Family Group Sheet
Family Group Sheet
NameOliver Sinclair76
SpouseKatherine Bellenden76
Birthabt 1497, Auchinoull, MidLothian, SCT
Deathbef 27 Aug 1560 Age: 63
FatherSir Thomas Bellenden
Other spousesFrancis Bothwell
Children
Notes for Katherine Bellenden
She and Francis had a sasine 19 Feb. 1529-30.
Scots Peerage has Katherine giving birth to two daughters named Isobel, one to her first husband, Oliver Sinclair, and another to her second husband, Francis Bothwell.
Other sources say Sinclair was her third husband and Francis her second. No mention of who the first was.
Adam was served heir to her and Francis on Aug. 28, 1560.
Scots Peerage has Katherine giving birth to two daughters named Isobel, one to her first husband, Oliver Sinclair, and another to her second husband, Francis Bothwell.
Other sources say Sinclair was her third husband and Francis her second. No mention of who the first was.
Adam was served heir to her and Francis on Aug. 28, 1560.
Research notes for Katherine Bellenden
Katherine Bellenden (1497-c.1568) was a courtier working in the wardrobe of James V of Scotland. Her niece of the same name was similarly employed.
Katherine was the daughter of Patrick Bellenden and Mariota Douglas. Her brother was Thomas Bellenden of Auchnoule. Katherine married Adam Hopper, then Francis Bothwell, who were both Provosts of Edinburgh. Her third husband was Oliver Sinclair, the King's favourite, who was reputed to have caused the Scottish defeat at the battle of Solway Moss.
While Katherine worked in the royal wardrobe she bought cambric cloth, Holland cloth, and other materials for making the King's shirts, which she and her colleague Janet Douglas, the King's seamstress, embroidered with gold and silver thread. She sold cloth to the King's tailor, Thomas Arthur, kept accounts of the King's purse, and also lent money to Margaret Tudor, (perhaps for debts incurred for sewing materials.) Janet Douglas also married a prominent courtier, David Lindsay of the Mount a diplomat and poet.[1] Amongst the many payments to Katherine Bellenden in the Scottish treasurer's accounts one entry notes Katherine as the spouse of Robert Craig, a servant of the tailor Thomas Arthur.[2] This was Katherine's namesake niece, married to Robert Craig, later an Edinburgh merchant, and their children included John Craig the physician and perhaps the lawyer Sir Thomas Craig. It seems that both Katherines were employed in the royal wardrobe and dealt in luxury fabrics.[3]
In 1541, Oliver and Katherine with their kinsfolk and their royal wardrobe colleagues, John Tennent and his wife the royal laundress, Mause Acheson, made a contract 'mortifyng' property, including the rents of a house on Edinburgh's Netherbow now called the John Knox House for priests to say Mass for their souls in St Giles, Edinburgh.[4]
In November 1543, Katherine wrote to the Queen Dowager of Scotland, Mary of Guise, regarding her and her husband's debts. A ship they had invested in had been impounded for sums of money they owed for lands in Orkney and Shetland. Mary of Guise was giving their Orkney lands to George Gordon, Earl of Huntly. In Orkney, Oliver Sinclair held the castle of Kirkwall as his ancestors had done, and Katherine wrote, 'we think great lack to go from our native rooms which my husband and his surname have held these three or four hundred years.'[5]
[edit]
Children
Francis Bothwell was the father of Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, though it is unclear if Katherine was his mother.
Katherine had two daughters with Oliver Sinclair. Isobel Sinclair married James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh who assassinated Regent Moray in 1570. Alison Sinclair married David Hamilton of Monktonmains, brother of Bothwellhaugh. The persons of Isobel Sinclair and her supposed cousin Anne Bothwell are conflated in the Scottish ballad, Lady Anne Bothwell's Lament. Anne Bothwell was the daughter of Adam Bothwell the bishop, and perhaps grand-daughter of Katherine Bellenden. The ballad relates to her seduction and abandonment by Alexander Erskine (d.1640), a son of the Earl of Mar[6]
[edit]
External links
▪ As part of the restoration of the Palace at Stirling Castle, Historic Scotland has dramatised Katherine's role in the royal wardrobe; Historic Scotland - Katherine Bellenden
[edit]
References
1. ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 6, HM General Register House (1905), 298, 380-381, 390.
2. ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (1907), p.463.
3. ^ Sanderson, Margaret H.B., A Kindly Place?, Tuckwell (2002), p.108.
4. ^ Laing, David, ed., Registrum cartarum Ecclesie Sancti Egidii de Edinburgh, Bannatyne Club, (1859) pp.246-253 no.141: Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, 1513-1546, HM General Register House (1883) p.597 no. 2600 (Latin).
5. ^ Cameron, Annie I., ed., The Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine, SHS, (1927), pp.46-7.
6. ^ Maidment, James, ed., Scottish ballads and songs, historical and traditionary, vol. 2, Edinburgh (1868), 39, 41-2, 327.
Katherine was the daughter of Patrick Bellenden and Mariota Douglas. Her brother was Thomas Bellenden of Auchnoule. Katherine married Adam Hopper, then Francis Bothwell, who were both Provosts of Edinburgh. Her third husband was Oliver Sinclair, the King's favourite, who was reputed to have caused the Scottish defeat at the battle of Solway Moss.
While Katherine worked in the royal wardrobe she bought cambric cloth, Holland cloth, and other materials for making the King's shirts, which she and her colleague Janet Douglas, the King's seamstress, embroidered with gold and silver thread. She sold cloth to the King's tailor, Thomas Arthur, kept accounts of the King's purse, and also lent money to Margaret Tudor, (perhaps for debts incurred for sewing materials.) Janet Douglas also married a prominent courtier, David Lindsay of the Mount a diplomat and poet.[1] Amongst the many payments to Katherine Bellenden in the Scottish treasurer's accounts one entry notes Katherine as the spouse of Robert Craig, a servant of the tailor Thomas Arthur.[2] This was Katherine's namesake niece, married to Robert Craig, later an Edinburgh merchant, and their children included John Craig the physician and perhaps the lawyer Sir Thomas Craig. It seems that both Katherines were employed in the royal wardrobe and dealt in luxury fabrics.[3]
In 1541, Oliver and Katherine with their kinsfolk and their royal wardrobe colleagues, John Tennent and his wife the royal laundress, Mause Acheson, made a contract 'mortifyng' property, including the rents of a house on Edinburgh's Netherbow now called the John Knox House for priests to say Mass for their souls in St Giles, Edinburgh.[4]
In November 1543, Katherine wrote to the Queen Dowager of Scotland, Mary of Guise, regarding her and her husband's debts. A ship they had invested in had been impounded for sums of money they owed for lands in Orkney and Shetland. Mary of Guise was giving their Orkney lands to George Gordon, Earl of Huntly. In Orkney, Oliver Sinclair held the castle of Kirkwall as his ancestors had done, and Katherine wrote, 'we think great lack to go from our native rooms which my husband and his surname have held these three or four hundred years.'[5]
[edit]
Children
Francis Bothwell was the father of Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, though it is unclear if Katherine was his mother.
Katherine had two daughters with Oliver Sinclair. Isobel Sinclair married James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh who assassinated Regent Moray in 1570. Alison Sinclair married David Hamilton of Monktonmains, brother of Bothwellhaugh. The persons of Isobel Sinclair and her supposed cousin Anne Bothwell are conflated in the Scottish ballad, Lady Anne Bothwell's Lament. Anne Bothwell was the daughter of Adam Bothwell the bishop, and perhaps grand-daughter of Katherine Bellenden. The ballad relates to her seduction and abandonment by Alexander Erskine (d.1640), a son of the Earl of Mar[6]
[edit]
External links
▪ As part of the restoration of the Palace at Stirling Castle, Historic Scotland has dramatised Katherine's role in the royal wardrobe; Historic Scotland - Katherine Bellenden
[edit]
References
1. ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 6, HM General Register House (1905), 298, 380-381, 390.
2. ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (1907), p.463.
3. ^ Sanderson, Margaret H.B., A Kindly Place?, Tuckwell (2002), p.108.
4. ^ Laing, David, ed., Registrum cartarum Ecclesie Sancti Egidii de Edinburgh, Bannatyne Club, (1859) pp.246-253 no.141: Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, 1513-1546, HM General Register House (1883) p.597 no. 2600 (Latin).
5. ^ Cameron, Annie I., ed., The Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine, SHS, (1927), pp.46-7.
6. ^ Maidment, James, ed., Scottish ballads and songs, historical and traditionary, vol. 2, Edinburgh (1868), 39, 41-2, 327.