Margaret
Sinclair Countess of Angus
formerly Sinclair
Born about in Roslin, Edinburghshire, Scotland
Ancestors 
Daughter of William Sinclair
and [mother unknown]
Wife of
John (Saint Clair) St.Clair of Herdmanston
— married
about 1345 (to before 1353) in Scotland
Wife of
Thomas (Stewart) Stewart IInd Earl of Angus
— married
after 3 Jun 1353 (to 1362) [location unknown]
Descendants 
Mother of
John (St. Clair) St.Clair of Herdmanston, Walter (Saint Clair) St. Clair of Cessford, Elizabeth (Stewart) Hamilton and Margaret (Stewart) Stewart Dowager Countess of Angus and Mar
Died [date unknown]
in Scotland
Profile last modified
| Created 21 Feb 2011
This page has been accessed 8,690 times.
| Margaret (Sinclair) Sinclair Countess of Angus was descended from a signer of the Declaration of Arbroath. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland |
The Birth Date is a rough estimate. See the text for details.
Contents |
Biography
Margaret was the daughter of William Sinclair, a knight who accompanied Sir James Douglas on his quest to carry Robert the Bruce's heart to the Holy Land,[1][2] but who was killed in battle by Saracens in Andalusia on 25 August 1330.[3] The date of her birth is unknown, but was sometime before her father died in 1330.
Marriage to Thomas Stewart
Margaret married (first), sometime after 3 June 1353 when a papal dispensation was granted, Thomas Stewart, earl of Angus.[4] There were at least two children from this marriage:[5]
- Margaret Stewart; m. Thomas Leslie, 13th earl of Mar[5]
- Elizabeth Stewart; m. aft. March 1379 Alexander Hamilton[5]
Marriage to John Sinclair
Margaret married (second) Sir John Sinclair of Herdmanston. There were at least three children from this marriage:[6]
Research Notes
- Questions about the sequence of Margaret's marriages:
- Boardman has claimed that Margaret's first husband was Sir John Sinclair of Herdmonston, and that after being widowed she married Thomas Stewart, earl of Angus, although it is unclear what the basis for this claim is.[7] Sir James Balfour Paul lists Thomas Stewart as Margaret's first husband, citing a charter from King David II granting to "Margaret, countefs of Angus, fpoufe to umquil Sir John Sinclare 20l. starling furth of the duties of Colley."[8] Since Thomas Stewart died in 1362, and John Sinclair was still living in June, 1377 when he received from William, earl of Douglas and Mar, a charter for the lands of Carfrae[9] it appears that Paul is correct that Sir John Sinclair was Margaret's second husband. Stevens-17832 17:24, 7 January 2023 (UTC)
Research Note for the St. Clair of Herdmanston family
The sources for this branch of the Sinclair family are somewhat conflicting and simply do not make sense. This is largely due to a failure to apply a realistic year of birth for family members and a recognition of a woman rarely having a living child under 15 years of age or over 45 years of age without her dying from the complications of childbirth. Using the available sources, I have attempted to apply logical approximate years of birth, especially when a date of achieving majority (age 21), marriage or death is known. Sadly it looks as though even Balfour Paul made errors with this family, both as to timeline and order of marriages. If he was correct, it would be physically impossible to fit 4 or 5 generations of this family into the timeline he and others have suggested. Mark Sutherland-Fisher 18x great grandson of Catherine St. Clair, Lady Seton.
Sources
- ↑ Paul, Sir James Balfour. The Scots Peerage. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1904), vol. 6, pp. 566-567.
- ↑ Cokayne, George E. The Complete Peerage. London: St Catherine Press, ltd (1910), vol. 1, p. 153.
- ↑ Dalrymple, David. The Annals of Scotland. Edinburgh: A. Constable (1819), vol. 2, p. 168 fn..
- ↑ 'Regesta 224: 1353', in Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 3, 1342-1362, ed. W H Bliss and C Johnson (London, 1897), pp. 500-516. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-papal-registers/brit-ie/vol3/pp500-516 [accessed 7 January 2023]. "3 June, Villeneuve by Avignon (f.405d). To the bishop of St Andrews. Mandate, at the request of John, king of France, to dispense Thomas Stewart (Senescallus), earl of Angus, and Margaret de Sancto Claro, who are related in the fourth degree of kindred, so that they may intermarry."
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Paul, Sir James Balfour. The Scots Peerage. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1904), vol. 1, p. 170.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Paul, Sir James Balfour. The Scots Peerage. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1904), vol. 7, pp. 578-579.
- ↑ Boardman, Steve and Julian Goodare (eds). Kings, Lords and Men in Scotland 1300-1625. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2014), p. 44.
- ↑ Robertson's Index. Edinburgh: Murray & Cochrane (1798), p. 62, no. 25.
- ↑ Rep. Hist. MSS. Com., Milne-Home Papers, 259, cited in Paul, Sir James Balfour. The Scots Peerage. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1904), vol.7, p. 578, fn. 9.
- See also:
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Rejected matches › Margaret Catherine (Stewart) Hart (1784-1858) › Margaret (Forbes) Stewart (1831-1908)
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S > Sinclair | S > Sinclair Countess of Angus > Margaret (Sinclair) Sinclair Countess of Angus
Categories: Scotland, Arbroath Profiles Needs Review | Declaration of Arbroath, Sinclair Family Worklist | Declaration of Arbroath, Strathearn Family Worklist | Earls of Angus | Scotland Project Managed Arbroath Profiles | Estimated Birth Date
There is some doubt about Margaret's parents being William Sinclair and Isabella of Strathearn. William Sinclair may actually have been her brother and his wife, her sister-in-law. The Complete Peerage brings up this issue. As corrected by Complete Peerage, vol. I, p. 153, and implied by Ancestry of Charles II and implied by Broadman's essay, Margaret was likely William Sinclair VIII of Rosslyn's brother, not daughter. She was more likely born about 1330 to William Sinclair, the knight who died in 1330 in Spain in the journey with Robert I's heart.
The Scots Peerage and the Complete Peerage speak to a marriage with John Sinclair and a marriage with Thomas Stewart. The researchers behind The Ancestry of Charles II and Steve Broadman in his reconstruction of Margaret Stewart's life point out that the documentary evidence shows that the marriage with John Sinclair took place before the marriage to Thomas Stewart. Scots Peerage and the Complete Peerage are incorrect on the order of the marriages. In 1361 when she was married to Thomas Stewart she is linked to the properties of John Sinclair. See Broadman's essay p. 44, note 22, for documentation.
For Broadman, see Chapter Title: Lords and Women, Women as Lords: The Career of Margaret Stewart, Countess of Angus and Mar, c. 1354-c. 1418 Chapter Author(s): STEVE BOARDMAN Book Title: Kings, Lords and Men in Scotland and Britain, 1300-1625 Book Subtitle: Essays in Honour of Jenny Wormald Book Editor(s): Steve Boardman and Julian Goodare Published by: Edinburgh University Press, 2014, pp. 37-58 https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt14brwzt.9
Jen, for the Scotland Project
edited by Kevin Walters
Stewart, Earl of Angus, who died in 1361. They were said to be related in the fourth degree (which indeed they were). She married, secondly, Sir John Sinclair of Hermandston. She had a pension from King David II. from the lands of Tollie.