party to such conflict, issues to a person (usually an enemy state's subject) a pass or document to allow the enemy ...

to go into

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and apparently did not return to Scotland until 1554. Immediately on his return he persuaded Robert Reid, the

bishop of Orkney The Bishop of Orkney was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Orkney, one of thirteen medieval bishoprics of Scotland. It included both Orkney and Shetland. It was based for almost all of its history at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. The bi ...

, then

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. The L ...

, to make certain statutes for the abbreviation of the processes and the reform of other abuses. He was a commissioner for the Treaty of Carlisle in 1556, and for that of Upsettlington in 1559. On 2 December 1558, he succeeded the bishop of Orkney as Lord President of the Court of Session, and on the death of Bishop

David Panter David Panter lso written Painter, or Paniter(died 1 October 1558), Scottish diplomat, clerk and bishop of Ross, was the illegitimate son of Patrick Paniter, secretary to James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of ...

in the same year, he obtained a gift of the temporalities of the see of Ross, being consecrated – after some delay in obtaining the papal sanction – in 1560. In 1561 he was chosen one of Queen Mary's

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

of twelve, the other eleven members being all laymen. The same year he and other bishops offered to give up a fourth of the rents of their benefices. On 28 December 1563, he was appointed one of a commission for the erection of jurisdiction in various parts of the country. Apparently Sinclair possessed no special predilections for either the old or the new religion. He was content to retain the temporalities of his bishopric, and, as president of the court of session, he made it his duty to see that proper regard was paid to the laws in actual force, whether they favoured Protestants or Catholics. Thus, when the queen sought his advice in regard to the prosecution of several Catholics who had observed the mass, he advised "that she must see her laws kept, or else she would get no obedience". On the other hand, when

in 1563 penned a letter to "the brethren in all quarters" to assemble for the protection of certain persons who had made forcible entrance into the chapel of Holyrood during mass, Sinclair sent a copy of the letter to the queen at

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

. Knox, on this account, denounces him as "ane perfect hypocrite, and ane conjured enemy to Christ Jesus". Yet Knox himself admits that Sinclair voted for his

absolution Absolution is a traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pra ...

when brought before the council. "The bishop", he says, "answered cauldlie, 'Your grace may consider that it is neither affection to the man

nox In atmospheric chemistry, is shorthand for nitric oxide () and nitrogen dioxide (), the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution. These gases contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain, as well as affecting tropos ...

nor yet love to his profession, that moveth me to absolve him; but the simple truth, which plainly appears in his defence'". It is clear that Sinclair was capable of acting justly, if not generously, towards an avowed enemy. On the appearance of Bishop Jewell's ''Apologia'' in 1562, Randolph, the ambassador of Elizabeth in Scotland, sent a copy to the bishop of Ross, expressing at the same time his intention to send one to the

archbishop of St. Andrews The Bishop of St. Andrews ( gd, Easbaig Chill Rìmhinn, sco, Beeshop o Saunt Andras) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of St Andrews in the Catholic Church and then, from 14 August 1472, as Archbishop of St Andrews ( gd, Àrd-easbaig ...

, "not", he says, "to do them good, which I know is impossible, but to heap mischief upon their heads". Nevertheless, Randolph afterwards describes him as "of that sort of men the best in Scotland". On 20 February 1564, Queen Mary applied to

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

for a safe-conduct for Sinclair to go into France, that he "might seek cure and remedie of a certain maladie". The malady was the stone, for which he underwent an operation; but he died at

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

on 2 January 1565.

Works

Sinclair wrote some additions to

Hector Boece Hector Boece (; also spelled Boyce or Boise; 1465–1536), known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and the first Principal of King's College in Aberdeen, a predecessor of the University of Abe ...

's ''History of Scotland'', which his brother, John Sinclair, bishop of Brechin, brought from Paris after his death. It is supposed that John, rather than Henry, was the author of Sinclair's ''Practicks'', a legal work contained in manuscript in the

Advocates' Library The Advocates Library, founded in 1682, is the law library of the Faculty of Advocates, in Edinburgh. It served as the national deposit library of Scotland until 1925, at which time through an Act of Parliament the National Library of Scotland w ...

, Edinburgh. Dempster (''Historia Eccl''.) and, following him, Thomas Tanner (''Bibliographia Britannica'') split this Sinclair into two persons, one of them being represented as dean of Glasgow and lord of session and nephew of the bishop of Ross. The nephew is credited by Dempster with the following legal works: ''Legum Romanorum ad Leges Scotiæ Municipales Reductio'', Lib. i.; ''Novæ Judiciarii ordinis Leges'', Lib. i.; ''Abrogatio Juris Antiqui'', Lib. i. Henderson wrote in the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' that "These appellations are doubtless all paraphrastic amplifications by Dempster of the full title of the ''Practicks'' above referred to".

Sinclair and Conrad Gesner

Sinclair supplied descriptions and illustrations of Scottish animals to the Swiss naturalist

Conrad Gesner Conrad Gessner (; la, Conradus Gesnerus 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his tale ...

for inclusion in his ''Historiae Animalium.'' These included the solan goose found on the

Bass rock The Bass Rock, or simply the Bass (), ( gd, Creag nam Bathais or gd, Am Bas) is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. Approximately offshore, and north-east of North Berwick, it is a steep-sided volcan ...

, the Scottish bloodhound, and the White cattle of

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; gd, Comar nan Allt, meeting of the streams) is a large town in the historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth most-populous locality in Scotland and the most populated t ...

.Bath, Michael, ''Emblems for a Queen'', Archetype (2008), 77, 85, 124.

Notes

References

* ;Attribution * The entry cites the following sources: ** ** ** **''Cal. State Papers'', For., 1550 to 1565 **''Reg. P. C. Scotl''. vol. i. ** **

Life

Works

Sinclair and Conrad Gesner

Notes

References

Further reading