Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 12

202 The Celtic Magazine.
WILLIAM SINCLAIR, SECOND EARL OF
CAITHNESS, OF THE SINCLAIR LINE.
[By George M. Sutherland, F.S.A. Scot., Wick.]
It has been stated already that the first Earl resigned the Earl-
dom in 1476. William Sinclair, the Second Earl, obtained a
charter of the Earldom from King- James the III. of Scotland.
This charter is dated 7th December, 1476, and it narrates that
William, the Second Earl, is the lawful son of William, the Earl
of Caithness, and Lord "de Sancto Claro," and of his spouse,
Marjory, Countess of Caithness. The Charter included "omnes
et singulas terras, comitatus Cathanie, cum tenentibus, tenandriis,
et annexis earund' cum pertinen', una cum donatione Hospitalis,
Sancti Magni in Caithania, jacen' infra Vic', nostrum de Inverness ;
Et cum Officiis Justiciarie Camerarie, et Vice-comitatus, infra
limites et bondas, Extenden' a PortnacJilter ad Pentland Firth,
et a mari orientali ad mare occidentale, prout limites
episcopatus Cathanien extendunt." It will be thus seen that
the King not only conferred on William, the son of the First
Earl, the honour and dignity of the Earldom, but also that
the grant included the patronage of the Hospital of St. Magnus
at Spittal, as well as the heritable office of Justiciar in the Diocese
of Caithness, from Portinculter to the Pentland Firth, and from
the East Sea to the West Sea.
Notwithstanding the terms of the Charter in question, it would
appear that there were some differences as to the Earldom between
the members of each of the two marriages of the First Earl — the
two Williams — or at least some misapprehension was anticipated ;
for in a contract quoted by Nisbet it seems that should any plea
or debate arise about the Earldom between William (the Waster,
or the Spendthrift) and William (the Second Earl), Sir Oliver
Sinclair " shall stand evenly and neuter betwixt them as he should
do betwixt his brothers, and take no partial part with either of
them." It does not appear, however, that any dispute arose re-
garding the Earldom, and it was left in the undisturbed possession
of William Sinclair of the second marriage.