Earl of Caithness
Encyclopedia
Peerage of Scotland
The Peerage of Scotland is the division of the British Peerage for those peers created in the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707. With that year's Act of Union, the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England were combined into the Kingdom of Great Britain, and a new Peerage of Great Britain was...
, and has a very complex history. Its first grant, in the modern sense as to have been counted in strict lists of peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
s, is now generally held to have taken place in favor of Maol Íosa V, Earl of Strathearn
Maol Íosa V, Earl of Strathearn
Maol Íosa V of Strathearn was the last of the native Gaelic family of Strathearn mormaers. He ruled Strathearn as mormaer/earl between 1330 and 1334, and was Earl of Orkney between 1331 and 1350....
, in 1334, although in the true circumstances of 14th century, this presumably was just a recognition of his hereditary right to the ancient earldom/ mormaership of Caithness
Caithness
Caithness is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is...
. The next year, however, all of his titles were declared forfeit for treason.
Earlier, Caithness had been intermittently held, presumably always as fief of Scotland, by the Norse
Norsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
Earls of Orkney, at least since the days of the childhood of Thorfinn Sigurdsson in c 1020, but possibly already several decades before. The modern reconstruction of holders of peerage earldoms do not usually include those of Mormaerdom of Caithness
Mormaerdom of Caithness
The Mormaer of Caithness ruled a distinct mormaerdom in medieval Scotland in that it generally was held by a "foreign" prince, the Norse Earl of Orkney, the ruler of neighboring "Norwegian" province....
, although there is no essential difference between them and, for example, those of mormaers of Lennox, mormaers of Strathearn and mormaers of Angus.
The next grant after Maol Íosa was to David Stewart, a younger son of Robert II of Scotland
Robert II of Scotland
Robert II became King of Scots in 1371 as the first monarch of the House of Stewart. He was the son of Walter Stewart, hereditary High Steward of Scotland and of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I and of his first wife Isabella of Mar...
. His heiress, Euphemia, resigned the title in 1390 in favour of her uncle Walter, 1st Earl of Atholl. Walter himself resigned the title in 1428, in favour of his son Allan, but he retained the earldom of Atholl for himself. Upon Allan's death, Walter again came to hold both earldoms. However, both were lost when he was executed for high treason in 1437, his titles being forfeit.
The third creation of the title was for Sir George Crichton in 1452, but he surrendered the title in the same year. The final creation of the earldom was made in 1455 for William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney. He surrendered the Orkney title and all associated lands to James III
James III of Scotland
James III was King of Scots from 1460 to 1488. James was an unpopular and ineffective monarch owing to an unwillingness to administer justice fairly, a policy of pursuing alliance with the Kingdom of England, and a disastrous relationship with nearly all his extended family.His reputation as the...
in 1470, in return for the Castle of Ravenscraig
Ravenscraig Castle
Ravenscraig Castle is a ruined castle located in Kirkcaldy which dates from around 1460. The castle is an early example of artillery defence in Scotland...
, in Fife. James III had in 1469 received the rights of the king of Norway to Orkney territories as pledge of dowry of his wife Margaret of Denmark. In this way, the Scottish crown tightened its grip to Orkney and Shetland, a hitherto Norwegian territory, by moving all other important holders away. Six years later, Earl William wished to disinherit his eldest son, who was known as "The Waster." Therefore, so that his earldom would not pass to him, he resigned the title in favour of his younger son, another William.
George, sixth Earl of the Sinclair line, was the last Earl to cause a disturbance in the normal succession of the title. In 1672, he agreed that, at his death, all of his lands and titles would pass to Sir John Campbell, who was his creditor. In 1677, the sixth Earl died, and King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
granted him a patent creating him Earl of Caithness. Later, however, the sixth Earl's heir, also named George, was confirmed in his titles by the law. Therefore, in order to compensate for the loss of the earldom, Charles II created Campbell Earl of Breadalbane and Holland
Earl of Breadalbane and Holland
Earl of Breadalbane and Holland is a dormant title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1681 for Sir John Campbell, 5th Baronet, of Glenorchy, who had previously been deprived of the title Earl of Caithness. He, as a principal creditor, had "acquired" the estates of George Sinclair, 6th...
. Thereafter, the earldom of Caithness has passed solely within the Sinclair family, without any further resignations or other irregularities.
The Earl of Caithness also holds the title of Lord Berriedale, which was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1455. That title is used as a courtesy title
Courtesy title
A courtesy title is a form of address in systems of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer. These styles are used 'by courtesy' in the sense that the relatives do not themselves hold substantive titles...
for the Earl's eldest son and heir.
Earls of Caithness, First Creation (c. 1334)
- Maol Íosa V, Earl of StrathearnMaol Íosa V, Earl of StrathearnMaol Íosa V of Strathearn was the last of the native Gaelic family of Strathearn mormaers. He ruled Strathearn as mormaer/earl between 1330 and 1334, and was Earl of Orkney between 1331 and 1350....
(d. bef. 1353) (forfeit 1335)
Earls of Caithness, Second Creation (c. 1375)
- David Stewart, 1st Earl of Caithness (d. bef. 1389)
- Euphemia Stewart, 2nd Countess of Caithness (d. 1434) (resigned 1390)
- Walter Stewart, 3rd Earl of Caithness, 1st Earl of Atholl (d. 1437) (resigned c. 1428)
- Allan Stewart, 4th Earl of Caithness (d. 1431)
- Walter Stewart, 3rd Earl of Caithness, 1st Earl of Atholl (d. 1437) (forfeit 1437)
Earls of Caithness, Third Creation (1452)
- George Crichton, 1st Earl of CaithnessGeorge Crichton, 1st Earl of CaithnessGeorge Crichton, 1st Earl of Caithness , was a Scottish peer.Succeeding his father as sheriff of Linlithgowshire, he was knighted before 1438. In 1441 he was ambassador to the Brittany to negotiate the marriage of James II's sister Isabella...
(d. 1455) (resigned 1452)
Earls of Caithness, Fourth Creation (1455)
- William Sinclair, 1st Earl of CaithnessWilliam Sinclair, 1st Earl of CaithnessWilliam Sinclair , 1st Earl of Caithness , 3rd Earl of Orkney , Baron of Roslin was a Scottish nobleman and the builder of Rosslyn Chapel, in Midlothian....
(d. 1484) (resigned 1476) - William Sinclair, 2nd Earl of CaithnessWilliam Sinclair, 2nd Earl of CaithnessWilliam Sinclair, 2nd Earl of Caithness was a Scottish nobleman born in Ravenscraig Castle, Kirkcaldy, Scotland to William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness and Marjory Sutherland. He married Margaret Keith, daughter of Sir Gilbert Keith...
(d. 1513) - John Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Caithness (d. 1529)
- George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness (d. 1582) (resigned 1545)
- George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness (1566–1643)
- George Sinclair, 6th Earl of Caithness (d. 1677) (resigned 1672)
- John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and HollandJohn Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and HollandJohn Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland , son of Sir John Campbell of Glen Orchy, and of the Lady Mary Graham, daughter of William Graham, 1st Earl of Airth and 7th Earl of Menteith, was a member of Scottish nobility during the Glorious Revolution and Jacobite risings and also known as...
(1633–1717) (resigned 1681) - George Sinclair, 7th Earl of Caithness (d. 1698)
- John Sinclair, 8th Earl of Caithness (d. 1705)
- Alexander Sinclair, 9th Earl of Caithness (1685–1765)
- William Sinclair, 10th Earl of Caithness (1727–1779)
- John Sinclair, 11th Earl of Caithness (1757–1789)
- James Sinclair, 12th Earl of Caithness (1766–1823)
- Alexander Campbell Sinclair, 13th Earl of Caithness (1790–1855)
- James Sinclair, 14th Earl of CaithnessJames Sinclair, 14th Earl of CaithnessJames Sinclair, 14th Earl of Caithness FRS , styled Lord Berriedale from 1823 to 1855, was a Scottish Liberal politician, scientist and inventor....
(1821–1881) - George Philips Alexander Sinclair, 15th Earl of CaithnessGeorge Sinclair, 15th Earl of CaithnessGeorge Philips Alexander Sinclair, 15th Earl of Caithness, also known as Sir George Sinclair, the 13th Laird of Mey was a Scottish aristocrat.-Life:...
(1858–1889) - James Augustus Sinclair, 16th Earl of Caithness (1827–1891)
- John Sutherland Sinclair, 17th Earl of Caithness (1857–1914)
- Norman Macleod (Sinclair) Buchan, 18th Earl of Caithness (1862–1947)
- James Roderick Sinclair, 19th Earl of CaithnessJames Sinclair, 19th Earl of CaithnessBrigadier James Roderick Sinclair, 19th Earl of Caithness CBE, DSO, GH was a distinguished British Army officer during World War II and was also chief of Clan Sinclair....
(1906–1965) - Malcolm Ian Sinclair, 20th Earl of CaithnessMalcolm Sinclair, 20th Earl of CaithnessMalcolm Ian Sinclair, 20th Earl of Caithness, PC is a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords as one of the remaining hereditary peers. He is also chief of Clan Sinclair...
(b. 1948) (elected into House of Lords, 1999)
The heir apparent
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
is the present holder's son Alexander James Richard Sinclair, Lord Berriedale (b. 1981)